Pac-Man shuts off

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Well this is now the second time this has happened so I guess I should try and figure what the problem is. When I leave my Pac-Man on for more than a few hours it shuts off. I push the power button to turn the machine off and push it in to turn it back on, but nothing happens. If I leave it alone for the rest of the night, it will work just fine in the morning. Is it a power supply issue?
 
When I leave my Pac-Man on for more than a few hours it shuts off. Is it a power supply issue?
When you say "shuts off" does the game play blind? Is it COMPLETELY dead? No marquee light? If it were mine, I'd fire it up one day when I had some free time and keep a close eye on it, and watch to see what EXACTLY happens when it "shuts off". Then I'd take out my volt meter and start at the plug, and work my way into the machine and find where the voltage stops! Could be a power supply issue? But it is certainly thermal related....hence why it is fine the next day till it warms up.
 
Yes it goes completely dead. No marquee light, no sounds, nothing.


When you say "shuts off" does the game play blind? Is it COMPLETELY dead? No marquee light? If it were mine, I'd fire it up one day when I had some free time and keep a close eye on it, and watch to see what EXACTLY happens when it "shuts off". Then I'd take out my volt meter and start at the plug, and work my way into the machine and find where the voltage stops! Could be a power supply issue? But it is certainly thermal related....hence why it is fine the next day till it warms up.
 
Just a guess - try pressing on the back door of the machine where the interlock switch is. See if you get marquee light back.
 
Fuse and or fuse holder is going bad, maybe power supply but don't think that is the issue. The problem is the fuse may be slightly cracked and when it heats up the connection breaks.

The interlock switch could be bad but I don't think that is the issue. Your problem seems to be getting the power to the supply.
 
When it happens meter your 120v coming in and see where it stops. You could have a bad interlock or power switch that is heating up and going open.
 
So I think I've finally fixed this issue. So I started with fuses and a couple of the holders were pretty corroded so I replace them and replace the power cord. Still had the problem. Came back to it a month or two later and thought maybe the problem was in the board so I took the back door off and swapped in a Ms. Pac-Man board I had laying around and it worked fine! Sweet! So I put the Pac-Man board back in and ran it, just to double check. Wouldn't you know it, the son-of-a-bitch ran just fine. So not the board. Confused and I came and actually re-read this thread to see if there was something else I hadn't thought of. THE INTERLOCK SWITCH! I had kept the back door off when I tested the Ms. Pac board and the retested the Pac board. So I put the back door on and tested again and it shut off. Turns out the back door didn't lock tight so it was tight on the switch. I put a wood screw in it yesterday. Door is tight and Pac-Man ran for 4.5 - 5 hours without problem!
 
Damn interlock switches.

I picked up a cab for free once because the interlock switch had failed. Seller didn't understand why the cab wouldn't turn on. I could see that the bracket for the interlock switch had come loose. I brought everything home, secured the interlocks switch, and the game powered right up.
 
Thats the first thing I would have checked! I kinda like interlock switches with issues... How many of us have gotten a good deal on a broken game because the tape around the interlock switch has worn out and no longer kept it pushed in!
 
Think about what must have been happening. The wood in the door was heating up, making it shrink or bow a little bit, then it turned the game off. Once the door cooled back down to room temperature, it swelled up to normal size and kept the lock pushed in. Crazy.
 
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