Pac Woes...

FrizzleFried

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I converted a Pac Plus back to Pac in order to add a Widel 96-in-1 kit. At the same time I swapped out the 2114's for new RAM. During the process I manage to screw up one leg of one of the RAM and that is what was causing the menu to read 96-IL-1 and MS. PAC MAL. Once I fixed the leg, all was good... until I actually got in to a game.

When playing a game I get the following symptoms (youtube link):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twAAGCAkLA8

Now, this is a non-capped monitor I pulled from the Pole Position (where it was working fine)... so I thought at first it may be a monitor chassis issue... until I turned up the sound and could hear the sound distortion as well. That tells me it's not likely a chassis issue... right?

Any suggestion as to where to look... where to start? FYI: I tried with the filter board off and on, and believe it or not, with the filter ON it seems better... (this video is with it off).
 
I converted a Pac Plus back to Pac in order to add a Widel 96-in-1 kit. At the same time I swapped out the 2114's for new RAM. During the process I manage to screw up one leg of one of the RAM and that is what was causing the menu to read 96-IL-1 and MS. PAC MAL. Once I fixed the leg, all was good... until I actually got in to a game.

When playing a game I get the following symptoms (youtube link):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twAAGCAkLA8

Now, this is a non-capped monitor I pulled from the Pole Position (where it was working fine)... so I thought at first it may be a monitor chassis issue... until I turned up the sound and could hear the sound distortion as well. That tells me it's not likely a chassis issue... right?

Any suggestion as to where to look... where to start? FYI: I tried with the filter board off and on, and believe it or not, with the filter ON it seems better... (this video is with it off).

Did the board work as a Pac-plus before you deconverted it?
 
Simple test.. back it up to another machine and run the wires to a different monitor to rule out one of the two problems. First thought was bad video ram, but looking at the pulses and the curved bending, it seems more like a monitor/sync issue instead. It's hard to tell from video. Just connect to a different monitor to know for sure.
 
Simple test.. back it up to another machine and run the wires to a different monitor to rule out one of the two problems. First thought was bad video ram, but looking at the pulses and the curved bending, it seems more like a monitor/sync issue instead. It's hard to tell from video. Just connect to a different monitor to know for sure.

I was thinking the same thing (sync issue) until I heard the sound distortion. Would a sync issue cause a sound distortion as well?
 
Have you tried just replaceing your 'fixed' ram for another one?
 
Have you tried just replaceing your 'fixed' ram for another one?

Not yet... will do though... but it was just a bent pin, nothing major and when I fixed it, it rectified the problem I was having prior (the L instead of an N).
 
Unfortunately I can confirm this is NOT a monitor issue. I just plugged this in to a brand new monitor that is confirmed good and it did the exact same thing. Re-plugging in the EMI Filterboard causes it to be about half as bad... whatever that means... but it's still present even with the filterboard attached.

Any suggestions where to look?
 
Simple test.. back it up to another machine and run the wires to a different monitor to rule out one of the two problems. First thought was bad video ram, but looking at the pulses and the curved bending, it seems more like a monitor/sync issue instead. It's hard to tell from video. Just connect to a different monitor to know for sure.


Is the video ram one of the 6 (or all of the 6?) 2114's? I replaced them with new RAM, perhaps I should switch back? Also, can I mix and match... I was sent some non-2114 RAM (not sure what the number was) to replace the 2114s...I think. Don't forget, I am not all to keen at PCB repair, etc.

:)
 
YUP! It was the RAM. I just put the 2114's back in that I'd removed and all is well. Either I screwed up one of the chips when I jacked the one pin when I first installed them (even though it fixed up nicely), or one or more of the chips are bad.

Sheesh...this particular cab is giving me HELL, eh?
 
Those are 6114 rams and will replace the 2114's. I have used them on dozens of pac boards with no issues so I dont think the ram itself was the problem. Perhaps you have an intermittent socket? Try swapping the 6114 back in there one at a time testing after each one.
 
Why play with fire? It's working. I'll leave it alone and keep the 6114's handy just in case something crops up.
 
YUP! It was the RAM. I just put the 2114's back in that I'd removed and all is well. Either I screwed up one of the chips when I jacked the one pin when I first installed them (even though it fixed up nicely), or one or more of the chips are bad.

Sheesh...this particular cab is giving me HELL, eh?

haha , some games are good at that !
 
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