Popeye boots to white screen

T.2193

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Received a Popeye board, sold working.

I am running it on an Astro City cab with a Nintendo to JAMMA adapter.

I get sound, can coin up and start a game no problems, and it seems to respond to controls properly, but the picture is all white. I've adjusted the color pots on the adapter and on the monitor itself to no avail. Tried two different rainbow cables, no luck with either, and I checked to make sure the ribbon cables were properly connected. All other games I have run perfectly fine in the cab.

The only possible issue I could see is that the Astro City PSU outputs weak -5V, but based on the wiring diagram in the Popeye manual, it doesn't need -5V, just +5V.

Any suggestions? Does this board require a bit more +5V than other boards to run properly?

Never owned another Nintendo board, so I'm at a loss here.

Thanks as always, guys.
 
Have you measured your voltages on the Popeye board?

When you swap boards, it is possible the +5V (or other voltages) are being pulled low by higher current demands.

I have a Mario Bros. PCB and Nintendo->JAMMA adapter that are overloading the -5V line and bringing it down to -4.25. The game plays blind but video is garbled.
 
Did you check the RGB color pots on the adapter? I don't know if they're turned all the way one direction if it'll just show white, but it's worth a shot.
 
Received a Popeye board, sold working.

I am running it on an Astro City cab with a Nintendo to JAMMA adapter.

I get sound, can coin up and start a game no problems, and it seems to respond to controls properly, but the picture is all white. I've adjusted the color pots on the adapter and on the monitor itself to no avail. Tried two different rainbow cables, no luck with either, and I checked to make sure the ribbon cables were properly connected. All other games I have run perfectly fine in the cab.

The only possible issue I could see is that the Astro City PSU outputs weak -5V, but based on the wiring diagram in the Popeye manual, it doesn't need -5V, just +5V.

Any suggestions? Does this board require a bit more +5V than other boards to run properly?

Never owned another Nintendo board, so I'm at a loss here.

Thanks as always, guys.

I don't think this is a power or rom problem, the game boots, coin up, and plays blind. It can be a power problem in the video section but I would not start turning up the power with a game playing blind.

I would look at the video section and may be sync issue.
 
Have you measured your voltages on the Popeye board?

Thanks. No, I haven't done that. I will check. However, my cab has very weak -5V output, but the Popeye manual seems to show that the board does not need -5V. I will measure the +5V.

Did you check the RGB color pots on the adapter? I don't know if they're turned all the way one direction if it'll just show white, but it's worth a shot.

Thanks. I turned the pots on the adapter, and they did not seem to do anything that I could see, not even change the white screen. I'll try again and make sure they're soldered on properly.


I don't think this is a power or rom problem, the game boots, coin up, and plays blind. It can be a power problem in the video section but I would not start turning up the power with a game playing blind.

I would look at the video section and may be sync issue.

Thanks, I will find out what is what on the PCBs and check that.
 
Finally got around to checking the voltages.

The 5V reads around 5.04 at the edge connector of the converter, but at the board itself it reads 5V and then dips to 4.99. Guess I will bump it up a little bit to see if that helps.

OK, got it up to 5.07V at the PCB, still no luck. Still just the white screen...

What would be a safe maximum before I need to worry about frying the board? I'm a bit apprehensive about this given the board's age.
 
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Finally got around to checking the voltages.

The 5V reads around 5.04 at the edge connector of the converter, but at the board itself it reads 5V and then dips to 4.99. Guess I will bump it up a little bit to see if that helps.

OK, got it up to 5.07V at the PCB, still no luck. Still just the white screen...

What would be a safe maximum before I need to worry about frying the board? I'm a bit apprehensive about this given the board's age.

ttl chips usually don't want anything much over 5.20vdc at about 5.25 you start to stress the chips. I usually set the chips to about 5.15 max.
 
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