Q*Bert Garbage

lopan2008

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Powered up my Q*Bert machine this afternoon so that some friends could play. At first the game presented as it should but then it began to glitch. Q*Bert and all the enemy characters appear normal, however the board (pyramid) is missing due to the fact that the background is all "00000000000" and various letters or total garbage. This is present on all boards, however it will occasionally "unglitch" for a few moments. I have checked all connections and even cleaned the board harness, but have been unable to pinpoint the source of this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have photos of this, but have had no luck getting them to upload.
 
Powered up my Q*Bert machine this afternoon so that some friends could play. At first the game presented as it should but then it began to glitch. Q*Bert and all the enemy characters appear normal, however the board (pyramid) is missing due to the fact that the background is all "00000000000" and various letters or total garbage. This is present on all boards, however it will occasionally "unglitch" for a few moments. I have checked all connections and even cleaned the board harness, but have been unable to pinpoint the source of this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have photos of this, but have had no luck getting them to upload.

Check your Power Supply.
 
Q*Bert

Thanks for the reply. Still learning the ropes of power supplies. Where would you suggest I start when checking the power supply? The +5V? The person who owned the machine before I did replaced the power supply with a new unit (a Pacific P602). I don't know if that changes anything.
 
Post pictures of your boards, you might have a bootleg board. If thats the case most of the info your going to get here will not apply.
Download the manual and it will show you what voltages to expect. If you have an original power supply it will be the top right header.
 
Q*Bert

Unable to post pictures (Uploader fails every time even though I am using JPEG format). Checked my main board and it has the Gottlieb logo on it. The other 3 boards also have either Gotlieb logos or serial numbers. Will look for a manual online.
 
If you cant find the manual I can email you the pdf file.
I can also test/repair your power supply and I also sell rebuilt power supplys.
If your voltages test bad on the power supply, start checking the solder joints on the small filter board as the power from the brick travels through that and to the power supply. Your power out also goes through the filter board before it hits the pcb so either way you should check the filter board. It is VERY common for these to have broken solder joints and/or burnt connectors.
Its really a pretty simple game to get working if you break it down into sections when troubleshooting. Always start with the filter board and power supply as these cause 90 percent of the problems in a qbert.
 
Powered up my Q*Bert machine this afternoon so that some friends could play. At first the game presented as it should but then it began to glitch. Q*Bert and all the enemy characters appear normal, however the board (pyramid) is missing due to the fact that the background is all "00000000000"

Could be a problem with the background RAM. So re-seat the IC at E7 on the board, if it's a Mostek 4118's they suffer from horrible leg rot and corrosion and can literally have pins rot off the chip. From memory I think a 6116 or 2016 static RAM will work in place, so swap it out to test if you have one spare.

- James
 
Q*Bert Repair

Many thanks for all the informative responses. Looks like I have some diagnosing to do. Will provide an update when finished or if I have further questions. Thanks again!
 
Back in business

Pulled the E7 chip and cleaned the legs off, popped it back on the board and shaboosh, error free Q*Bert. Many thanks to everyone who helped me restore my game back to working condition.
 
Pulled the E7 chip and cleaned the legs off, popped it back on the board and shaboosh, error free Q*Bert. Many thanks to everyone who helped me restore my game back to working condition.

shaboosh!!!

is that a thing?

Glad Q*Bert's up and running.
 
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