Random Maintenance issues

Phetishboy

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So I was home with the kids most of the weekend and of course we turned on about 60% of the games. Left them on for a few hours and here were the issues that cropped up:

Burgertime - Sound went out while my daughter was playing. Put it into test mode, got nothing in the sound tests. It took me an hour to get it out of test mode, then when I finally got it back to game mode and powered it up, the sound was once again working.

Tempest - Game worked fine, came back to start another game after an hour, attract mode running strong, but I couldn't start a game. I pushed the 1 and 2 player buttons repeatedly (it's on freeplay), and nothing. Turned it off. Came back and hour later, turned it on, pushed player 1 and it started right up I played 2-3 more games.

Galaxian - Played several games, walked away, came back, monitor was showing heavy blue and the brightness had gone up. Haven't messed with that one yet, but it's a rebuilt G07.

Popeye - turned it on, played a few games. Monitor image then went upside down, then went white. Then nothing. an hour later, game boots up and runs attract mode fine until I shut her down.

Moral of the story? These things suck to maintain. Waaaah.
 
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Yea and it is the intermittent issues that suck the most! I have found that excessive heat seems to plague me from time to time; may be an issue for you as well.
 
I know that at least two of my games would not pass the "longevity" test of being plugged in for more than 3 hours. But, instead of making them more durable, I leave well enough alone `cause I never have them on for very long...
 
Maybe it means it's time to buy one more sign:

under_construction_sign-484x470.jpg


In all seriousness, what were the temps in the rooms you were playing those games in? What was the temp when you started vs. when they'd been on for a while? The reason I ask is, my Ms. Pac used to make me nutty bc when I first powered it up it would play great, and then once things got a little bit warmer around it in the room as a whole (especially in the Summer) it would flake out. I remembered reading during a car start problem that when the temps are higher, the car's solenoid would be impacted by the warmer temps preventing it from starting, due to electricity having to work harder in a warmer environment in order to travel. I don't know how accurate that is overall, but it was apparently true for both my car AND my Ms. Pac. I bumped up the voltage on my Ms. Pac switcher and haven't had that problem with that machine since.

I also have made a mental note of those games which have known heat issues (ie I know my T2 has a monitor in it that apparently used to get hot out in the Wild), and when noone's playing them for a while I simply power them off. I don't know if any of the games you have mentioned are on the "high heat watch" or not.

But, the truth of it all is, yes- you are a slave to your games!
 
yeah, random maintainance can be fun. the cold solder on the 4900 neckboard causing random dimming in my tron finally gave me permanent dimming due to not playing it for a couple weeks, and the rebuilt nice g07 in my pac decided to start rolling the other night, so i've got a little monitor fun cut out for me.
 
the random maintenance makes me hate these fuckers sometimes. My paranoia has gotten so bad that I don't even hardly want to turn em on for fear that something is wrong! whaa
 
i lost the speech chip in my Gorf a few weeks ago when my wife turned it on for a few hours for the babysitter to play.

i am still crying quietly inside.
 
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