So this is what my Asteroids looks like now when I play.

jehuie

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So this is what my Asteroids looks like now when I play.

http://vimeo.com/10968738

The picture looked good and the game played perfect. But it would jump vertically sometimes. So I replaced "big blue". It played fine for a bit and then started doing this...and now this is all it does. :(
 
looks like a board issue to me. Try self test.

Edit: Start with the basics. Check your +5 at the board, clean the edge connector, reseat everything that is socketed, look for dirty legs on chips etc, it's a good idea to do that anyway.
 
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looks like a board issue to me. Try self test.

Edit: Start with the basics. Check your +5 at the board, clean the edge connector, reseat everything that is socketed, look for dirty legs on chips etc, it's a good idea to do that anyway.

Yep. Already tried all those things. +5 looks good. I cleaned up all the legs nice and shiny. Checked for cold solder. Cleaned up the edge connector and made sure I have good contact on the pins. I actually posted that in another thread. I probably should have posted this inside that thread now that I think about it.

Oh and self test does the same thing but has a high beep every half second or so.
 
have you looked in the manual to see what that indicates ?

Edit: Forgot to ask, does it seem to sound like its playing normal ? Is the problem just the video ?
 
have you looked in the manual to see what that indicates ?

Edit: Forgot to ask, does it seem to sound like its playing normal ? Is the problem just the video ?

The manual doesn't list anything for this. I suspect it's just resetting over and over. The buttons are flashing fast also. And no, there is no sound during "game play".
 
did you chuck the old big blue? if not try swapping it back in and see what happens.

Yeah, I did. Still does the same thing. Then I put in a different new big blue and it still does this. It played fine for about 5 minutes and then did this.....not sure if it's a coincidence or if swapping big blue actually broke something else.

I've done everything I can think of short of breaking out the logic probe. I have one but minimal experience and unsure where to start.
 
have you tested voltages. I assume the same theory that applies with monitors and cap kits would apply here. where replacing caps with new ones could possibly stress old components and cause them to go out. Testing the board would probably be the best thing to try first but if you don't have access to a machine to do so. The next thing I would check would be the AR board.
 
i think its just an old board that failed after being powered up. If i were you, I would order braze HS kit and see if that fixes it. If not, and you end up with another board, you can put it on the new board. The braze kit eliminates the need for the original roms and sockets. Those could be your problem. Without using a scope or logic probe about the only other thing to do would be replace the 2114's, unless someone has a better idea.
 
have you tested voltages. I assume the same theory that applies with monitors and cap kits would apply here. where replacing caps with new ones could possibly stress old components and cause them to go out. Testing the board would probably be the best thing to try first but if you don't have access to a machine to do so. The next thing I would check would be the AR board.

I'm trying to get ahold of someone local who has a game that I can try my board in. Maybe this weekend. It's got a good solid +5 at the board test point. I haven't tested the other voltages....isn't the +5 the one to be concerned about here?
 
That looks like its almost connected backwards. The X and Y vectors being drawn in opposite directions.

Trying to think what all could have gone wrong to make it draw like that.

I guess the good part is your at least getting an image on the monitor.
 
That looks like its almost connected backwards. The X and Y vectors being drawn in opposite directions.

Trying to think what all could have gone wrong to make it draw like that.

I guess the good part is your at least getting an image on the monitor.

I don't know about that...perhaps it has something to do with the crummy camera I was using. But in any case, the video looked good until I swapped out big blue. Now it does this. This is the original thread if you are interested. http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=126673
 
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What does it look like in test mode?

Bill
 
What does it look like in test mode?

Bill

It looks very similar but it beeps about every half second. High pitch beep and constant. Pin 40 of the CPU is cycling so it looks like the watchdog. I connected the watchdog disable to ground and it stopped cycling. Video went away completely and the fast-flashing start-buttons went dark.
 
I'm trying to get ahold of someone local who has a game that I can try my board in. Maybe this weekend. It's got a good solid +5 at the board test point. I haven't tested the other voltages....isn't the +5 the one to be concerned about here?

+5 is definitely the biggie, but check ALL the voltages. On some of these older parts the chips actually need multiple voltages to run (for instance, the DRAMs on Missile Command use +5, +12 and -5.) If ANY of the voltages are off, the chips may not work correctly.
 
have you tested voltages. I assume the same theory that applies with monitors and cap kits would apply here. where replacing caps with new ones could possibly stress old components and cause them to go out. Testing the board would probably be the best thing to try first but if you don't have access to a machine to do so. The next thing I would check would be the AR board.

I've got a good +5.07 at the test point on the main board so I think I'm good there. Where would I check any other voltages that would affect game play? And if I've got good +5 then the AR board should be ok right?

i think its just an old board that failed after being powered up. If i were you, I would order braze HS kit and see if that fixes it. If not, and you end up with another board, you can put it on the new board. The braze kit eliminates the need for the original roms and sockets. Those could be your problem. Without using a scope or logic probe about the only other thing to do would be replace the 2114's, unless someone has a better idea.

This sounds like a good idea to me. Is there much chance that my broken game will damage the braze board though? Besides the roms, does the board replace other components as well that this might fix?
 
Documenting my board problem

Ok, I've decided to better document what I try to do to fix this in case it's useful to anyone later. Keep in mind that I am a clueless hack. I have already checked my +5 and it's good so I wanted to check the other voltages at the board but I didn't know how to do that.

So I downloaded the Asteroids schematics (the largest one) from the KLOV Asteroids entry page and found this section. (See below, first pic). It shows that I should have +15 at the 7815 near C93, +12 at the 7812 near C70, +5 at the 7805 near C92 and -15 at the 7915 near C90. It turns out that it is nearly impossible to read the labels on the image of the board in the manual so I hunted around on the board itself until I found them. (See picture 3 & 4 below).

I checked the voltages on the right hand pin of each of the three 78XX's and got 15.1V, 12.1,5.1 and -15.1. Which looks good to me. So it doesn't appear to be a voltage regulator issue.

As previously noted, I also checked pin 40 on the CPU (2nd pic) using my logic probe and it is pulsing.

Stay tuned if you care.
 

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I'm trying to get ahold of someone local who has a game that I can try my board in. Maybe this weekend. It's got a good solid +5 at the board test point. I haven't tested the other voltages....isn't the +5 the one to be concerned about here?

If you can't find someone near Martinez to test your board. I live in Tracy you are more than welcome to test your board in my Asteroids if you would like..
 
If you can't find someone near Martinez to test your board. I live in Tracy you are more than welcome to test your board in my Asteroids if you would like..

Thank you kindly CR. I may take you up on that at some point. I'm fairly certain that it's a board issue so I'm going to continue trying to track it down for a while first but I really appreciate the offer!
 
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