Spy Hunter vs. Spy Hunter? Is there a difference in boardsets?

Bullwinkle

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Spy Hunter vs. Spy Hunter? Is there a difference in boardsets?

I am trying to fix my Spy Hunter which has an issue with horizontal lines every 2 inches. I had been reading a bunch of threads and ran across a for sale thread by cdjump where he lists some SH boardsets, some for UR and some for cockpit. I didn't know realize there were 2 types of board sets and am now wondering, What are the differences between the boardsets? can a cockpit version work in an upright? Looking to find some boards to use to test my current boards but don't want to purchase some that will not work with my upright.

Thanks

Tom
 
the difference is in the ssio pcbs. The cockpit uses a panning ssio, and the upright uses a regular ssio. The panning ssio has 2 more sound outputs. It will work on the upright, but the connector on the upright is a pin shorter. I test cockpit pcbs in my upright regularly, but i use an adapter so i can have output from either the front 2 speakers, or the rear 2.
 
Oh cool..so I don't have to worry about the CPU or Vid Gen boards being different... thanks. (i've been testing without the ssio connected anyway :) )

I just printed the schematics for both boards on my plotter (big print for those of us who cant see crap anymore) so hopefully I can use them with my logic probe to determine where the fault lies

thanks again
 
you really need the ssio connected, as they tend to do some weird stuff without them. Even if it doesn't work.
 
you really need the ssio connected, as they tend to do some weird stuff without them. Even if it doesn't work.

I heartily concur with this!

Previously I was under the impression that the SSIO didn't need to be plugged in for testing (and even recommended that Tom test his boards this way). Since then, I have noticed the following issues *without* the SSIO connected:

1. Spy Hunter: It thinks it is in 'cocktail' mode. The video output it upside down, and the background scrolls backwards. Weird.

2. Tron: The sprites will appear 'shifted', i.e. the MCP cone in attract mode will be drawn lower than it should be drawn, right over some of the words below it in attract mode.

I've also seen other weird things that come and go without the SSIO hooked up. Don't get me wrong--testing without the SSIO is a great way to test to see if a boardset has any life in it.. i.e. if the CPU works, if the clock works, if the video board is dead, etc... but ultimately it has to be in place if you want to sort out the fine details of a board.
 
Previously I was under the impression that the SSIO didn't need to be plugged in for testing (and even recommended that Tom test his boards this way). Since then, I have noticed the following issues *without* the SSIO connected
The SSIO is on the buffered address/data bus which is pulled high, so without the SSIO connected the main CPU should be reading all-high. The high bits may not be quite what you expected (cocktail by default?) but it should at least be deterministic. I think that sort of issue is easily explained.

I like testing with/without the SSIO connected since I've seen twice where the SSIO took down the main cpu (by ribbon cables or dead chips). But that's really weird on the MCP cone... I can't explain that one and will be more cautious in the future.
 
For what I'm troubleshooting, no ssio is fine. I get the horizontal lines with or without it connected. The boardset works perfectly other than that, so I'm not concerned when I see something "odd" without the ssio connected. Once I figure it out, I can then reconnect and make sure everything is where it needs to be.

Course, I just had a thought that I need to know the schematic for the individual ICs / Memory chips, not the board in order to test with a logic probe. Am I incorrect on this? Up until now, I've only ever used a logic probe on Williams system 6 MPUs..which are broken down for me (how to test each pin and what to expect) in the "formerly" pinrepair.com tutorials. So I'm new to venturing out with my probe on my own :)
 
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