SpyHunter help in South Jersey

daughterdad

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My spyhunter doesn't work and I need it to for a December 12 birthday present.

Without the main board stack I had the monitor light up, the weapon lights lit, the marquee lit and had some sound.
With the board installed I got no sounds anymore and no weapon lights, monitor and marquee light up. I installed a new power connector to the board stack. I checked the voltages and they are correct.

I am not that good with boards at all. I need help! Is there someone who can look at this and help me? maybe check all the boards in their SH? Are there test points on the board stack. where? I have the manual for this.

HELP!
 
Is there someone who can look at this and help me? maybe check all the boards in their SH?
I would be glad to swap your boards into mine and check them out, but I'm in Kansas. By the time you paid for shipping, I'm not sure it would be worth it. Also not sure we would make the 12th. Regardless, if you're interested send me a PM and I'll give you my address.
 
what are you seeing on screen when the board is connected? FYI every SH I've ever owned. I believe it's been 4 or 5 now has needed more than 5v from the power supply board to boot up. It's possible if your power is "correct" it may not be enough for the game to boot.
 
Test the voltage on the sound board on the legs of one of those small capacitors connected on the top edge. It should read around 5.1-5.2 volts. Make sure it stays steady. These power supplies are not always very stable when powered for hours at a time. I had problem with garbled graphics on the car. This was due to a bad ram chip on the video board which is very common. There are 8 of these ram chips. I switched them around and the garbled graphics moved to the street and off the car. By process of elimination I found the bad chip and replaced it with one from a spare board. (The ram test incorrectly passed in self test mode). Test all the ribbon cables with a multimeter to confirm continuity from board to board but also disconnect them and test to make sure there are no traces shorted together on the same side. If you are short on time you might want to invest in a switching power supply and MCR adaptor (buy at arcadeshop.com) and then make a project out of rebuilding the original later. There can be many problems to fix before getting a spyhunter running properly. Good luck.
 
I replaced the fuses on the main powerbrick ( one was blown) and the fuse on the other power supply (that was blown also).

Now I get the sounds and it seems like the game wants to run. I can credit it and get the thump thump sound. I don't think the pedal is working. Nothing happens when I press it.
All the monitor does is light up and there is nothing at all, no image or anything. I will try to adjust things on it but I don't think that will work.

The steering wheel is disconnected for now. One problem at a time! how do you test the pots?

I hope I can get this working soon. Everyone wants to play it!
 
If your steering wheel weren't disconnected you could learn a lot by throwing the switch for diagnostics and testing the game's functionality there.

If everything tests okay except for your inputs then you may have a bad absolute position board, bad connections to/from that board or possibly a bad main board in your sandwich set.

Your pots probably are bad but that's not likely to give you NO input, it'll just give you inconsistent screwy readings.

edit: doh! I missed that you're getting no video. My bad! Hook up your steering wheel and press the weapons van button. Do you hear game sounds then?
 
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I can credit it and get the thump thump sound. I don't think the pedal is working. Nothing happens when I press it.
The next thing on a normally operating game is to press the weapons van button on the steering wheel to start the game. You might try hooking the steering wheel back up and pressing the button after you coin up.
All the monitor does is light up and there is nothing at all, no image or anything. I will try to adjust things on it but I don't think that will work.
You might check and make sure the video is plugged into the right PCB. The video cable plugs into a different board than all the rest, even though it looks like it should plug into the SSIO board.
 
There is a self test for the controls, but first you have to get it running. The sounds you are getting are from the peter gunn theme music. The PG sound is from a different source than the 3 board stack. Are you still getting a steady 5.2 volts on the sound board? You can also test for 5.2V on the middle cpu board the same way as the sound board on the 470mfd caps but attach alligator clips then turn on the power. What color is the screen? Can you start a game and play blind? Are all of the connectors plugged in? Have you confirmed that there is continuity between all connectors and connections? Did you move switch 1 and 2 over to the on position at Dipswitch SW#3 and do the rom ram test? When you pushed the red button, what did the yellow L.E.D. do?
 
wtf! video doesn't go to the SSIO! where does it go to then! maybe that is my viedo problem.

I can credit the game and press the weapons van and it sounds like it is playing. just the pedal doesn't seem to be working. no acceleration sounds.

but monitor first!
 
I am here at woork and the idea of the video in the wrong spot is bothering me. Tec9 tells me where it should go. I just have to do it!

I walk over to the machine. I find out where it should go. I do it! now should I turn it on or not? Screw it! power switch gets turned on. lights come on, music, and...... VIDEO! Coin it up? heck yes! press the weapons van.... gas it.... machine guns..... I can't steer! duh! pot isn't hooked up you idiot. I still tried to steer. The biggest smile overtook me.

Thank you all who helped me so far! I am not done yet!

thank you..

ps.. tec9 what is the model of the popcorn machine you have? I think I might want one
 
I have just made the 12th! everything works now! played about 10 games. I don't want to go back to work.

just one final question about sound. Is there times during play that there is no sound, or is there supposed to be sound all the time?
 
There should be sound at all times when you are playing. And when I say sounds, I mean machine guns, engine running, etc. The background song (peter gunn) should play for a bit in the beginning, and then turn off. The music will start again when you enter the weapons van. If you crash, the music stops.
-Mark

Glad to hear it's working!!
 
I had a feeling it might be a problem with the video connector. The connection on the sound board looks right but the key plug on the video cable would prevent you from plugging it in there.
 
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