Got a Z80A handy that you can swap onto the SSIO board? I'd probably start there because it's dead simple.
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Spyhunter sound problem
- Thread starter dyno
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Got a Z80A handy that you can swap onto the SSIO board? I'd probably start there because it's dead simple.
Zinfer
Well-known member
Got a Z80A handy that you can swap onto the SSIO board? I'd probably start there because it's dead simple.
What's really strange is, I did that last night. I tried 2 of them. Once I swapped in the Z80 the weapons van button switch would not acknowledge I pressed it. I even tried shorting the contacts in the switch (thinking the switch just went bad) and it did not respond. I pulled the Z80 and put the original back in. Still did it. But once it did work, still no sound.
Then the pot on the accelerator stopped working. I may have to pull the boardstack out again and look at that socket.
I don't understand why the game would refuse to start and the accelerator pot stop working after I swapped the Z80. But the original reason I swapped it, was un-phased.
Hmmm. Given your new issues plus your older one, I'd probably just send the boardset and abs position and dual amp board to cdjump and let him sort it out. You'll get it back quickly and it'll work 100%.
You might check the cabling as well from the gas pedal pot to the abs position board.
Zinfer
Well-known member
What's really amazing is that the screen says that the value should be OB, yet the values range from 1C to 34. There is no OB. I pulled the pot and manually ran the ranges. So there is in fact an 'OB' in a working Pot? Maybe I need to replace the pots in both the steering and accelerator. Was there ANYTHING working right with this Spy Hunter project?
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Ignore the 0B. It's not important, you just don't want the pot arranged so the dead spot around where it wraps is in the range reported to the game.
If the values range from 1c to 34 then your pot needs to be replaced but this wouldn't be causing the issue where everything stops working. That's something else.
The fact that you're getting numbers in the calibration screen means the game is seeing the gas pedal pot again so I guess that's intermittent?
I would leave your steering wheel pot alone unless it's not working correctly.
And i wouldn't be too bummed about the gas pedal pot; they're usually not working initially.
You can hold off on replacing it for now if you want - the game will play but you won't get the turbo acceleration so your max speed will be limited.
Zinfer
Well-known member
I'm seeing that Mouser obsoleted the part everyone was using to replace them with. I'd really like to get it 100% while I'm working on it demogo. For the sound issue I am thinking of picking up a stock of 8910's next. I switched them socket to socket but made no difference. Still silence.
Thanks for the referral to a good Spy Hunter repair tech. I may reach a point here soon after the 8910 replacement.
I am just mystified why I'm not getting any OB, O'anything. There are no O's preceding anything. I also found that with my pot not adjusted correctly with the accelerator, that when I steer left I go right and crash off the burm. I know - lunacy right?
I'm getting slapped around by this game pretty good and I appreciate all your help in particular at getting it up to snuff and in peek condition. Fully functional and out of my hair later down the road.
Thanks for the referral to a good Spy Hunter repair tech. I may reach a point here soon after the 8910 replacement.
I am just mystified why I'm not getting any OB, O'anything. There are no O's preceding anything. I also found that with my pot not adjusted correctly with the accelerator, that when I steer left I go right and crash off the burm. I know - lunacy right?
I'm getting slapped around by this game pretty good and I appreciate all your help in particular at getting it up to snuff and in peek condition. Fully functional and out of my hair later down the road.
Zinfer
Well-known member
Everyone has said that the dual amplifiers are probably the last likely to be the problem. However I have looked at mine and I am seeing rust on them. So that may be something I need to look into as well. But I've cranked the pot and not heard a thing at all. You'd think I'd hear at least something however quietly if it's not being amped?
Well, getting to 100% involves replacing the gas pedal pot eventually but that's definitely not causing your issues that you've described.
cdjump isn't just a good repair tech, he's an MCR god. He knows these things inside and out, he works quickly, and his prices are reasonable. He's also a heck of a nice guy.
Don't know about the 8910s. Usually if one isn't working you can pin it down by swapping them but you'd have to have none working to see your symptom. It's probably something else.
Did your steering and gas pedal issues start only after you swapped the interconnect cables? I'm wondering if that didn't damage something somehow.
Zinfer
Well-known member
Wow - now that is a good question! I picked back up on this after a few years. Time is taking it's toll on my memory. But I limited power during the restore and progressed to this point one step at a time. Were actually to the point we just begun applying power. The reason I bought the new MCR cables was to BEGIN diagnosing the audio problem and to ensure everything had a solid connection. So the audio issue existed before replacement. Now I will say the Cheap Squeak completely needs either the connector replaced or the header because I always have to fiddle with it as it has a loose connection and BUZZ. Not the main power, but the audio header near the rightmost top as your facing it from back of cabinet door. The connector either needs repinned or the header replaced, most likely both. However I do not believe that affects the SSIO portion. Maybe I'm wrong. I should have heard SOMETHING by now on the digital side. My belief is that it is something on the SSIO or the Amp. And I am missing just 1 cap from calling the Dual Audio amp completely recapped. That should arrive Saturday.
I first found a problem with steering and acceleration after I attempted swapping the Z80. I have since put the old one back. I think I made it worse by attempting manual readjustment of the pot and I have no pictures of what it originally was at on calibration.
For some reason, the weapons van button is now working 100%. Probably due to putting the original Z80 back and resetting the board with the red button. Funny thing, it remembered the credits even after power down. Would always blink the weapons van button on power up. Strange.
But yea, like I said I tried swapping the 8910's and no result. The diagnostics on this unit are pathetic. Just color flipping - absolutely useless function in test mode.
I will buy RIGHT NOW 2 5k pots that will work with Spy Hunter without alot of jury rigging. I'd really like to find a couple good pots to replace these if I'm supposed to get readings like 'OB' that simply isn't there when manually turning the pot. There is no 0 anything.
Do you have a signal tracer or a mini amp?
I made my own but you can buy one at radio shack. I use alligator clips and a DMM probe. With that you can probe the sound at the source before it goes through any of the amplifiers.
Also, as I've mentioned in a previous post (page 1), do you have the SSIO test chip and procedures courtesy of Clay Cowgill? It allows you to trouble shoot the SSIO board by applying various tests and you can use an o-scope or logic probe to test the outputs. I believe you can even test your SSIO on your bench disconnected from the stack. It will run a punishing test of the ram and will test your 8910's. All you need is a eprom programmer and an o-scope or logic probe.
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> Now I will say the Cheap Squeak completely needs either the connector replaced or the header because I always have to fiddle with it as it has a loose connection and BUZZ. Not the main power, but the audio header near the rightmost top as your facing it from back of cabinet door. The connector either needs repinned or the header replaced, most likely both.
I've not ever repinned that spot but I have repinned other connectors on my harness and it was pretty straightforward. But as you said, it's not causing your game audio issues. You can unplug it entirely if you want to test it that way.
Did you try swapping the amps themselves on the dual amp board? If that doesn't change anything then it's almost certainly something on your SSIO board.
> I think I made it worse by attempting manual readjustment of the pot and I have no pictures of what it originally was at on calibration.
Yeah, you'll get some screwy behavior if you don't have your gas pedal pot set right when you calibrate it, but it's easy to do. Dial the value down to around 0B (or anything as long as it's bigger than 1 and relatively small) with your foot off the gas pedal on the *gas pedal pot calibration screen*, not the user input test screen. Then hit the calibration button. That's all there is to it. You just don't want to have a value where the pot reading ever wraps through the entire range because it has a dead zone there. The initial value makes no difference at all as long as you don't hit a "wrap condition" during the whole range of play.
> Funny thing, it remembered the credits even after power down.
So you have a battery hooked up somewhere. Is the original white one still soldered onto the linear power board? If it is, I'd take it off immediately.
> Would always blink the weapons van button on power up
If it has credits then it'll blink the weapons van button. That's normal behavior.
I've not ever repinned that spot but I have repinned other connectors on my harness and it was pretty straightforward. But as you said, it's not causing your game audio issues. You can unplug it entirely if you want to test it that way.
Did you try swapping the amps themselves on the dual amp board? If that doesn't change anything then it's almost certainly something on your SSIO board.
> I think I made it worse by attempting manual readjustment of the pot and I have no pictures of what it originally was at on calibration.
Yeah, you'll get some screwy behavior if you don't have your gas pedal pot set right when you calibrate it, but it's easy to do. Dial the value down to around 0B (or anything as long as it's bigger than 1 and relatively small) with your foot off the gas pedal on the *gas pedal pot calibration screen*, not the user input test screen. Then hit the calibration button. That's all there is to it. You just don't want to have a value where the pot reading ever wraps through the entire range because it has a dead zone there. The initial value makes no difference at all as long as you don't hit a "wrap condition" during the whole range of play.
> Funny thing, it remembered the credits even after power down.
So you have a battery hooked up somewhere. Is the original white one still soldered onto the linear power board? If it is, I'd take it off immediately.
> Would always blink the weapons van button on power up
If it has credits then it'll blink the weapons van button. That's normal behavior.
Zinfer
Well-known member
Well, a long while ago I did the lithium conversion of the power board. That's what it is. Hrm. NO I haven't even touched the amps on the dual board. I really need to pull that board again. I replaced the caps on it, but perhaps reflowing the solder wouldn't hurt on the amps. I'll have to take a snapshot of them. They looked pretty crusty.
Zinfer
Well-known member
Ok, swapped the Amps - made no difference at all. As I said, beforehand I tried swapping the 8910's to no avail. Tried a new Z80 but then the pots went screwy. I also pulled the absolute position board, replaced the cap 10uf16v with a 10uf25v. Reflowed the pin headers on both cards. Still can't get anything OB or anything below 1C. I am going to reserve judgement on that until the pots arrive. Spoke with the MCR God and he pointed me in the direction of where to find a couple, Jameco. I bought the high quality ones for $10 a piece.
If it turns out the pots don't affect anything, I'm going to call it that both issues are with the MCR boardset.
I would like to repin that connector on the cheap squeak and get a new header for it. Do you have any idea what size those are? They're pretty tiny pins.
Cool that you got updated links to Spy Hunter pots; would you mind sharing them? I personally favor 360 degree pots; it makes it easier to install.
I don't know the size off the top of my head; I'll go look later tonight... I don't think I've ever replaced those but I have replaced several other connectors on the wiring harness and they were all standard sizes...
> If it turns out the pots don't affect anything, I'm going to call it that both issues are with the MCR boardset.
I can tell you that the pots aren't causing your issues where they become suddenly and intermittently unresponsive; I can tell you that when you replace your gas pedal pot (which is non-trivial) your reported range from the pot will be around 23h instead of 16h-17h and it'll make an enormous difference in gameplay. If you want to get competitive with Spy Hunter you HAVE to have turbos to get out of harm's way and they only kick in around 20h.
Your pots going unresponsive are very likely either an issue with the MCR boardset, the absolute position board, or a cable/connector that is dirty or not making good contact.
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Zinfer
Well-known member
The link CDjump gave me was this for the high quality pots. http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/st...001&productId=13995&catalogId=10001&CID=MERCH. The audio is enouph for me to send the boardstack in. I just want to be absolutely positive I have tested everything else to tell the tech right?
Sure!
Those pots look good; I prefer the 360 degree rotation and those are 312 but they should work fine as long as you're extra careful when you install them.
Make sure you include your absolute position board as well.
Zinfer
Well-known member
I went over that today. Even replaced that 10uf16v with a 10uf25v cap. Not seeing a darn thing amiss with it, but I suppose it could be one of those IC's. Who the hell knows? No explanation why I'm not getting the full hexadecimal codes. What I desire is to be able to actually install the pot and get OB. It should NOT be difficult adjusting it manually. I should be able to get OB adjusting the pot by hand from the front of the cab. I've never seen it.
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Yeah, you should.
What voltages do you get out of the pot if you check it?
One of the symptoms of a faulty pot is if it's not reporting numbers in a certain range or if the voltage jumps around instead of progressing smoothly as you slowly turn the pot.
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