Star Trek Upright SOS . . . _ _ _ . . . . . . _ _ _ . . . Pfftfzzle

Madaracs

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Red Alert: Star Trek Upright SOS Pfftfzzle Pffixed.

I'm in need of a little guidance.

I rebuilt my G80 PS and popped it into the unit four days ago. It worked fine for two days. Then yesterday I turned it on and I heard a fizzle, garbled sound and then nothing.

Now the main fuse keeps blowing.

I swapped out power supplies with another I had standing by that more or less worked when I took it out of the game.

Turned it on. Main fuse blows.

Then I unplugged the monitor. The unit powered up. All I hear is a nasty hum from the speakers. So I shut it off. Pulled the 10V DC in/out and audio cables and turned it on. The lights and fans run fine. Main fuse held.

There is some scoring on the 10V DC input--but the connector has been like that for some time. I was hoping that rebuilding the G80 would help keep this beast running longer as it was acting up a little.

Where should I start with checking voltages? I know I'm looking for -12, +12, -5, +5 but I don't know where to check. Page 71 in the manual has the harness assembly but it doesn't indicate voltages. Page 16 shows me bus assignments but I don't know which pins have which power on them. I'd like to test them properly. Any advice here would be nice and if you have experience with the manuals and know where to point me I would really appreciate it.

So frustrating.
 
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There could be a lot going on but based on what you posted, my guess about what happened is this:

Your monitor went. When it did, it caused a power spike that took out the memory on the CPU right before the fuse blew.

Where you sit now is that your monitor is drawing too much current (short) and needs work. The Hum from the audio is due to the board not booting up due to what I suspect is 4 blown 2114 RAMs on the CPU board.

If it were me, I would just forget about the monitor for now and concentrate on getting the boards running again since you will need them to test the monitor when you get it repaired. Check your voltages, replace those RAMs, and see if you don't get it to play blind.

The three pins closest to the sound connections are all +5. The next pin (the fourth one from sound) is -5. The next three (five six and seven from sound) are ground. Measure your +5 and -5 and don't worry about the rest for now.
 
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I thank you for the tips. I will start with voltages, pull the monitor, begin recapping and such. I do have a spare board-set so I can start there.

Any idea where to get RAM for this thing?

My fortune at lunch today:

7599547816_ccf5b04d12_c.jpg


There could be a lot going on but based on what you posted, my guess about what happened is this:

Your monitor went. When it did, it caused a power spike that took out the memory on the CPU right before the fuse blew.

Where you sit now is that your monitor is drawing too much current (short) and needs work. The Hum from the audio is due to the board not booting up due to what I suspect is 4 blown 2114 RAMs on the CPU board.

If it were me, I would just forget about the monitor for now and concentrate on getting the boards running again since you will need them to test the monitor when you get it repaired. Check your voltages, replace those RAMs, and see if you don't get it to play blind.

The three pins closest to the sound connections are all +5. The next pin (the fourth one from sound) is -5. The next three (five six and seven from sound) are ground. Measure your +5 and -5 and don't worry about the rest for now.
 
I thank you for the tips. I will start with voltages, pull the monitor, begin recapping and such. I do have a spare board-set so I can start there.

Any idea where to get RAM for this thing?

My fortune at lunch today:

7599547816_ccf5b04d12_c.jpg

try this : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-10-N...741?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3370acc83d

and this : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-AMD...663?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item563763724f

and this : http://www.ebay.com/itm/MHB2114-MM2...991?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c2700a90f

and this :http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAM-2114-SY...000?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ae389ede0

if i have to look up anymore i charge 0.50 a hour ..LOL :D


GOOOOOOOOOOOD LUCK !


END OF LINE.


Daniel.
 

*lol* Thanks. "Let me Google that for you..." The funny thing is that I'm so dense I forgot I bought a bunch from TwistyWrist awhile back. I had MORE than enough to try it out. Now I need a Zilog (Z80A) as well!

And a HUGE thank you to Mongo for the advice tonight. I'm lucky that I had another board set to test parts out with as I'm in the process of restoring my Chair still.

After swapping some RAM and many a board we narrowed the issue down to the X-Y Control Board (probably some bad RAMs there too--need to do some more troubleshooting) and also the CPU board is shot. The RAM replacement didn't fix the CPU board initially so now the Zilog is suspect.

But after all the work tonight, I had the pleasure of hearing the startup theme, "Spock" and the game plays blind now. What a relief! And I'm no longer afraid of Star Trek board sets!

Next up: Cap the GO8 and test the voltage to the monitor. Once I get the voltage down to 45V and test the Monitor out to make sure she's not drawing too much power, I'll put everything back.

Highs and Lows in this hobby for sure, but when something goes right you feel so good about it!!!
 
*lol* Thanks. "Let me Google that for you..." The funny thing is that I'm so dense I forgot I bought a bunch from TwistyWrist awhile back. I had MORE than enough to try it out. Now I need a Zilog (Z80A) as well!

And a HUGE thank you to Mongo for the advice tonight. I'm lucky that I had another board set to test parts out with as I'm in the process of restoring my Chair still.

After swapping some RAM and many a board we narrowed the issue down to the X-Y Control Board (probably some bad RAMs there too--need to do some more troubleshooting) and also the CPU board is shot. The RAM replacement didn't fix the CPU board initially so now the Zilog is suspect.

But after all the work tonight, I had the pleasure of hearing the startup theme, "Spock" and the game plays blind now. What a relief! And I'm no longer afraid of Star Trek board sets!

Next up: Cap the GO8 and test the voltage to the monitor. Once I get the voltage down to 45V and test the Monitor out to make sure she's not drawing too much power, I'll put everything back.

Highs and Lows in this hobby for sure, but when something goes right you feel so good about it!!!

BTW..i Have an Original GAME CAGE Full of Star Trek Boards i'll Prolly Take to My Grave because my Parents when i was a kid Wouldn't let me move My Original StarTrek from PA to Florida :D... so this is one Game i Know More than i know myself.. so when it comes to this Game i'm pretty good at Finding stuff :D

like this :


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zilog-Z80A-...418?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c64be9c12

and this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pick-of-2-Z...578?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e705a2fea

And This :

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Z8400ADS-ZI...313?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ad5583c89


Try THose :D


Oh Yeah..... WELCOME ABOARD CAPTAIN....:D



END OF LINE:

Daniel.
 
Last edited:
BTW..i Have an Original GAME CAGE Full of Star Trek Boards i'll Prolly Take to My Grave because my Parents when i was a kid Wouldn't let me move My Original StarTrek from PA to Florida :D... so this is one Game i Know More than i know myself.. so when it comes to this Game i'm pretty good at Finding stuff :D

like this :


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zilog-Z80A-...418?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c64be9c12
and this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pick-of-2-Z...578?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e705a2fea
And This :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Z8400ADS-ZI...313?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5ad5583c89
Try THose :D
Oh Yeah..... WELCOME ABOARD CAPTAIN....:D
END OF LINE:
Daniel.

Thanks for the tips bit I've already got 2 coming from TwistyWrist

http://www.twistywristarcade.com/processors-40-pin-ics/104-z80-cpu.html

-edit-

And I decided to pony up for a lot of 10 that you had a link to just to have a stack on hand.
 
Last edited:
OK, she's back up and running.

Here's a list of what was done Thursday to figure out the board problems:

  • First unplugged the monitor, and pulled all boards except the CPU board.
  • Tested the three pins closest to the audio connectors on DC10 Out for +5 and -5 voltage. They were within range. ~4.8 ea
  • Turned on game.
  • Fault light on CPU comes on.
  • Pulled CPU Board replaced memory reinserted only CPU board.
  • Fault light comes on.
  • Z80A suspect. On order. Replaced CPU board with one on hand.
  • No fault light. (This is good.)
  • Next added in ROM Board, X-Y boards and left both sound cards out. Powered on.
  • No fault light.
  • Next added in Sound Board.
  • No fault light--but no sound.

At this point we started swapping boards with a "good" but untested board set that I had. Swapping the sound board itself didn't seem to help us. however, after swapping the X-Y control board we got sound--there must have been a fault in that board that was preventing proper boot up. There was no indication from the fault light on the CPU that there was an issue but swapping those boards for some reason allowed the sound to work... I need to research this a bit more because it feels like a bit of dumb luck. At any rate, I'll be replacing the 2114 RAMs on the bad X-Y Control board and test it out. I'll publish a more methodical testing procedure once I figure out what went wrong. Ultimately I believe the X-Y board and the CPU boards to be at fault in this case as swapping the sound boards at this point still yields sounds in the game. I popped back in the speech board and we're off to the races on the boards.

It's really too bad that in the Star Trek manual the troubleshooting (although useful to a degree) is eloquently generalized by explaining what can go wrong with each component without having any real practical tests to perform.

It was a long Saturday on the monitor. Mainly because there was a bunch of preventative stuff I wanted to do and I had to read about how I was going to troubleshoot this beast. I used the G08 FAQ to help me discern which parts were safe to substitute and repair the monitor with and for troubleshooting tips.

Preventative maintenance:

  • Discharged dismantled and cleaned the boards--you could barely read the numbers it was so dirty.
  • Examined the deflection, hv, yoke and deflection daughter boards and re-flowed all header pins.
  • I recapped the HV board assembly.
  • Removed the four deflection transistors 2N6259 and replaced with NOS parts.
  • Performed Mongo's Mods:
    • Transformer Mod (input on monitor is now 43.2V vs. 48.3V)
    • 2N6259 transistor mod.
    • Since I rebuilt my G80 Power Supply I did not do his switching PS mod.
  • Replaced the main signal wire from the HV to the yoke. It was completely shot.
  • Discovered 7A fuses where 5A should have been used at F400 and F401

I was lucky that the deflection transistor fuses hadn't blown on my deflection board. I was really dealing with F400 and F401 blowing and nothing else.

With my multimeter set in continuity mode, I began to test components. The 3rd component I tested was a rectifier diode located ad D403. It beeped. I shouldn't have continuity on any diode. That is at least one problem. Using page 26 on the G08 FAQ for advice I discovered I already had some 1N5402 that I could use for replacing all of the rectifier diodes.

I replaced them and as the FAQ states Powered up the monitor in the following manner:

  • Kept the G80 PCB Cage disconnected! No need to blow all of the board work right now!
  • Powered up with yoke cable and deflection daughter boards disconnected.
  • Fuses held.
  • Added deflection and yoke.
  • Powered up. Fuses held.
  • Powered down and reconnected the G80 PCB Cage.
  • Voila! It's a sound and light show starring Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator!

Big thanks to Mongo for his tips and encouragement!

Before cleaning:
7619871592_bee5b51f6f_b.jpg


After cleaning:
7619871930_319317f340_b.jpg


Rectifier Diodes Before:

7619866494_b98bc9dbb2_b.jpg


Rectifier Diodes After:

7619872602_6f68d00508_b.jpg


Working:
7619872956_f0f1005647_b.jpg


High score:

7619873756_6bdb06ff44_b.jpg


Full Flickr set.
 
OK, she's back up and running.

Here's a list of what was done Thursday to figure out the board problems:

  • First unplugged the monitor, and pulled all boards except the CPU board.
  • Tested the three pins closest to the audio connectors on DC10 Out for +5 and -5 voltage. They were within range. ~4.8 ea
  • Turned on game.
  • Fault light on CPU comes on.
  • Pulled CPU Board replaced memory reinserted only CPU board.
  • Fault light comes on.
  • Z80A suspect. On order. Replaced CPU board with one on hand.
  • No fault light. (This is good.)
  • Next added in ROM Board, X-Y boards and left both sound cards out. Powered on.
  • No fault light.
  • Next added in Sound Board.
  • No fault light--but no sound.

At this point we started swapping boards with a "good" but untested board set that I had. Swapping the sound board itself didn't seem to help us. however, after swapping the X-Y control board we got sound--there must have been a fault in that board that was preventing proper boot up. There was no indication from the fault light on the CPU that there was an issue but swapping those boards for some reason allowed the sound to work... I need to research this a bit more because it feels like a bit of dumb luck. At any rate, I'll be replacing the 2114 RAMs on the bad X-Y Control board and test it out. I'll publish a more methodical testing procedure once I figure out what went wrong. Ultimately I believe the X-Y board and the CPU boards to be at fault in this case as swapping the sound boards at this point still yields sounds in the game. I popped back in the speech board and we're off to the races on the boards.

It's really too bad that in the Star Trek manual the troubleshooting (although useful to a degree) is eloquently generalized by explaining what can go wrong with each component without having any real practical tests to perform.

It was a long Saturday on the monitor. Mainly because there was a bunch of preventative stuff I wanted to do and I had to read about how I was going to troubleshoot this beast. I used the G08 FAQ to help me discern which parts were safe to substitute and repair the monitor with and for troubleshooting tips.

Preventative maintenance:

  • Discharged dismantled and cleaned the boards--you could barely read the numbers it was so dirty.
  • Examined the deflection, hv, yoke and deflection daughter boards and re-flowed all header pins.
  • I recapped the HV board assembly.
  • Removed the four deflection transistors 2N6259 and replaced with NOS parts.
  • Performed Mongo's Mods:
    • Transformer Mod (input on monitor is now 43.2V vs. 48.3V)
    • 2N6259 transistor mod.
    • Since I rebuilt my G80 Power Supply I did not do his switching PS mod.
  • Replaced the main signal wire from the HV to the yoke. It was completely shot.
  • Discovered 7A fuses where 5A should have been used at F400 and F401

I was lucky that the deflection transistor fuses hadn't blown on my deflection board. I was really dealing with F400 and F401 blowing and nothing else.

With my multimeter set in continuity mode, I began to test components. The 3rd component I tested was a rectifier diode located ad D403. It beeped. I shouldn't have continuity on any diode. That is at least one problem. Using page 26 on the G08 FAQ for advice I discovered I already had some 1N5402 that I could use for replacing all of the rectifier diodes.

I replaced them and as the FAQ states Powered up the monitor in the following manner:

  • Kept the G80 PCB Cage disconnected! No need to blow all of the board work right now!
  • Powered up with yoke cable and deflection daughter boards disconnected.
  • Fuses held.
  • Added deflection and yoke.
  • Powered up. Fuses held.
  • Powered down and reconnected the G80 PCB Cage.
  • Voila! It's a sound and light show starring Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulator!

Big thanks to Mongo for his tips and encouragement!

Before cleaning:
7619871592_bee5b51f6f_b.jpg


After cleaning:
7619871930_319317f340_b.jpg


Rectifier Diodes Before:

7619866494_b98bc9dbb2_b.jpg


Rectifier Diodes After:

7619872602_6f68d00508_b.jpg


Working:
7619872956_f0f1005647_b.jpg


High score:

7619873756_6bdb06ff44_b.jpg


Full Flickr set.

YAY MADERACS !

YA GOT IT RUNNING !!!


CONGRATS!


END OF LINE.


Daniel.
 
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