Star Wars not working after a 4 hour trip

SuperGunGuru

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Well in spite of the game not powering up, I'm still pretty stoked about it, but yeah my Star Wars cockpit didn't quite survive the road trip. When I powered it up before loading the game played, but there were some funky vectors and it was missing most of the red. When I powered it up at home, the led on the 6100's deflection board would blink very quickly as if the game was resetting. Coining up I could get the game to seemingly start but only getting partial sounds and nothing on the screen. I tried the usual re-seating any socketed chips, but no change. The power supply seems okay from what voltages I was able to check without precariously trying to balance the pcb hooked to the short harness. I did test the monitor with my Black Widow and while I do have a no red issue with the monitor, it did display an image. This whole machine will get a big blue, power supply rebuild and 6100 rebuild, but the board is my biggest concern. In test I couldn't get any consitent beeps even when I would sometimes get one so I'm not sure what to do (I don't count on the power supply and big blue work making a diff but still). Given the funky vectors I first saw I was thinking maybe the AVG chip, but I can't say how well it's playing blind. Any thoughts? Of course it could just be bad timing for the failure to happen and have nothing to do with moving it.
 
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Several games I purchased working had issues when I got them home. Most wound up being bad / cracked solder points on boards where cables plug in. The other was bad cable connection between boards. Except for replacing one cable on one machine, reflowing solder on the connector pins fixed the others.
 
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Several games I purchased working had issues when I got them home. Most wound up being bad / cracked solder points on boards where cables plug in. The other was bad cable connection between boards. Except for replacing one cable on one machine, reflowing solder on the connector pins fixed the others.

After moving the machine from a long trip, this seems very logical.
Since I know that you would've already checked all of your cables, connections and pushed in all of the chips. Yes, I would pull the boards and reflow all of the solder on all of the connecting pins!!

Good luck
Steve
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. At this point bad solder would seem the logical choice. I pulled the boards, re-seated all socketed chips, tried test mode (got nothing), re-seated all cables and tested the 6100 monitor on my Black Widow (it works there but has its own missing red issue). I still want to do the usual Atari stuff (big blue and ARII rebuild).
 
Bump with a little bit of an update. I decided to tear the machine down and give it a good cleaning so it's ready to be moved into my house. In the process of that I re-capped the monitor and tested it on my Black Widow so I know it's a board issue (I also replaced the Big Blue and rebuilt the ARII plus adjusted the +5. In trying the basic test mode I can get 16 high beeps so nothing appears to be failing at least that it can see. I still have zero video from this thing though so I'm thinking it would have to be something with the AVG pcb, no?

Edit: I thought test mode was activated with the switch in the up position, but mine goes into test with the switch down. I should be able to flip the switch or the wiring but should up be test mode and not down?
 
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Did a little more digging on this one. I did double check voltages just to be sure, but more than that I did use my meter on the X and Y test points. The X reading seems to be normal with fluctuating numbers, but the Y reading, while it also fluctuates, gives my meter an open reading between the voltage fluctuations. This open reading corresponds very closely to a ticking coming from the monitor (which again is tested working on my Black Widow) so I'm thinking I have a Y output problem on the AVG board. Again, I have nothing at all on the monitor so I am flying blind. Now would really be a great time to work with my oscilloscope some more and get my electrical engineering buddy's help with it.....he did show me some basic stuff and we had my Asteroids running on it. Maybe it's worth trying the AVG in my Black Widow to rule it out?
 
Another update... Tonight I tried swapping the AVG from Star Wars into my Black Widow to see what it would do. Sure enough the BW no longer had video so I figured that had to be it. I took the known good AVG from BW and tried it in Star Wars and the game came back to life. :) I gave BW back her AVG and will order a replacement (probably 2 so BW has a backup). I don't understand how the AVG chip works and exactly what it does, but it's interesting how a bad one can really make a board do weird stuff....I mean Star Wars would kind of play blind, but I didn't get all my sounds and music either. Anyway, I'm glad there are reproductions out there....I'll do some digging but anyone care to share their opinion on which one is the best?

Edit: I would have to believe it's just bad timing for the chip to die and the road trip probably had zero to do with that. I do recall it had a vector issue when I tried it out at the OP's warehouse.
 
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Another update... Tonight I tried swapping the AVG from Star Wars into my Black Widow to see what it would do. Sure enough the BW no longer had video so I figured that had to be it. I took the known good AVG from BW and tried it in Star Wars and the game came back to life. :) I gave BW back her AVG and will order a replacement (probably 2 so BW has a backup). I don't understand how the AVG chip works and exactly what it does, but it's interesting how a bad one can really make a board do weird stuff....I mean Star Wars would kind of play blind, but I didn't get all my sounds and music either. Anyway, I'm glad there are reproductions out there....I'll do some digging but anyone care to share their opinion on which one is the best?

Edit: I would have to believe it's just bad timing for the chip to die and the road trip probably had zero to do with that. I do recall it had a vector issue when I tried it out at the OP's warehouse.

Awesome. Thanks for taking the effort to document this :)
 
Awesome. Thanks for taking the effort to document this :)

+1

and add a rep.

I would have helped some on this issue but I don't know anything about it. ?Well now that is not true, I just learned something about Star Wars and the avg board and I thought avg was just an anti virus program.
 
Thanks guys! :) Given my limited board repair ability, it's nice to fix one without too much fuss.

It's the worst feeling after it was working. It happened with my asteroids. Maybe it's static electricity from the tarp over the machine (During transit) which blows the electronic parts??

Some just sell the machine after much frustration.

Good to see your persistence. A good example actually!
 
It's the worst feeling after it was working. It happened with my asteroids. Maybe it's static electricity from the tarp over the machine (During transit) which blows the electronic parts??
!

No way. First of all, all the ICs are TTL on SW (and earlier games) and are pretty resistant to static. CMOS chips are the one's to die from static. Besides that, a tarp over the cab is waaaaayyyy too far away from the PCB.

AVGs simply die a lot it seems. The ones on my SW PCB sets are still working....knock on wood.

I thin Mark Spaeth sells a replacement board and Arcadeshop.com too. Any more ?

I like the Arcadeshop version for its smaller size and only 3 chips.

Marks is more components and larger board, he claims this way it's easier to fix should it go bad, but because the higher number of chips there is also a higher chance of something dying (if ever).

I have no experience with either though....
 
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No way. First of all, all the ICs are TTL on SW (and earlier games) and are pretty resistant to static. CMOS chips are the one's to die from static. Besides that, a tarp over the cab is waaaaayyyy too far away from the PCB.

AVGs simply die a lot it seems. The ones on my SW PCB sets are still working....knock on wood.

I thin Mark Spaeth sells a replacement board and Arcadeshop.com too. Any more ?

I like the Arcadeshop version for its smaller size and only 3 chips.

Marks is more components and larger board, he claims this way it's easier to fix should it go bad, but because the higher number of chips there is also a higher chance of something dying (if ever).

I have no experience with either though....

Most of the boards I have are mostly populated with ttl chip and I think I have spent about $150 in anti static products. I think many here don't take static very seriously, wrist straps, grounding mats, anti static bags. I still get many boards on e-pay that still come in the white (static producking) bubble wrap. The Elevator Action board I got (it is a 4 board stack) and had little more than white peanuts and wrapped in newspaper. Not a surprise, it doesn't work and getting the peanuts from between the boars is not real fun. This and the static properties makes my job that much more difficult.

Many times, while doing repairs, I find the outside chips are a common failure and I would say that is from static discharge, improper handling or both. Static may not kill a board RIGHT AWAY but it will kill it say in a week, month, several months. The static makes them weaker and may/will help them to early retirement.

I don't think that tarp did the issue unless you just folded up the tarp and then pushed on some chips on the pcb or something like that. I see e-pay fotos of pcb's on plastic totes, carpet, and once I seen one powered up on a METAL table with a sheet of newspaper under it.

This issue was probably a static time bomb and you know when you created one, you will feel/hear the snap that is associated with the static discharge. If I caused one of these I look at what part it was and replace it, if it is not bad, it will more likely will be soon. I don't play fair when it comes to static.

Many people don't know about this issue with static and I still see people trying to put gasoline into a container still in the car and NOT on the ground. I also see people getting back into the car while filling up the gas tank, NOT SMART! You can cause static build up, epically in dry climates and cause a fire. Many many more are on the cell phone when filling the up with gas, again not smart. Static is a very important and dangerous problem that many people do NOT take very seriously, unless you drag your feet across the carpet and touch their nose.

Again, I don't think the tarp cause this issue but static is always present and just waiting to attack, defend yourself man. Anti static shipping bags, touch the grounded metal frame of something before you touch anything else. Don't put boards on carpet, clear plastic totes to take fotos. Don't power up the board while still inside the clear/white bubble wrap, don't laugh I have seen this.

Static is NOT your friend and will harm you, pcbs, including ttl chips and has caused fires at the filling stations. Yes there is one 'caught on tape' that shows a man filling a gas can in the bed of his pickup truck and suddenly (for no apparent reason) catches fire.
 
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I said TTL are more resistant then CMOS, not that it was impossible to hurt them if you charge yourself up by walking on carpets etc. but a tarp outside a wooden case is extremely unlikely to hurt a TTL inside a cab,

Of course static needs to be taken seriously. There is a reason why they ground airplanes while fueling etc. etc.
 
I said TTL are more resistant then CMOS, not that it was impossible to hurt them if you charge yourself up by walking on carpets etc. but a tarp outside a wooden case is extremely unlikely to hurt a TTL inside a cab,

Of course static needs to be taken seriously. There is a reason why they ground airplanes while fueling etc. etc.

The damage was probably done at some point in the past and just now surfaced. It is a time bomb and it is just waiting for the right time, worst 4 U, to go by the way side. It may just be a connection.

Static is a very real danger and problem. Not many people will stand outside during a lightning storm. I would be surprised if Ben Franklin didn't have to change his pants after his experience with static electricity.

I agree, the tarp and wood cab doubt if that was the problem but static can be sneaky and who knows what kind of static protection was used by all who moved game and tarp. If you are moving a game you might look inside the coin door or something. Look to see where wires go and test to see if pcb will fall or is screwed down tight.

EDIT:

FIRE FIRE FIRE <<<Bevies and butt head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wiUBCMdO7Y
 
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Interesting read. Didn't know there were so many versions. The Arcadeshop version is now claiming 100% compatibility with all games too now so maybe William should update the text a bit ?
 
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