STAR WARS resetting during gameplay

casimar

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I have an upright Atari STAR WARS that is resetting after 20 or so minutes of gameplay. Otherwise it seems to be working great. Does anyone know what I should look for?

Thanks and MTFBWY
Christopher
 
I have an upright Atari STAR WARS that is resetting after 20 or so minutes of gameplay. Otherwise it seems to be working great. Does anyone know what I should look for?

Thanks and MTFBWY
Christopher

Going to need a lot more information to classify the problem.

It resets ONLY during game play? (If you just leave it on for 2hrs it's fine)
Does it reset at the SAME point in the game each time?
Once it resets once, does playing again immediately reduce the time to the next reset?
 
Going to need a lot more information to classify the problem.

It resets ONLY during game play? (If you just leave it on for 2hrs it's fine)
Does it reset at the SAME point in the game each time?
Once it resets once, does playing again immediately reduce the time to the next reset?
It seems to be only during play, yes.

It is not the exact same place every time but seems to relate to duration. If you start on hard its generally at start of wave 7. I tried playing from easy and it happened during wave 5, so its not hard coded to a certain moment in game as far as I can tell. It seems more likely to occur as the tie fighters race back to the death star / scene transition to towers cutscene but not consistently.

The next reset does not seem to occur any faster the next time, it seems to be working just fine until it unexpectedly resets back to Obi Wan speaking on the title screen.

It is a new behavior but that is what i have seen so far. If theres anything else to test before i open it up let me know and thank you.
 
Sounds like a power supply or connector heating issue.

Start with the power supply - make sure your voltages are good. Test your 5 VDC line on the game board and see what is getting past the edge connector.

Then work the edge connectors over with a fiberglass scratch pen and DeOxit.
 
My Tempest started randomly resetting a while back, turned out the Big Blue cap was failing. It's an easy thing to check.
 
It seems to be only during play, yes.

It is not the exact same place every time but seems to relate to duration. If you start on hard its generally at start of wave 7. I tried playing from easy and it happened during wave 5, so its not hard coded to a certain moment in game as far as I can tell. It seems more likely to occur as the tie fighters race back to the death star / scene transition to towers cutscene but not consistently.

The next reset does not seem to occur any faster the next time, it seems to be working just fine until it unexpectedly resets back to Obi Wan speaking on the title screen.

It is a new behavior but that is what i have seen so far. If theres anything else to test before i open it up let me know and thank you.

As other's have mentioned checking over the power supply and the output voltages is important. Do you own a voltmeter?

I'd also flip the test switch and see if there are any errors reported. I'd do this on right after turning the game on and after the game resets to see if something is failing do to heat.

Are you familiar with how to perform any of these checks?
 
Any Atari game out there, I personally do nothing until I check if "Big Blue" is performing well. You can test its capacitance with the right voltmeter. At the end of the day though, if that thing is stock from '83 and has never been changed, it's time to change it regardless.

I've had monitor issues on Centipede, errors in Pole Position, etc. and a lot of the time, changing Big Blue on the power brick solved the problems. It's responsible for a LOT of stuff in Golden Age Atari games.



I'll typically get them from either of the above when needed for any Atari games I pick up or to change original ones from the 80's.

I'm not saying it's your issue or even part of your issue, but I think it's a must no matter what for increased reliability. Those above have recommended what you need to do about checking voltages. Power and its flow across PCB components is everything and even the slightest problem can screw with your performance.
 
As other's have mentioned checking over the power supply and the output voltages is important. Do you own a voltmeter?

I'd also flip the test switch and see if there are any errors reported. I'd do this on right after turning the game on and after the game resets to see if something is failing do to heat.

Are you familiar with how to perform any of these checks?
Yes thank you. I am travelling but will try soon.
 
Any Atari game out there, I personally do nothing until I check if "Big Blue" is performing well. You can test its capacitance with the right voltmeter. At the end of the day though, if that thing is stock from '83 and has never been changed, it's time to change it regardless.

I've had monitor issues on Centipede, errors in Pole Position, etc. and a lot of the time, changing Big Blue on the power brick solved the problems. It's responsible for a LOT of stuff in Golden Age Atari games.



I'll typically get them from either of the above when needed for any Atari games I pick up or to change original ones from the 80's.

I'm not saying it's your issue or even part of your issue, but I think it's a must no matter what for increased reliability. Those above have recommended what you need to do about checking voltages. Power and its flow across PCB components is everything and even the slightest problem can screw with your performance.
Thank you. I have done some board and monitor work but I dont think Ive really looked at this power supply.
 
How is your fuse block? I have a SW that had reset issues till I replaced the fuse block (just enough resistance to drop voltage).

Scott C.
 
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