Star Wars Tech Help.....

spedlot

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OK..so monitor not working..spot killer on, game was working no issues and after several hours, then no screen. I can hear obi wan talk on start up. In test mode..I get high tones 1-13, 14 is low tone and 15-16 are high tones. Found that:
14) EPROM 1F or 1M on the CPU board +++

Would this cause spot killer to turn on and no monitor? I have all re-done "new" neckboard, chasis, HV flyback etc...and even bottlecaps. So I doubt this is the problem. I even swapped hardware, same thing...and even put in the Alan-1 WG6100 board and Transistor upgrade kit I bought a few years ago and same things. Also a vector labs kit on there, doubt its the problem...but just thought about it.

Just seeing some community thoughts. The three lights in a row, top left on the PCB do light up and then go dark after startup.

Thanks as always community.
 

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Let's slow down.

You are describing a game "playing blind."

That means the CPU is running, but:
1. Either the vector section is faulted or
2. There is a problem with the CRT.

Did you check your power readings? How about your AC Ripple on the DC legs? It needs to be less than 0.5 vAC on the DC legs.

Do you have an oscilloscope?
 
I am trying to locate pictures of the PCB and the locations to test. I read some posts that recommend video section for +15V and -15V, but dont exactly know where they are on the PCB.
Negative on the oscilloscope.

Also...have no idea where to check for...How about your AC Ripple on the DC legs? It needs to be less than 0.5 vAC on the DC legs.

I am open to learning though
 
The Empire Strikes Back kit always says it has that ROM bad.. that is not an issue.. (I consider it a bug)
The +15, -15 test points are in the analog section of the board.. (poorly labeled in yellow most often) where all the adjustment pots are.

You want to test the X and Y outputs with a meter set to AC.. they should be pretty steady in test mode ~
~Yout = 2.4vac, ~Xout = 1.5Vac during the testing whop whop whop mode..

These are right near the 15v test points..
Check this stuff first..
 
Honestly, the first time I ever heard that test noise I panicked and turned the game off. Lol

Really did scare the crap out of me.
The Empire Strikes Back kit always says it has that ROM bad.. that is not an issue.. (I consider it a bug)
The +15, -15 test points are in the analog section of the board.. (poorly labeled in yellow most often) where all the adjustment pots are.

You want to test the X and Y outputs with a meter set to AC.. they should be pretty steady in test mode ~
~Yout = 2.4vac, ~Xout = 1.5Vac during the testing whop whop whop mode..

These are right near the 15v test points..
Check this stuff first..
 
The Empire Strikes Back kit always says it has that ROM bad.. that is not an issue.. (I consider it a bug)
The +15, -15 test points are in the analog section of the board.. (poorly labeled in yellow most often) where all the adjustment pots are.

You want to test the X and Y outputs with a meter set to AC.. they should be pretty steady in test mode ~
~Yout = 2.4vac, ~Xout = 1.5Vac during the testing whop whop whop mode..

These are right near the 15v test points..
Check this stuff first..
ok I will give that a shot this morning. So when I check it, put my DMM red on the +15v and where do I place the black lead? Same for checking the -15V. This is where I fail being a tech!
Also...is there a picture of where theX & Y outputs are....I was looking and did not see it being obvious. Also...same question...where to place my probes.
 
14.71 on plus and 14.86 on negative
For X out and Y out i have no readings in AC mode. I placed black lead on ground and red lead on x and then Y. Sound test going while i'm testing.
 
14.71 on plus and 14.86 on negative
For X out and Y out i have no readings in AC mode. I placed black lead on ground and red lead on x and then Y. Sound test going while i'm testing.
Did you forget to put a negative sign on that negative reading?
 
No AC output - can be a sub $40 volt meter .. the very low cost meters can't read the outputs well.
or
I noticed your video board has the original Atari AVG chip.
Those fail and can take everything off-line.
You may want to get one of those and replace it (which isn't a bad idea anyway..)
 
You want to be using my 6100 bring-up guide here, to bring this game up. Do NOT just plug everything together and hit power. That's the fastest way to blow up your new monitor parts. Download here, and ask questions about anything you don't understand:


Having no XY output is what will cause the spot killer to turn on. It's doing its job. However you don't want to be testing with the monitor connected yet, so unplug it. Then use your DMM (per the instructions above, which are also in the guide) to test the XY outputs from the game board. You don't want to connect the monitor until you are getting valid readings for the XY outputs.

Replacing the AVG chip is also a good move here. That should be done on any Atari board that has an original chip, as they are frequent failures.
 
Do you have any other vector game, to test with?

I can't speak for either of those models, but some DMM's have issues with small AC voltages. So you want to verify any of the cheap DMM's to see if they can or not.

If I had to guess, the red one might be ok, and the yellow one might not be. The models that only have two settings for AC voltage (200 and 600V) all use the same chipset inside, and those tend to be the ones that have issues with small AC voltages.

However in this case, the fact that you're getting zero for both correlates with the fact that you're getting a spot killer LED on the monitor, both of which point to the game board not outputting XY signaling.

Replacing the AVG is your next move. Then retest.
 
Roget that. Will unplug that so as to not destroy those parts. As you stated, and based upon my findings so far, it looks like the spot killer is doing its job. Just crazy how it was working fine and then boom, gone. I know...I know..welcome to arcade ownership.

Based upon my 0 at X and 0 at Y...is that the AVG chip or possibly other things in the mean time?
 
It could be other things, but start with the AVG chip. Unless you have a scope handy, that's your next move.

These games work until one part breaks, then they don't. That's just vectors. In most cases one blown part usually takes out a bunch of other stuff. So in this case if it's just the AVG, you're lucky. But you want to follow the process in the guide, which will help catch other bad parts before you do damage.
 
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