SW UR 6100 - Trapezoidal

DanoND

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I just picked up my first working vector, Star Wars. It has a 6100 in it which works well, but I have a few issues.

First, the game screen is trapezoidal, and stretches past the top of the screen. Previous owner said it changed on him without touching anything. He thought it might be a transistor issue, but wasn't sure.

Second, all the colors work except the low/dim red - it's extremely low. In the game when shooting the red pylons (or whatever they are) on the surface of the Death Star they're almost invisible. They're there, but very faint.

Third, I get a small blue dot in the center of the screen, but only occasionally. During the death star explosion it's more prevalent. What's causing this?

I was thinking of starting with a deluxe kit from Bob. Any issues I should be aware of with the kit or the process?
 
The color problems you're having are related to the bias and cutoff controls on the neckboard. Try turning up the red controls and see if you can make it brighter. The tube itself might be a bit weak, in which case, you will be able to make the red brighter - but it'll get fuzzy. Similarly, the blue is turned up just a tad too high. Back it off a bit to get rid of the dot. Viewing the test pattern screen, adjust the neckboard controls and the screen control to try to get all the colors equal in intensity all the way through.

As for the trapazoidal screen... I'm not sure. Not seen that one before, could be related to the X and Y pots on the game board. Try tapping on them and adjusting very slightly.

-Ian
 
I'll adjust the red (EDIT: ...and the blue), I don't know why, but I had written off any monitor-mounted controls after I read that the XY's were adjusted on the game board, and didn't even look. Forgot about the actual color adjustment.

The trapezoid shape is pretty extreme. I'll pull the board some night this week and try some adjusting.

Thanks!
 
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Yeah, it could be the pincushion problem, exacerbated by the y size being too great or something. Normal operation for a 6100 in a Star Wars is a picture that's slightly bent inward in the middle. But it shouldn't be vastly distorted, or off the screen. The correction board will remedy this, but honestly, it's not that bad without it.

-Ian
 
It's heavily distorted, and off the screen by a bit. There's a solid 1.5" on each side at the top. I'll tweak the pots on the board. I'm hoping that's all I need to do.

I also e-mailed Clay, begging for a 6100 corrector. :)
 
That's not an issue caused by pincushioning. Diffidently need pots tweaked on the AVG board. As far as Clay ponying up a corrector - good luck. He's been out of those for a long time. Wish he'd make some more.
 
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First off in a perfect world, I'm guessing your monitor has been rebuilt so there would be no deflection or voltage issues errors. This is what I'd check first, on the PCB, your issue with the trapezoidal image. When a AM6012 chip is in the process of failing on a gameboard it can cause loss of deflection on a axis fully (flat line) or partial (trapezoid). To check them you can piggyback a known good chip right on top of the one you think may be bad. Do this with the power off bend the pins ever so lightly on a known good AM6012 chip just enough so it will cause the chip to be held in place on top of the suspect chip, don't forget to match up the notch (pin 1) on the chips. (Very bad to put it on backwards) If your game now looks correct after turning it on you have found the culprit.
 
trapazoid could be that the yoke came lose, slid backawards on the tube (towards the neck) and fell downward so that the top of the yoke is closer to the neck of the tube.

Take some pics and post them so we can get a better idea.

Matt
 
That is possible and a real easy thing to check for if the yoke did come loose.

Take it easy, I hope you get it going SW is a great game.
Jim
 
Contacted Clay, he's currently making more corrector boards! Good news.

I believe the monitor has a new flyback and cap kit, maybe transistors, too. Lots of new solder on the back of the boards.

The blue pots on the neck board won't adjust the blue down, but it'll go WAY up. I can get nice sparklies on the screen real fast. The others are fully adjustable. What might cause this? (EDIT: Sweet! The 6100 FAQ identifies what might be causing this. I'll be popping that guy off and letting my Dad take a look!)

Also, on your advice I found the instructions for X/Y width in the manual and tweaked the gameboard pots and was able to get the monitor square, but can't get adjust the X/Y to full width/height. If I try, the bottom lines don't line up and the nose of the X wing gets wonky. Regardless, the pots all get maxed out pretty quickly. When viewing the cross hatch and squares, should I have 1.5 to 2" on each side of blank space? Not sure what's normal.

FWIW, when the death star explodes, the explosion expands to the full screen width and height.

Thanks for the help, guys. I'm learning. Off to find a 6100 manual online and read. Your advice is very appreciated.
 
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Here is a few pictures of my Star Wars with a WG K6100. The pictures are not the best because of the slow exposures needed to take the no flash pictures.
Notice how the screen bows into the middle, that is normal for this monitor when mounted in a Star Wars

picture.php


picture.php


picture.php


picture.php
 
Yep, the bow in the middle I understand, but my game still doesn't fill the whole screen like yours does. I still have at least 1.5" on every side. I'm going to mess with the adjustments a little more this week.
 
Ok my screen looks way off compared to yours. What's the adjustment that I need to mess with to fix this?
 

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Sounds like your B+ might be low or sagging. Check the B+ voltage by putting the black lead from the meter to the monitor frame, and the red lead to the orange wire at the top of the neckboard (labelled B+ on the board). It should be 180v.

If it's not, then adjust it using the HV adjust knob inside the HV cage. It's accessable with a long shafted flat blade screwdriver through the hole in the top of the cage, but be CAREFUL. Insert the screwdriver with the power off, and get it into the slot in the control. Then turn the game on, measure the voltage and carefully adjust accordingly. Shut the game off and remove the screwdriver.

As for the raster being skewed, I believe that is the X and Y BIP pots on the game board. You'll notice that the "align the boxes" BIP test has a bunch of not-aligned boxes in it...

-Ian
 
You're right, the boxes are not aligned. Wasn't sure how to align them. I'll check the B+ tonight. Low voltage there would cause a smaller display area, eh?

I'm also going to need to rig up something so I can have the boards out of the game while adjusting. I can't slide it back far enough to get to the last 2 pots on the video board, those must be the ones that adjust the BIP.

Thanks again.
 
It's heavily distorted, and off the screen by a bit. There's a solid 1.5" on each side at the top. I'll tweak the pots on the board. I'm hoping that's all I need to do.

I also e-mailed Clay, begging for a 6100 corrector. :)

Display corrector is trash...
It may fix some of the pincushion, but it makes the linearity terrible.

In any case, it won't help your trapezoidal distortion problem... it's most likely an mc1495 issue on your board.
 
Just to confirm - the display isn't trapezoidal anymore. It's square, and small. I'll post an update tonight/tomorrow when I get a few minutes to make adjustments.

It's frustrating not knowing much about how vector game video works. Trying to learn fast.
 
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