Tech: Spy Hunter Video Glitch??? Need Help

jwe

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I cleaned and re-seated the ram chips earlier today and re-started the game and now the picture looks like this. Could this also be the SCSI cables? I have not replaced the old ones yet. Any help would be appreciated.
 

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What did the picture look like before you cleaned and reseated the chips?

I'd start with Bob's cables and see what you get from there. No sense jumping down other paths if the cables could fix this.
 
When you first turn the game on the words would be blurry and then lock in after warm up. The color was correct and some of the cars were not clear, also when you turned your car from side to side fast it would have a slight blurr. I also noticed some lines on the RH side of the screen.
 
You're going to need new interconnect cables anyway, I'd start with that and see where it gets you.
 
that and reseat the 2 eproms labeled bg0 and bg1 or bg1 and bg2, as well as the 6116 or 58725 (all near the top of the cpu board).
 
Replaced the cables and the picture looks fine now. Now the screen is upside down. I have checked the cables and they are in the right position. Any clue what to check?
 
Woo hoo! You're getting very close now!

I'm severely pressed for time at the moment but the issue is probably the way that your yoke wires are connected. They can be reversed which will give you the symptoms you describe.

Don't mess with them until someone gives you exactly which ones should be reversed or you can mess up your monitor.

Sorry I don't have time to dig that up at the moment but you might try looking at Bob Robert's site as I think he lists that.
 
The picture was in the right position with the old cables. They should be right as I did not mess with them. It will also not coin up now.
 
Then you may have one of your new interconnect cables on the wrong way. It's very easy to do -- there are 2 rows instead of 1 and 25 wires instead of 24. And you have to be correct on both sides of all of the cables or you'll scramble the signals going through it.

Double and triple check those connections.

I HATE these cables from Bob but there aren't a lot of good alternatives.
 
After reviewing Bob's pic of the cables I think I have them in the wrong location. I will confirm latter tonight. If they were in the wrong spot would that also affect the game from coining up?

Thanks for your support,
John
 
It's possible. You're scrambling the signals that the boards use to talk to each other. You can damage your boards that way too.
 
Re-checked the cable connections and one row was off. Re-installed them the correct way and all is fine now.

The odd thing is when I put up the highest score it states I ranked 85 or so. Any idea what that could be?
 
Re-checked the cable connections and one row was off. Re-installed them the correct way and all is fine now.

The odd thing is when I put up the highest score it states I ranked 85 or so. Any idea what that could be?

Excellent!

That is odd -- not sure what's up with that. Do you have a battery on your linear power board maintaining high scores?
 
Yes, the picture is up right again and I have replaced the battery but maybe it's a bad one. The high score worked when I first turned it back on then after a game or two it was not ranking correctly.
 
I Just played a few more games and it ranked correctly although I lost my original high score. I think the battery is dead or not charging.
 
So if you pull the battery, let it clear out the high scores, and then put the battery back in then things work okay?

What kind of battery are you using? How are you replacing it? Details!
 
It's a lithium battery that was soldered to the board. Similar to the original Just a Lithium type. I'm going to change it to a coordless battery. Would you happen to know what type of connector to use as I would like to change it with the game on and lose the scores or calibration.
 
Mine is having kinda the same problem. The video was upside down (until I flipped the plug on the monitor chassis...now Im guessing that this is a board problem) and the steering and pedel don't work. Also it won't coin. I changed the aps board to one that I know was working and still nothing. I will now make sure all the ribbon cables are working. Thanks for your post...its getting me closer!
 
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It's a lithium battery that was soldered to the board. Similar to the original Just a Lithium type. I'm going to change it to a coordless battery. Would you happen to know what type of connector to use as I would like to change it with the game on and lose the scores or calibration.

I think if you use a lithium battery you have to add a blocking diode as well or the game will try to charge the lithium battery and that won't be good.

I have no idea whether your game has the blocking diode or not. But if you want to go to a cordless phone battery then you'd need to make sure that it does NOT have the blocking diode or your battery will never charge with the game on.

Regarding the connector, I just unsoldered the leads that the original battery attached to and ran 2 wires down and away from the boards into a plastic tray I screwed to the side of the cab. Like this:

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Then you have to match the plugs on the cordless phone battery with a male connector on the wires coming from the power board. I just checked; I don't have the package any more that had the connector I used. I matched it by taking my cordless phone battery to Fry's and going through their connectors until I found one that had the right connector on it that would mate with the battery connector.

Sorry, that may not help you much but that's how I did it.

I can confirm that you can 'hot swap' the cordless phone batteries with the game on once you've got the connectors in place. And that way you can save your high scores and calibration settings between battery swaps.

Oh, it's also a good idea to enclose the battery in a plastic baggie in case it leaks. And I replace mine every 3 years.

And if at all possible, charge the cordless phone battery to 100% before you put it in the game the first time. (I kept an old cordless phone that used NiCd batteries just for this purpose). By doing it this way I could keep the game off for 2 months or more and the battery kept the game going just fine.
 

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