TEMPEST gone blind....

oktobernv

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1st Star Wars is down....now Tempest. Not my best day.

Tempest has no picture.

Plays blind.

Has neck glow.

Just finished re-capping the neck board and the deflection board.

No improvement.

If I crank up the brightness all the way - I do see a THIN line running horizontally in the center of the screen.

Screen collapse?

All the voltages check out and I have cleaned the edge connectors on the PCB.

Looking for some suggestions....

Thx much,

Rob
 
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I'm guessing the spot killer is on?

A horizontal line on Tempest means vertical collapse. Did you reflow the connector pins on the deflection board when you did the cap kit? Replace the bottlecap transistors on the frame (and made sure they had insulators)? Checked the bottlecap sockets to see if the wires to them haven't broken off? Checked to see if they are even good?
 
Thanks for the suggestions Mode.

No - I have not changed the "bottlecap" transistors.

Can you give me the correct part # for the replacement on those?

Bob Roberts?

Digikey?

I'll give that a shot and report back.

Thx,

Rob
 
There are:

Three 2N3716
Three 2N3792

Bob Roberts has them. Mouser or Digikey may not, although Mouser probably has them under the NTE cross reference...
 
if after replacing the bottlecaps (and doublechecking all connectors, solder joints etc) you are still collapsed, try piggybacking the 1495 DACs (A/B12 and/or A/B13) in the vector output section of the main pcb. that fixed my problem.
 
EDITED - Tempest is back down again

:(

See the next posts in this thread.

Thx

Rob
 
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Usually you adjust it with the pots on the game PCB. Instructions for getting into the various test screens should be in the Tempest manual. I typically adjust it close to the limits of the screen (if you have the LV2000 installed), but sometimes back it off a little because some of the patterns will look too stretched...
 
Arrgggg.....

Tempest is down again..... :(

Had it up and running since last Sunday

Was working PERFECTLY

Left it on overnight (I know...dumb)

Came into game room this AM - Tempest is now BLIND again.

Coins up - plays blind

Spot killer is OFF.

Last week I already did the following repairs:

Recapped everything, changed out the all bottlecap transistors and installed a LV2000.


Game was on for about 12 hours last night - not sure when it died.

Thoughts on were to begin "again"

Thx,

Rob
 
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My Tempest has got to where when you first turn it on, it looks like it's blind for awhile. Then Bam the screen just comes alive. Sometimes it can take a good 3 mins or so. Also, if the screen is alive on first power up, any controls you touch (especially spinner) will make the screen start jittering and then it might collapse and go blind. But after that 3 min or so warmup, it's rock solid.

So anyway, can you leave your powered on for a bit and see if the screen comes alive?
 
Update:

Spot killer is OFF

The two LEDS on the UV 2000 are both on, so that is good.

Still no picture

Just a think line on the screen about 1 inch tall - SEE PICTURE

Leaving it on for extra time does not help - stays blind.....

??
 

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Will it go into test mode - or still just no pic? I know that sounds silly, but I've had mine in a state where test mode would work even when main mode was doing all kinds of weird stuff.
 
Ok - here's where we are now

Spot killer still not on

Took out deflection board

fuse in the center of the board was blown

One at location F 800

3amp 250v fuse

Checked all the bottlecap transistors to make sure they were NOT showing continuity of the frame. All showed good.

Replaced fuse - turn game on

Still blind. Fuse blew again.


Thoughts???

Thx

Rob
 
Also just checked all voltages at the power brick

All are perfect. All fuses at power brick are good.

Getting +5volts on the ARII and also +5.22 volts on the PCB

Also - machine will NOT go into test mode......

OR if it does go into TEST mode I can not tell because there is now change in the display.....
 
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If you have gone thru the deflection, know the "bottle cap" transistors are good, and the spot kill LED is off, that means that you have video from the logic board and need to look at the high voltage cage. Spot kill LED only comes to protect the tube from etching.
Reflow the connector on the edge of the board. Use your meter to see the voltage drop across collector, base, and emitter on all of the through hole transistors on the board and check the diodes for the voltage drop .7v. Look for damage on the flyback like cracks. Look for bulging caps.
 
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