Tempest (K6100) and Battlezone (G05) Playing blind

TheDrewster

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So my two latest games both play blind. Tempest has a K6100 and Battlezone I think has a G05. Havent had much experience in vector repair as of yet. From what I can gather, I get neck glow, the spot killer LED is on, and there is no static on the screen, nor video. This is the same for both monitors.

Step 1?
 
Put them in test mode and see if there are any RAM issues.

My BattleZone played blind when I had a bad RAM on it.

Second, check the fuses on the chassis... with a multimeter... don't just eyeball them.

If there are any blown fuses, and they pop again after you replace them... the first things I would check then are the can transistors on the frame for the monitors. Just check them to make sure the can isn't shorted to ground. If you find one that is shorted, it may still be good. Loosen the screws holding them down and pull them back a little from the frame and check again. If they're not grounded when you've pulled them back, then you have some bad insulators under them. Do NOT run them like that. You can replace those insulators (temporary) with a piece of those glad oven bags (I know, I know... it worked for me). If they're still shorted to ground, then you'll have to replace whichever one is (I'd probably just go ahead and do a full rebuild on them if I were you).

Minus 1 vector monitor so far, that's fixed pretty much all of my issues.
 
drewster, I can't say for sure with BZ, but video issues can take place with Tempest simply bc of issues with the boardset. I agree with Scucci on putting the game in test mode and powering it up to see if you get any video.

Also with Tempest, it's kind of freaky in that even if/when you eventually may get 'some' video, some of the vid is generated by the main board, and some is generated by the aux board (all of the vector stuff). On mine, I was getting the attract logo that read "Tempest" and some other things like the insert coin and high score details, but no levels would be drawn and other weird stuff. It ended up being the 4 ALU (arithmetic logic unit) chips on the aux board needing to be replaced. I also needed to remove and reseat all of the chips (on both boards) to help in my quest to get the video to come back up.

Let us know what you find- we'll be here... ;)
 
You can bring the board over if you want and test it on mine this weekend. That would rule out the board at least.

Did you ever buy a rom burner? If not, bring over a 2732 and I will burn the tubes mod for you.
 
You can bring the board over if you want and test it on mine this weekend. That would rule out the board at least.

Did you ever buy a rom burner? If not, bring over a 2732 and I will burn the tubes mod for you.

I might take you up on that offer :)

As for any updates, turning up the brightness has produced the dot in the center. Does that mean I have high voltage?

And secondly, I tested the X-Y test points on the PCB. It is my understanding that a fluctuating current indicates a good board. Now, the Y fluctuates nicely. However, the X only fluctuates between 5.90 and 6.10ish. Does this indicate any PCB problems?
 
Update!! Thanks to pcolson, I have confirmed that the boardset is indeed in good working order.


Now a question about the monitor, how do I go about testing the frame-mounted transistors to see if they are shorted to ground?
 
Another update! haha

So I have tested all the frame mounted transistors for shorts to ground, and all came up good. (However, I did find a bad one on the Battlezone, got a kit on order for that one)

Whats the next step for the Tempest?
 
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