Time Killers P1 Stuck Down

Deverezieaux

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Looking for an opinion/advice. Be forewarned, this is a rambling post. I had a Time Killers board in my stack of fighting game boards that I finally want to get running because I love that game. I got it a few years back and it has some minor graphic issues, but I'm sure I can resolve those if I can run a GROM check. I threw it in my generic JAMMA that usually runs Soul Calibur, though it also runs Soul Edge and Tekken. They're all wired essentially the same with a kick harness so no issues there. In trying to do diagnostics on TK in there however the test menu continually cycles down, and in game player 1 continually crouches so I'd first thought the switch was just stuck, but no dice. As an FYI the kick harness is disconnected.

I've been cleaning up and mapping the wiring to see if something was wired incorrectly (this was a 6 button cab someone converted to 4 button and added a kick harness, sloppily, leaving a bunch of dead-end wires and mangled balls of cable). I've compared the edge connector config for both TK and Soul Calibur and aside from the extra buttons TK requires they're mapped almost identically like you'd expect from JAMMA. I.E. - 19 on the harness is player 1 down for both. I've also tried just disconnecting the down switches and it still just cycles. Interesting factoid: the kick harness doesn't control Soul Edge/Calibur's kicks, but their guard button.

There are quite a few TK threads about how it should be wired (because it's an oddball) but none that address this particular issue. The question is what could be causing P1 to be stuck down? Tell me it's something simple I forgot and I'm an idiot. Maybe I've been working on too many pinballs lately.

I also have extra new harnesses in the workshop, I could just pull everything in my Soul Calibur cab and start fresh, but the cost outweighs the benefit. Losing three games I like to get one I love.

Some more food for thought; I have a Primal Rage with a dead Hantarex Polo monitor in my garage. From what I've read there are similarities between TK and PR. Maybe I should just fix the monitor in PR and try TK in there, instead of using my Soul Calibur cab. Maybe I'm thinking too hard.

I'm including the harness mappings for both Soul Edge and TK.
 

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I managed to time it right and get into the control diagnostic menu. It shows that every player 1 control: down, left, right, and all buttons is continuously active, except for player 1 joystick up. Pushing player 1 up registers no change and all player 2 functions register correctly when activated.
 
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I have this game as well, and I'm very interested in your problem. You've made no mention of the other boards having issues with your set up so I'm going to rule out the wiring being bad.
You know sometimes I find these jamma edge connectors to be pretty flakey. I'll have to check my notes and see if I have anything written down from my game that could be helpful
 
I'd appreciate any guidance Rax. There is the graphical glitch I mentioned, I have another unanswered thread from a couple years back about it when I first got the board. I did manage to run a GROM check yesterday however (it was a PITA because of having to time the menu just right) but all the GROMs checked out. I also took out every component I could yesterday (without de-soldering) on the boards and cleaned them to rule out crud or bad seating. I don't think it's a bad wiring issue, but I'm going to try to break down the edge connector tomorrow and clean all the pins and make sure they're making good contact. I did that to all the edge connectors on one of my EM pinballs last week and man did it improve performance.

I found these videos yesterday while looking for guidance, and though they don't resolve my particular issue, they speak volumes about how sensitive these TK boards are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTQ9dwd1qaM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arihGiddpog

God I don't want to have to reflow anything on this board, the leads are tiny. I did an IC for NARC a couple weeks ago and it was harrowing.
 
I recently had trouble with my game bud and I found that my (new) power supply was garbage. I think you should look at doing a recap on your board if you haven't done so yet and make sure it is getting the voltages it needs.
I was chasing my tail for a while thinking that I had put a good supply in and it wasn't.
 
You sure it's not something simple like a stray ground wire in your P1 wiring? I have no experience with fighters, but I've had many control issues resolved on other games just by simply completing the broken daisy chain or correcting a stray ground wire. I'm sure you probably already checked that, but just throwing it out there... Good luck!
 
I've recently had to revisit this game due to the game resetting itself all the time. I'm still in the process of seeing what is wrong over all but one of the issues was a bad coin battery which I replaced.
 
Just now revisiting this board as I'm working on a multi-jamma pcb fighter cab using a 4-way switcher. The core issue is that all the player one controls are continually active, have tested with multiple JAMMA setups. I had a similar issue with the player 2 controls in my NARC and replacing the IC at U1 resolved this.

Unfortunately I can't find a board schematic for this, but I had some time to look it over well with my magnifier and found the pictured burn to the IC at U3. There was also some liquid residue, which had been difficult to see previously. Testing indicates some shorts. Going to order replacements; I believe these are the correct ones, but hoping someone can confirm: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...MIsqyGk4WU_QIVh7bICh3IgQTHEAQYASABEgJXRfD_BwE IMG_3903.jpg
 
Just now revisiting this board as I'm working on a multi-jamma pcb fighter cab using a 4-way switcher. The core issue is that all the player one controls are continually active, have tested with multiple JAMMA setups. I had a similar issue with the player 2 controls in my NARC and replacing the IC at U1 resolved this.

Unfortunately I can't find a board schematic for this, but I had some time to look it over well with my magnifier and found the pictured burn to the IC at U3. There was also some liquid residue, which had been difficult to see previously. Testing indicates some shorts. Going to order replacements; I believe these are the correct ones, but hoping someone can confirm: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/SN74LVC541APWRG4?qs=dT9u2OTAaVU9g2tAKwUHGQ==&mgh=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsqyGk4WU_QIVh7bICh3IgQTHEAQYASABEgJXRfD_BwE View attachment 645250


No that's the wrong voltage and package. It's 5v and SOP instead of 3.3v and TSSOP from that link, so:

 
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