Track and Field Graphics

parkway

Well-known member

Donor 2016
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Messages
2,618
Reaction score
121
Location
Yorktown Heights, New York
I'm in the process of converting my Double Dribble to Track and Field. Board I purchased a while ago works ok, except for some minor graphical glitches (photo below). It also does the same thing on the high score screen. Obviously, it doesn't make the game unplayable, but it's annoying. Is this something easy to fix? My connections are snug; not sure what I should be looking for or what's causing this.
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    95.6 KB · Views: 99
Nick,

My first thought, only from experience, (i am not as good as some of the experts here though so take this lightly) - glitched grapix, like the ones you display, are usually a sign of bad / shaky ICs....

I had this on a few games in the past. Hopefully, its not a bad chip, but just a chip somewhere on the PCB that needs to be reseated. If you go to the board, against a firm surface, press the chips in firmly (but not enough to flex the board too much). You may hear creaks. Creaks when pushing are good - it means the chips are not seated completely. While you are on that, reseat serial cables, etc.

I have at least 2-3 games that had graphic glitches like that, and reseating chips by pushing on them proved helpful. Its common and a sign of age.

Perhaps some of the others here can validate my initial thought (or not?), and, provide more insight. Beyond reseating - i havent come across that yet (replacing chips).
 
Does not look like graphics issue, but rather a high score table that needs to be reset (you can do it with the dip switches to erase on reset).

You probably also need to replace the battery on the board.
 
Thanks, guys. This helps tremendously. I'll take a look at the PCB and see if I can find the battery. Sounds like that might be it.
 
Does not look like graphics issue, but rather a high score table that needs to be reset (you can do it with the dip switches to erase on reset).

You probably also need to replace the battery on the board.

Yup. It's a battery issue.

If you have a Batteries Plus near you take the battery to them and they'll spot weld some matching leads on a new one for you.

RJ
 
Well I did one of those hindsight 20/20 searches, and lo and behold, there's a bunch of threads on this. I guess I didn't search as well as I could have; my error. However, as I did read the other threads, I saw they were absent pictures. Since this seems to be a common question, I figured I might as well post as I fix this and host the pics myself. That way, when this inevitably comes up again, people can read this and have some photos to refer to.

So, I pulled the board out of my makeshift T&F and took the top (sound?) pcb off. If looking at the main (bottom) pcb with the serial cable on your left, the battery is a coin battery (3V) soldered to the pcb at the top in the middle of the board (it's pretty easy to spot). I flipped the pcb over, desoldered it (my first time after a little practice on a junk pcb), and popped the battery off. Photos can be seen below. Since I don't have a Batteries Plus near me, and don't want to try to solder terminals on the battery, I'm going to go the battery holder route. That way, replacement will be easier the next time I or someone else has to do it. Went to Radio Shack and they didn't have any so when I find some (I grabbed some off eBay, but I'll see if I can find them local too), I'll post as I try to attach the holder and new battery.

First picture is a closeup of what it looks like, second picture is its orientation on the board. I posted bigger versions hosted by the message board as the second a third pictures attached.
 

Attachments

  • 1-3.jpg
    1-3.jpg
    25.5 KB · Views: 46
  • 2-4.jpg
    2-4.jpg
    50.9 KB · Views: 36
  • old battery out.jpg
    old battery out.jpg
    90.1 KB · Views: 33
  • 3.jpg
    3.jpg
    99.6 KB · Views: 29
Last edited:
The video on my T&F is completely scrambled (and no sound--game doesn't start). See photo. Is this a chip seating issue? I changed power supplies, flipped all the dip switches, checked the +5V, removed the old battery--none of that made a difference.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2973.jpg
    IMG_2973.jpg
    70.1 KB · Views: 20
I had the same graphic problem on the scoring in the upper right corner, change the battery it will fix it
 
The video on my T&F is completely scrambled (and no sound--game doesn't start). See photo. Is this a chip seating issue? I changed power supplies, flipped all the dip switches, checked the +5V, removed the old battery--none of that made a difference.

Hmmm. Not too sure what would do that. Still relatively new to this stuff. Could be a chip seating issue I guess.
 
It's not really a graphics problem. The High Score table data is corrupt.
Chip's game was like this. Flip dip switch 5 to ON and turn game on. Scores/initials will be erased. Flip it back to reenable score saving.

Soldering leads to a battery holder sounds like a better option than soldering leads to a battery.
 
It's not really a graphics problem. The High Score table data is corrupt.
Chip's game was like this. Flip dip switch 5 to ON and turn game on. Scores/initials will be erased. Flip it back to reenable score saving.

Soldering leads to a battery holder sounds like a better option than soldering leads to a battery.

Yeah, soldering the battery looks like a pain in the ass. There's also apparently a mod whereby one replaces a chip with NVRAM at A6 I believe; I think there was a thread about that somewhere here, thereby totally eliminating the need for a battery altogether, but I'm not comfortable enough doing something like that yet. Might be a good option for someone with more knowledge/experience with PCB's.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm. Not too sure what would do that. Still relatively new to this stuff. Could be a chip seating issue I guess.

Double check the ribbon cables to make sure they are fully seated. Hopefully when you unplugged the boards you didn't pull on the ribbon cables to remove them. If you did you probably broke the wires in them
 
So my first, albeit somewhat sloppy, soldering job has met with success. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the battery holder newly soldered in before I put the sound board back on. You can still see it in the first picture. Like others have said, the battery holder's leads didn't match up with the holes in the pcb; used the leads off of some parts my brother had lying around (second picture). Didn't make for the neatest job, but it worked. Third and fourth picture show the type of holder I used; most likely the same one available everywhere. Popped the board back in, flipped the dipswitch, turned on the game, and the high scores showed up correctly; the pcb is back to saving my horribly slow world records.

Hopefully, this helps the next newbie like myself who runs into the same problem.
 

Attachments

  • 4-1.jpg
    4-1.jpg
    50.1 KB · Views: 47
  • 3-3.jpg
    3-3.jpg
    55.5 KB · Views: 43
  • 2-5.jpg
    2-5.jpg
    54.7 KB · Views: 46
  • 1-4.jpg
    1-4.jpg
    54 KB · Views: 40
Sometimes you can take a dremel tool and a tiny drill bit to put a new hole in the board. If you can hit the trace that the pin was supposed to go in then you can just scrape a bit of the green coating off and solder the holder right in.

:)
 
Sometimes you can take a dremel tool and a tiny drill bit to put a new hole in the board. If you can hit the trace that the pin was supposed to go in then you can just scrape a bit of the green coating off and solder the holder right in.

:)


Yeah, I guess that would have made for a neater job. That's a good idea. If I ever find a Track and Field cab, I'll give that a try when I replace the battery in it. Thanks. :)
 
Back
Top Bottom