Track and Field PCB: high score "glitch"

75ohm

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What exactly is this caused by and is there a fix for it?

I can't seem to find much background on it and I have a PCB with it...

Thanks!
 
Flip the switch to have it erase scores on power up (SW2, #5 on) then flip it back. (SW2, #5 off)

You'll want to change the battery that saves them.
 
Flip the switch to have it erase scores on power up (SW2, #5 on) then flip it back. (SW2, #5 off)

You'll want to change the battery that saves them.

!!!

Where's that "priceless" camera shot of me with a huge grin...

Thanks!
 
Worked like a champ!

Now where to source that battery cheap and fast like...

Before:

TF_Before.jpg


After:

TF_After.jpg
 
I'm thinking, "Get a battery holder"... "Get a battery holder"... "And solder it on the board"...

:cheers:
 
I have 50 CR-2032 battery holders coming... should be here in a few business days from California. I also have a T&F boardset here that I parted out to save a Hyper Sports and I can check to see if they fit properly.

You can also get coin cells at Batteries Plus and they'll spot weld the solder legs for free to batteries they sell. You might check to see if they have one of those in your area.

RJ
 
Fantastic!!! I have a Hyper Sports board that does the exact same thing, some one thankfully cut the old battery off the board so it is utterly mint (I guess it would have leaked majorly if it still had the original on it) and the only fault left is the one you have shown here.

Did you have to replace the battery to cure the issue, I guess it would come back on every boot without a battery, but did flipping the dip back and forth cure it?
 
Well, the battery holders came in. The leads on them are too far apart to fit the holes in the board. You'd have to drill another hole and scrape a trace to solder the holder in.

I can try to order some that fit. These were a bulk buy so I didn't have the specs on them. They were cheap enough to gamble. ;)

Did you have to replace the battery to cure the issue, I guess it would come back on every boot without a battery, but did flipping the dip back and forth cure it?

The battery would have to be replaced or the backup RAM would be corrupted when you power down the game.... UNLESS you leave the DIP switch flipped to initialize the high score table every time you power it up.

The downside to doing that is that you can't save your high scores.

RJ
 
Well I tried flippin the dip but that had no effect, so I wired in a 3032 holder and gave it a battery, same deal, still garbage.

Do you know if the original battery was a 3V cell?
 
Yes. Standard 3v Lithium coin cell battery with leads spot welded on.

If resetting the high score table doesn't get rid of the garbage then you probably have a bad SRAM chip.
 
You wouldn't happen to know which SRAM stores this info, there are a couple of what are probably 6116 SRAM chips near to where the battery was once located but have had all their markings ground off. If they are 6116s then I would have thought their capacity would be hugely overkill for keeping a few bytes of highscore info.
 
You wouldn't happen to know which SRAM stores this info, there are a couple of what are probably 6116 SRAM chips near to where the battery was once located but have had all their markings ground off. If they are 6116s then I would have thought their capacity would be hugely overkill for keeping a few bytes of highscore info.

Why would they have their markings ground off? Mine are gone as well...
 
To slow down anyone who would want to pirate the board, mine has had its RAM chip markings, some areas of TTL and some mask rom details sanded off. It just makes its harder to bootleg a board if you cant read what the chips are. You have to understand how the board is designed rather than simply copying one you have.

The purpose of this wasnt really to prevent the board from being bootlegged, in the same way that modern protection isnt really designed to be unbreakable, they just wanted to delay the appearance of bootleg boards for the early stage in the games life, when it was the most profitable.
 
i've run into the legs being too far apart before. I just bend one leg over, solder a resistor leg or cap leg to it, and then use one hole with the straight leg, and put the resistor leg in the other hole. Works like a charm.
 
Follow the traces from the battery area to pin 28 on one of the SRAMs and you'll know which one it is.

Just make sure you buy a low standby power version of the 6116 or equivalent IC to put in. If you don't, it'll suck the battery down much quicker.
 
I have 50 CR-2032 battery holders coming... should be here in a few business days from California. I also have a T&F boardset here that I parted out to save a Hyper Sports and I can check to see if they fit properly.

You can also get coin cells at Batteries Plus and they'll spot weld the solder legs for free to batteries they sell. You might check to see if they have one of those in your area.

RJ

You must have a nice Batteries Plus. I went today and the associate told me they don't touch anything like that.
 
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