Warlords dead

jfly

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I have a Warlords that keeps blowing fuses F2 and F3 after I installed a new big blue. There is no light on the PCB but the coin door has lights.

Any thoughts as to where I should go next?


Thanks in advance for the help.
 
I haven't looked at the schematics to see what F2 and F3 feed, but did you check the rectifier in the brick? Google how to test a bridge rectifier, if needed.

If its not the BR, then the next culprit would be the 3055 bottlecap on the AR. Pull and see if it's shorted.
 
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Hmmm... I installed the new big blue the same way as the original. To clarify, it ran for about 15 to 20 mins. after I installed the new BB. Unlikely to be that. Any other suggestions?
 
Yes, my mistake. Typo on my part, and I fixed it above.

OP, test the bridge rectifier in the brick. It's the 1" square thing with 4 terminals.

Then the 2N3055 on the AR, if the rectifier isn't it.

Careful, WL has older power brick assembly with only two rectifiers.
Perhaps OP has newer one with the bridge rectifier (ie. square thingy).
He'll need to clarify.
 
I have a Warlords that keeps blowing fuses F2 and F3 after I installed a new big blue. There is no light on the PCB but the coin door has lights.

Any thoughts as to where I should go next?


Thanks in advance for the help.

Was the game working before you installed the Big Blue? Was it blowing fuses before the new Big Blue? Make sure you did not mount the big blue too deep in the mount. I have heard people mount it too low and the terminals short out on the bottom metal plate. Also make sure you reconnected all the wires on the Big Blue and got them on the correct terminal. If all that looks good then like they already said check your bridge rectifier and then the A/R II. You can unplug the A/R II and see if the fuses still blow. Process of elimination.
 
Careful, WL has older power brick assembly with only two rectifiers.
Perhaps OP has newer one with the bridge rectifier (ie. square thingy).
He'll need to clarify.


Ok, that's also good info. I don't have a WL, so I'm not up on every detail.

But if it has an Asteroids-style brick with the half-wave rectifier (instead of full-wave, which is what the 4-terminal thing in the later bricks is), it will be a small PCB under/inside the brick, which has two large diodes on it. It's possible one of those diodes has shorted. If so, it can be replaced.
 
Gentlemen,

Thank you for the information. I will try to eliminate possibilities and check back with you. May be a few days, as I have many toys to assemble and wrap at the moment. A real bummer, I wanted the Warlords up and running for the holidays.
 
Update: All fuses are now intact. However, now I am getting just a white screen on the monitor, without the PCB hooked up. After I connect the PCB, with a wiggle, I get a red screen for a moment. No light on the PCB.

Any thoughts?
 
No RED LED light on the WL logic PCB?
This indicates that +5VDC is present.
Measure all voltages to be sure what's going on.
 
Update: After getting a cap replaced on the AR II (thanks to Andy B), I now have a monitor displaying four color fields, button lights flashing and the counter knocking off 60 beats a minute. Test mode shuts off the buttons but nothing else happens.

I am assuming the problem lies in the PCB. Does anyone have leads/experience with these symptoms?


Thanks in advance.
 
Yeah, your PCB is in a reset loop, and/or the CPU is running junk code, as that's what makes the counter click. Could be a number of things. First thing to check would be the ROMs and CPU, then start digging into the bus. (If you have any other game/PCB that has a 6502 processor, you could try swapping that yourself, if you wanted to try it.) You can also try reseating the ROMs.

I could look at it for you, if you can't find someone else. I don't have a WL cab, but I should be able to troubleshoot it on the bench, as I repair other raster boards that way. I just won't be able to play-test all of the functions. But given that that's not your issue here, I can check the ROMs and should be able to figure it out enough to get it running.

You can ship it up to me for about ten bucks, if you don't want to drive up.
 
Andy to the rescue... again!

Let me see how my schedule is looking. I may make a run up with a Tempest board too.


Thanks.
 
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