What a $100 Tron looks like

I felt like Jeff Bridges at the beginning of Legacy.

"Bum bum bum bummmm...TRON!"

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Swapped out the power cable with a new one as I diagnosed last night with Tighe and we have power! Needs new fluorescent bulbs all around - is there a good place to get these (especially the blacklight) locally?

There are graphical glitches too, as the Craigslist post indicated. The playfield graphics are OK but you can't see enemies and most of the player character graphics either.

Kawydud, if you have a working boardset that may help troubleshoot things on Sunday.
 

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K3V said:
I felt like Jeff Bridges at the beginning of Legacy.

"Bum bum bum bummmm...TRON!"

attachment.php


Swapped out the power cable with a new one as I diagnosed last night with Tighe and we have power! Needs new fluorescent bulbs all around - is there a good place to get these (especially the blacklight) locally?

There are graphical glitches too, as the Craigslist post indicated. The playfield graphics are OK but you can't see enemies and most of the player character graphics either.

Kawydud, if you have a working boardset that may help troubleshoot things on Sunday.
Click to expand...

Get condensers/starters while getting tubes. You should be able to get both at walmart white and black bukbs both.

Also pull the chips and clean them like we discussed. Unless you have a corrupted ROM it should fix it!
 
Oh yes, cleaning and reseating the chips! Will do. Will grab the supplies tomorrow and get to work :)
 
Went on a supply run at lunch. Going to be busy tonight!
 

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Let there be light(s)!

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Replaced all the fluorescents/blacklights and condensers (one of the fixtures didn't even have a condenser in it!). I'm glad I looked at Blkdog's YouTube video of his Tron because someone commented that he should put a blacklight in the fixture under the control panel (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0fvsRWFYlI).

Man the marquee on this thing is mint.

Also got new locks on the coin door and lower-back panel. I need to put the upper rear panel back together before I can put it back on the machine - it got torn apart at the bend at some point (probably when they tried to get into the it without the keys).

Still need to work on the board a bit - you can see some of the graphical funkiness in the picture I took.

I've read about the problems with the battery and mine is looking pretty nasty. Can I just de-solder it and take it off of there and run the game without it? Or should I grab one of the lithium battery kits? Don't really care about saving the high scores, I have a scoreboard for that.
 

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K3V said:
I've read about the problems with the battery and mine is looking pretty nasty. Can I just de-solder it and take it off of there and run the game without it? Or should I grab one of the lithium battery kits? Don't really care about saving the high scores, I have a scoreboard for that.
Click to expand...

Niiice! Me likely. I can hear the background music right now in my head.

As far as the battery; I'd say; cut it off... and do a remote battery mod like they do in Pinball.
Radioshack run for 4AA battery pack, a 4004 diode, and solder them together.

HOWEVER, someone who is famliar with TRON should confirm the batter is the standard 3.x Volt Nicad.

I'd try to Cut the battery off with diagonal pliers before applying heat with the iron. You don't want to heat the nasty battery with the iron as it may cause further problems desoldering the existing pins.
 
I want an xB, and now you guys are making me seriously consider selling my Colorado...

Nice grab / welcome to the club.

Very jealous!
 
Wow, looks great K3V! :beerchug: You definitely got lucky with the marquee... most of them seem to have started to peel by now.

And yeah, cut that battery off before it does anymore damage. You can still play the game without it... it just won't remember bookkeeping and high scores.

I'm partial to the switching power supply adapter from ArcadeShop.com, but a simple Lithium battery replacement will work fine too. I'd also assume the pinball trick mentioned above would work.

Again, great pickup! Jealous is an understatement. :D
 
Jeff F said:
Wow, looks great K3V! :beerchug: You definitely got lucky with the marquee... most of them seem to have started to peel by now.
Click to expand...

By peel do you mean like my Gaplus marquee?

2010-12-12-time-15-57-17-day-0.jpg


Midway used what looks like a decal on Gaplus, and it will just crack and fall off with time. If Tron is the same way I highly suggest that you re-enforce that marquee!
 
K3V said:
Have any tips for reinforcing the marquee?
Click to expand...

You could do like the pinball guys do and triple thick the back. Although I wasn't happy with the way it worked out with my Gaplus bezel. It was the decal type and already started to delaminate. It came out ok, but looks worse than I started. If yours is intact I think it should be fine. Just make sure to do think coats first.
 
K3V said:
Ok I need some help! Just posted in the tech board for some help with the graphics problems on this machine. Can anyone help?

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=197701



I also need a new A9 sound ROM burned if anyone can hook it up. Thanks!
Click to expand...

I am glad you got it working again! I was worried the upside down chip busted the whole thing! Does anyone near you have a good rom set? You could swap them one by one till you figure out which are bad. Does Tron have a ROM test in test mode?
 
I think there is a ROM test but I can't see the cursor to navigate through the test mode! I'll have to count as I navigate through the menus and see if that works. Kawydud has a working PCB but I don't want to screw his up ;)
 
K3V said:
I think there is a ROM test but I can't see the cursor to navigate through the test mode! I'll have to count as I navigate through the menus and see if that works. Kawydud has a working PCB but I don't want to screw his up ;)
Click to expand...

I don't think you would screw his up, the other option is to use a reader/burner to verifly the roms. Or just have someone burn you a new set. Or buy a working board and sell the other.
 
Ok so I made a run out to chas010's place to buy a new Tron PCB set in hopes of bringing my TRON back to working order. Jason's a cool dude with quite an impressive collection - hope to go back some day when I've got some more time to game!

Anyways I get back to my place, plug his boards in and get this:

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This was me: :(

So, I took to plan B which was to swap his Vid Gen board with mine. Cleaned the contacts, installed it with my orignal two boards and viola!

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This was me: :D

I also adjusted the black level down so it's a nice deep black now, with the added bonus of the MCP cone burn-in not showing up anymore.

Remaining issues:

*Order new A9 sound EPROM from Hobbyroms and install (to replace the one I screwed up).
*Order Tron Freeplay hack EPROM (http://www.arcadecollecting.com/hacks/tron/) from Hobbyroms and install
*Troubleshoot/fix horizontal hold/sync issue with monitor. Sometimes the game is fine until I power it off and back on and then it starts scrolling horizontally and I can't lock it in with the H-Hold pot.
*Install "white" black light in fixture under control panel (have a "black" blacklight in there now, not how it was originally)
*Adjust image up vertically (it's sitting too low now and couldn't find a V. Position pot)
*...profit!
 

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K3V said:
Ok so I made a run out to chas010's place to buy a new Tron PCB set in hopes of bringing my TRON back to working order. Jason's a cool dude with quite an impressive collection - hope to go back some day when I've got some more time to game!

Anyways I get back to my place, plug his boards in and get this:

attachment.php


This was me: :(

So, I took to plan B which was to swap his Vid Gen board with mine. Cleaned the contacts, installed it with my orignal two boards and viola!

attachment.php


This was me: :D

I also adjusted the black level down so it's a nice deep black now, with the added bonus of the MCP cone burn-in not showing up anymore.

Remaining issues:

*Order new A9 sound EPROM from Hobbyroms and install (to replace the one I screwed up).
*Order Tron Freeplay hack EPROM (http://www.arcadecollecting.com/hacks/tron/) from Hobbyroms and install
*Troubleshoot/fix horizontal hold/sync issue with monitor. Sometimes the game is fine until I power it off and back on and then it starts scrolling horizontally and I can't lock it in with the H-Hold pot.
*Install "white" black light in fixture under control panel (have a "black" blacklight in there now, not how it was originally)
*Adjust image up vertically (it's sitting too low now and couldn't find a V. Position pot)
*...profit!
Click to expand...

Awesome! Did you try the sound rom from the board you got from Jason in you orginal board?
 
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