what do you do when you've done all you can

vintagegamer

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I've been fighting for 3 mos with my Sega Monaco GP cockpit. I can honestly say I've given it my best and have learned alot of things from working on it, but I still can't get her working. Noone near me has one. The people who have attempted to help with it are few and far between (mainly because not alot of people own this game anymore). I've gone to 4 separate gaming sites trying to get help, and after various suggestions from multiple members, I still can't work the magic to bring her back to life..

Do I say a Hail Mary and part her out? I hate giving up on things, but man this one just laughs at me no matter what I do with it. If it was a game that sucked I would have bailed on it long ago, but many have told me it's a game worth fighting for, and all the videos of it I've seen on YouTube reinforce that statement.

I wish I could be like some of you guys who have a "back room" or a "room B" for storing project games, but this big pig of a cockpit is staring at me every time I go into my garcade and I have nowhere else to put it.

Now taking suggestions :(

flatline.jpg
 
Spend more money. That's how you fix it.

It won't coin up? That's it? I'm assuming it has no free play? If it's not registering a coin input signal (or any input signal at all?) you should be able to trace it back through the board.

Or just try to find another board...
 
Spend more money. That's how you fix it.

It won't coin up? That's it? I'm assuming it has no free play? If it's not registering a coin input signal (or any input signal at all?) you should be able to trace it back through the board.

Or just try to find another board...

Been watching for other boards, only seen one set come up, they were here, and I didn't have the money when they came up :(

No free play option on this game.

With help I was told what chips 'should' be responsible for the coin-up, I swapped them both out, and had intermittent coin ups (not constant), and now I'm right back to nothing again. It's damm crazy.
 
Your first mistake was buying a game that says "SEGA" anywhere on it. They break. A Lot. Nobody repairs them. When you buy a Sega game, you're buying either a ticking time bomb, or a game that no amount of surgery is going to bring back. Sometimes you can buy a board that works and swap it in, but they die sitting on shelves or being shipped through the mail. If you don't have the ability to do board repair yourself, stay away from Sega stuff.
 
Your first mistake was buying a game that says "SEGA" anywhere on it. They break. A Lot. Nobody repairs them. When you buy a Sega game, you're buying either a ticking time bomb, or a game that no amount of surgery is going to bring back. Sometimes you can buy a board that works and swap it in, but they die sitting on shelves or being shipped through the mail. If you don't have the ability to do board repair yourself, stay away from Sega stuff.

If only I'd gotten that post in September! :(
 
Your first mistake was buying a game that says "SEGA" anywhere on it. They break. A Lot. Nobody repairs them. When you buy a Sega game, you're buying either a ticking time bomb, or a game that no amount of surgery is going to bring back. Sometimes you can buy a board that works and swap it in, but they die sitting on shelves or being shipped through the mail. If you don't have the ability to do board repair yourself, stay away from Sega stuff.

You're unfortunately right, and this seems to apply to Afterburner and Out Run boards, which are popular. Seems like someone specializing in these could get some work.
 
Wait... the game runs fine, but you can't get it to coin up? That's it? That seems like such a simple problem... no wonder it's so frustrating.

I just took a quick look at the manual... I assume neither the service switch nor coin switch add credits? Does the coin counter click when you add credits? The tilt switch isn't stuck closed, right?

DogP
 
I'm guessing this game either does not have a service credit switch or that switch does not work? I only mention it because I've seen games that will not credit through the coin door switches that will credit with the service switch. Justy making sure you've thought of everything.
 
All I can say is please, please don't part it. There's got to be someone out there who knows how to fix it. You said yourself it's a game worth fighting for, sell it to someone who can figure it out. It's even technically WORKING since it does everything but switch from attract to gameplay. If you're 100% sure you can't figure out a way to fix it, at least sell it whole instead of in pieces. A specimen of this caliber that works in every other way is too good to turn into a pile of parts.
 
All I can say is please, please don't part it. There's got to be someone out there who knows how to fix it. You said yourself it's a game worth fighting for, sell it to someone who can figure it out. It's even technically WORKING since it does everything but switch from attract to gameplay. If you're 100% sure you can't figure out a way to fix it, at least sell it whole instead of in pieces. A specimen of this caliber that works in every other way is too good to turn into a pile of parts.

I know, trust me I don't want to do this either. I want to fix play and keep it!!

Up until last night, everything on the screen was working- after a few different checks last night though, something has happened to the video where the main "wide" road has now incurred a glitch. The "small" road (ie when you go over a bridge) still works fine so, I have no idea what happened to the "wide" road.
 
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I'm guessing this game either does not have a service credit switch or that switch does not work? I only mention it because I've seen games that will not credit through the coin door switches that will credit with the service switch. Justy making sure you've thought of everything.

No worries, I'm trying to find whatever it is no matter how small! It has 2 service switches, one in the back of the machine which is getting 0 power, and one in the console by where the player sits which is getting power, but does exactly what the coin switch does (in other words, works once in a blue moon, other times not at all)
 
Wait... the game runs fine, but you can't get it to coin up? That's it? That seems like such a simple problem... no wonder it's so frustrating.

I just took a quick look at the manual... I assume neither the service switch nor coin switch add credits? Does the coin counter click when you add credits? The tilt switch isn't stuck closed, right?

DogP

Yep, you can hear the coin counter click. That's all that happens. After a few power up and downs, it 'might' let me start a game, but that's it. It's never consistent.

I also noticed upon looking at the manual last night that there's a chip on the 96578 board that appears to have some role in the coin actuation as well (I think it says it's at location IC18). I'm considering swapping that chip out too, just to see if it makes any difference. I have one on-hand so I figured why not. After all, it's not working now, right?
 
Is it possible there is a short somewhere, or that a connection is bad? Just seems odd it works on and off like that. Sounds like there's an unreliable part somewhere to be removed.

Just remember, there's always a fix eventually. I remember when I tried troubleshooting EVERYTHING on my Ms Pac Repro Multi because I was sure the monitor had stopped getting connection... in the end, it was the board that had died!

 
Replacing random IC's and other parts may get you there, but it's a long scary road to travel. You'd be better off teaching yourself how to read schematics and getting a copy of the game's diagrams. Then build your own flowchart. Systematically move through the chart, 1 step at a time. Sure, it will take time. But it's the only way to truly 'troubleshoot' a game. That's how the pros do it. Most of us just don't want to take the time to learn the process, and would rather throw a bunch of new parts at it, smile when it works, or gnash our teeth when it doesn't.

Good luck!
 
just in case you havent seen it yet...

http://www.vidsonix.com/monaco/monaco.htm

and you never know your luck Santa may bring you the inspiration to do that fix!

merry christmas!

ps when i cant find something i consciously go looking for something else and bingo! i find what i was originally looking for!;) good luck!

suggestions:
check 5v power at pcb is a noice 5.1v
coin counter clicking means the first ic 7432 after the coinup sw is working
on schematic sheet mana01z:
- check the coins per play switch and that you are getting a nice clean signal out the other side of the switch
- check the switch debounce circuits [CR]'s -> change a switch and the debounce should give you a nice clean stretched signal into the 7432 ic rather than a noisy spiky input that may not trigger the 7432 properly. if the cn ctr was triggering multiple times you woul suspect the debounce/7432 ic
- check the clk input to the 7412 flipflop and that /Q and Q and flipping nicely

time to go talk to mrs santa. merry xmas all!
 
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Replacing random IC's and other parts may get you there, but it's a long scary road to travel. You'd be better off teaching yourself how to read schematics and getting a copy of the game's diagrams. Then build your own flowchart. Systematically move through the chart, 1 step at a time. Sure, it will take time. But it's the only way to truly 'troubleshoot' a game. That's how the pros do it. Most of us just don't want to take the time to learn the process, and would rather throw a bunch of new parts at it, smile when it works, or gnash our teeth when it doesn't.

Good luck!

you need to look at the flows for this game. Half are in japanese and the other half look like they were done in a middle school art class.
 
You shoulda went to the Harrisburg auction. IIRC a cabaret version went for $75 fully working. Nothing else, you coulda scrapped the boards out of it and been good to go.
 
sounds like it is time to get a logic probe and learn how to use it. they're cheap <$20, and easy to learn to use! then you can trace the coin up signal through the circuits, following the schematics, and see where that signal gets lost! until then you are flying blind.
 
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