What do you do with your most temperamental games?

Part of the joys of hosting a repair party. Seeing what other tools that the tech use.
The German wire strippers.
The Swiss flush cutters.
The rachet wiss pin crimper.
Better tools and practice make wiring jobs a breeze.
Bring a new set of eyes on a old project is helpful.
With enough food and fun no arcade project is non repairable.
Practical? Cost effective? Hardly but there is a certain sense of fun when the project is off your list.
 
I Keep fixing my units so far other than the ones I haven't deep dived into the only unit that is giving me any real troubles is my Pixy Prize unit and I will just continue to beat my head against a wall until I eventually figure out what's wrong with it.
 
If it's a cab I really want then I charge forward no matter cost or time. Even when it doesn't make any sense.

All others I send sell to someone who wants it.
Omg, Jaleco Grand Prix Racing is that game for me....I have two software versions running in it right now so they are not talking....it is on the back burner now :D
 
My biggest problem child was Battlezone until Red Zone came along. I have 38 games so eventually one of them will break since they are all 50-35 years old but to me that is part of the hobby. Not just fixing them but learning on how to fix them. This was the year I finally broke down and bough an oscilloscope and I just love finding out new technical info as I go along with any repair. Sometimes I even buy broken PCBs cheap off EBay just to attempt repairs. LOOK AT ALL THESE GRAN TRAK PCBs I AM NUTSSSSS

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How is the oscilloscope learning coming along? I have one I bought last year and a bunch Ms. Pacs to practice on but I haven't made the time to do so yet.
 
If it's a game I'm fond of and have memories of the I keep trudging along. If it's a game that I have no interest in, I'll sell it or give it away like my Sega Turbo mini. I was tired of looking at it and even more frustrated with it.
 
My Zookeeper is my problem child. When it works, it's great, but it often displays graphics corruption and then completely messed up video (as if the video sync has gone out). Sometimes a reboot or memory reset will fix it. That's the worst part; I'll apply a "fix" (change out a device, reseat a chip, clean a connection) and the game will make me think that I finally got it. Then, a few weeks later, the issue reappears :(. Repeat. The real problem keeps evading me due to it going back to working after whatever random thing I tried last.

So, while I guess that "try to fix them" is my general answer, sometimes you just have to live with them the way they are.
 
How is the oscilloscope learning coming along? I have one I bought last year and a bunch Ms. Pacs to practice on but I haven't made the time to do so yet.
It's ok, I'm no Randy Fromm but I have figured out some basic stuff thanks to You Tube and various books.
 
It's ok, I'm no Randy Fromm but I have figured out some basic stuff thanks to You Tube and various books.
Right on, maybe now that I'm back to having more time than money, I'll get motivated to do some learning myself.
 
My Zookeeper is my problem child. When it works, it's great, but it often displays graphics corruption and then completely messed up video (as if the video sync has gone out). Sometimes a reboot or memory reset will fix it. That's the worst part; I'll apply a "fix" (change out a device, reseat a chip, clean a connection) and the game will make me think that I finally got it. Then, a few weeks later, the issue reappears :(. Repeat. The real problem keeps evading me due to it going back to working after whatever random thing I tried last.

So, while I guess that "try to fix them" is my general answer, sometimes you just have to live with them the way they are.
This is me and my Joust. I can't stand if I have a game down or unreliable. So I'm trying to get a reliably problem resolved (wouldn't always run all night) that's existed for years. So I put a nest camera in front of it and left it on… so of course now it's running longer than ever, several days straight and going…
 
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This is me and my Joust. I can't stand if I have a game down or unreliable. So I'm trying to get a reliably problem resolved (wouldn't always run all night) that's existed for years. So I put a nest camera in front of it and left it on… so of course now it's running longer than ever…
I went back to your Joust thread. Arcadeshop switcher will inevitably eat the CMOS.
 
I went back to your Joust thread. Arcadeshop switcher will inevitably eat the CMOS.
Yeah, thanks. You pointed me to that before about the settings getting lost, but I wasn't fond of modifying the board (at the time) or doing a full rebuild of the linear power supply. I'm going to try the board mod so I can keep a switcher.

The not running all night thing is interesting, but it's been running now for days with the BACK open and no other games on. So I'm thinking it might be brought on by heat. I'm going to try applying heat around the board and maybe it will point to an area where the rams are messing up after they get hot or something. Or "lose" the backdoor I previously cut. ;)
 
Yeah, thanks. You pointed me to that before about the settings getting lost, but I wasn't fond of modifying the board (at the time) or doing a full rebuild of the linear power supply. I'm going to try the board mod so I can keep a switcher.

The not running all night thing is interesting, but it's been running now for days with the BACK open and no other games on. So I'm thinking it might be brought on by heat. I'm going to try applying heat around the board and maybe it will point to an area where the rams are messing up after they get hot or something. Or "lose" the backdoor I previously cut. ;)
braedel has a zener diode mod that should fix the CMOS getting blown up

what's getting hot, the transformer?
 
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