Who knew Ms Pacman could be such a wench!

philt80

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As do many people, I always wanted to add a Ms Pac to the collection, but man I never imagined how much a pain in the ass they are.

I found a non-working one(Serial# 9559) at a church yard sale at the unbelievable price of $30. The monitor was shot, the game wouldn't power up, the power supply tested DOA and the light ballast wouldn't work(this one was easy). After purchasing a switching power supply conversion kit, the board still wouldn't boot, so I decided to try to reseat the EPROMs... In doing so half the pins just crumbled in my hand as did the ribbon cable to the daughter board. Not wanting to dump any more money in without results(i.e. if new EPROMS and a ribbon cable didn't work I'd still be at square one), I ordered a new PCB set from Riptor. So now I had a working board but no monitor(the one in the cab was beyond hope). I bought a junker cab for it's monitor which was also not working properly. Ended up purchasing a cap kit and still had issues with the monitor only to find the cause the entire time had been a bad horizontal hold potentiometer. I did a little more testing on the ISO transformers after realizing they usually don't fail. Finally tracked the problem down to a spliced power cord of all things right at the plug end. The board still wouldn't boot and after a little tinkering realized the fuses were good but not making contact due to corrosion. Installed new fuses and finally after 10 days working on this beast, 15 flesh wounds and a sore back, it is working 100%. I'm sure a more learned person would have had this thing going in 10 minutes, but again I can honestly say I have learned quite a bit with this one.

So with $250 invested, I finally got her going which all in all isn't bad I suppose but man what a nightmare.

Anyone else encounter any restoration nightmares like this one?
 
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@Sectorseven: Don't get me wrong...it was fun for sure learning how to troubleshoot everything...it was just one of those moments where you wish you knew more than you did at the time. Most of my arcade troubleshooting involves JAMMA games with switching power supplies....i.e. the easy stuff :D

@Alpha-Tron: I think I'll hold onto it...eventually I'll take the time to recondition it, order new EPROMS and a new ribbon cable and see if I can get it going for more "fun". This cab is at my folks house at the moment, so I may get really adventurous and restore/build a Ms. Pac from scratch and stencil it for my own game room :D
 
@Alpha-Tron: I think I'll hold onto it...eventually I'll take the time to recondition it, order new EPROMS and a new ribbon cable and see if I can get it going for more "fun". This cab is at my folks house at the moment, so I may get really adventurous and restore/build a Ms. Pac from scratch and stencil it for my own game room :D

They are not hard to rebuild and quiet easy to work on.

As for building one from scratch, laughs If you complain how expensive it is to repair the last one you worked on. Just wait until you try to rebuild one from scratch. Cost of wood, Staples, screws, nails, nuts and bolts, Leveling legs, Monitor, Control panel, Art work, Glass art work for the monitor, coin door, Wiring harness, Power supply, Lights, Joystick, Buttons and a marquee.

Now your going to have a lot of fun and might have months and months of time invest into it but if your going to try to save money, Trust me it's not the way to go..
 
laughs If you complain how expensive it is to repair the last one you worked on

Wasn't really complaining about cost as I got the cab for a steal and had to invest very little money compared to purchasing a working cab....was mainly commenting on the pain in the ass getting it going has been comparative to other JAMMA cabinets I have worked on in the past.
I have a decent sized wood shop with plenty of 3/4 MDF and ply...If I did get bored enough to build one from scratch vs find an empty cab, I could pull it off for a little more than $300(without side art/stencils as those could be added later), but again...that's under the assumption I was bored enough to undertake a project like that in the first place :)

I'd really like a Pac-Man at some point, but I can't see myself paying the exorbitant $1500-$2000 for one locally, so that is a project I very well could see myself building from scratch. Could also fix and convert my currently non-working extra mspac back to a pac as well.

Ohio is pretty slim pickings on cabinets at the moment unless you live in or near Cleveland.
I mostly see cabs one step from the trash heap of titles no one wants to play at outrageous prices. Sellers here think they can sell arcade cabinets for the highest price they ever sold on eBay. It's not uncommon to see a $2000 pacman, ms pac, galaga, dk, etc.
 
Wasn't really complaining about cost as I got the cab for a steal and had to invest very little money compared to purchasing a working cab....was mainly commenting on the pain in the ass getting it going has been comparative to other JAMMA cabinets I have worked on in the past.
I have a decent sized wood shop with plenty of 3/4 MDF and ply...If I did get bored enough to build one from scratch vs find an empty cab, I could pull it off for a little more than $300(without side art/stencils as those could be added later), but again...that's under the assumption I was bored enough to undertake a project like that in the first place :)

I'd really like a Pac-Man at some point, but I can't see myself paying the exorbitant $1500-$2000 for one locally, so that is a project I very well could see myself building from scratch. Could also fix and convert my currently non-working extra mspac back to a pac as well.

Ohio is pretty slim pickings on cabinets at the moment unless you live in or near Cleveland.
I mostly see cabs one step from the trash heap of titles no one wants to play at outrageous prices. Sellers here think they can sell arcade cabinets for the highest price they ever sold on eBay. It's not uncommon to see a $2000 pacman, ms pac, galaga, dk, etc.

Holy crap, if people around you are selling Pacs for that kind of money I'd consider DELIVERING one to there. Cripes that's big money.

Have I ever had a cab repair project like that? Heheh...

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1330004

One year ago today, I began what would become that thread. ;)
 
Every cab has its downfalls. Pacs have bad fuseholders and are one of the first things you should look at. Any old monitor probably needs at least some work if not a total rebuild. Everything you went through sounds like typical repairs to a $30 machine. Most of the fun in the hobby is bringing them back from the dead. If you truly dont enjoy the gratification from it then you should consider just buying working machines. Most of the time the cost is about the same and much less work. I think you will appreciate the machine much more after the time and work you put in it...I know I do.
 
Every cab has its downfalls. Pacs have bad fuseholders and are one of the first things you should look at. Any old monitor probably needs at least some work if not a total rebuild. Everything you went through sounds like typical repairs to a $30 machine. Most of the fun in the hobby is bringing them back from the dead. If you truly dont enjoy the gratification from it then you should consider just buying working machines. Most of the time the cost is about the same and much less work. I think you will appreciate the machine much more after the time and work you put in it...I know I do.

Again, don't get me wrong...it was extremely gratifying getting it going and I still think I made off like a bandit having only $250 invested....it was my pure n00bishness that caused me all of these headaches honestly...I just wasn't familiar with pacman repair and after reading many articles here and elsewhere, I was able to fix it. I feel like I am much more prepared to fix future pacs thanks to all the troubleshooting I had to do on this one and all the work I had to put into it and still have to put into it(new CPO, stenciling at some point, etc) makes me think I'll likely never get rid of the thing now :D
 
and all the work I had to put into it and still have to put into it(new CPO, stenciling at some point, etc) makes me think I'll likely never get rid of the thing now :D

totally hear you there. i've had several games that i've done extensive work on, and those hold a closer bond with me than ones that i've gotten in a mostly complete and working setup. for example, my first wizard of wor, didn't need much. i think i put a switcher in it, converged the monitor, and that was it. the second one i recently got i did some major bondo work, stripped and painted the cab, cleaned the inside, new line cord, rebuilt power supply, new cpo, art, etc, and it's definitely gonna be a keeper.
 
I bought a Wizard of Wor that had been converted to some shitty baseball game for $200, because the cab and monitor were good. I had to spend probably another $650 (with shipping) on parts to turn it back into a WoW. Then I realized the cab had been cut to accomodate the baseball control panel. So then I had to recreate the missing part of the cab with bondo (in my finished basement, no less!) I finally got the cab painted and decaled. Then I realized the harness I bought had no connection to the monitor, so I fabricated one with old hard drive plugs.

The control panel I bought was pretty beat, so I got a fellow KLOVer to take a pic of his minty one, I then digitized the photo and produced a decal for the control panel which looks damn close to a brand new one!!

Sure it was a pain in the ass, but it was worth every second, and every cent! Love it!!!
 

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I bought a Wizard of Wor that had been converted to some shitty baseball game for $200, because the cab and monitor were good. I had to spend probably another $650 (with shipping) on parts to turn it back into a WoW. Then I realized the cab had been cut to accomodate the baseball control panel. So then I had to recreate the missing part of the cab with bondo (in my finished basement, no less!) I finally got the cab painted and decaled. Then I realized the harness I bought had no connection to the monitor, so I fabricated one with old hard drive plugs.

The control panel I bought was pretty beat, so I got a fellow KLOVer to take a pic of his minty one, I then digitized the photo and produced a decal for the control panel which looks damn close to a brand new one!!

Sure it was a pain in the ass, but it was worth every second, and every cent! Love it!!!
Wow...that IS a pretty extensive restore...Looks great :)

You wonder what ops were thinking when you see conversions like that. I have an old Midway cab that was converted from Rampage World Tour to Midway Skins...Not as blasphemous, but still....And as much as I love Capcom Bowling, I've seen way too many Pac-man/Ms-Pacman/Galaga cabs converted to it....insane! :D
 
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Wow...that IS a pretty extensive restore...Looks great :)

You wonder what ops were thinking when you see conversions like that. I have an old Midway cab that was converted from Rampage World Tour to Midway Skins...Not as blasphemous, but still....And as much as I love Capcom Bowling, I've seen way too many Pac-man/Ms-Pacman/Galaga cabs converted to it....insane! :D

I caught myself getting angry at the op once or twice during the deconversion when I glared at his handiwork. Had to just keep reminding myself that he was just trying to make money, and had no idea some fool would one day take it upon himself to undo all of his changes!
 
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