Why does my Galaga need to warm up to boot?

keithlee

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Sorry for the possible retread. I suspect the answer is probably bad chips/sockets. When I turn on the game cold it usually freezes with a RAM error and sometimes has a persistent harsh noise. If I leave the machine on for 3-5 minutes and cycle it off and on again it will boot up normally. It may or may not crash after several minutes of play with superimposed alphanumeric characters over the entire screen. I have the voltage cranked all the way up and am measuring between 4.9 and 5.05 on the board.

what does it mean?

thanks for the help.
Shawn
 
Sorry for the possible retread. I suspect the answer is probably bad chips/sockets. When I turn on the game cold it usually freezes with a RAM error and sometimes has a persistent harsh noise. If I leave the machine on for 3-5 minutes and cycle it off and on again it will boot up normally. It may or may not crash after several minutes of play with superimposed alphanumeric characters over the entire screen. I have the voltage cranked all the way up and am measuring between 4.9 and 5.05 on the board.

what does it mean?

thanks for the help.
Shawn

Are you using the original power supply? As I recall when I had the original in mine I had the same problems - had to be cranked up all the way and it would not start cold and would reset during gameplay, with similar readings as you have. Others will chime in, but I think you should rebuild the power supply, or put in a switcher. I opted for the switcher.
 
Yep. I bet the RAM error you get is 2L? I messed with this recently on a couple Galaga boards. If the load pulls the +5 down too much, the board doesn't boot fully and gives the 2L error. I usually set Galaga's at 5.20 for best stability...
 
you aren't the same keith lee that played for memphis state in the 80's are you? :)
 
Are you using the original power supply? As I recall when I had the original in mine I had the same problems - had to be cranked up all the way and it would not start cold and would reset during gameplay, with similar readings as you have. Others will chime in, but I think you should rebuild the power supply, or put in a switcher. I opted for the switcher.

Yes it is the original power supply and yes, I think it usually gives a 2L error and No, not the Memphis State forward.

Out of curiosity, what does the warm-up period accomplish?

Also, how long do you guess it would take a newb to manage to rebuild a power supply?

Shawn
 
How long do you think it takes you to desolder a capacitor (2 legs), remove it, then put it back in? Take that time, and multiply it by about 10 and that would give you the amount of time needed. (not saying that it's 10 caps, but that the amount of soldering would be about the same, maybe longer for some of the transistor removals)...
 
I think it's funny how we still call it Memphis State since they changed it over to University of Memphis 20 years ago, lol.
 
Yes it is the original power supply and yes, I think it usually gives a 2L error and No, not the Memphis State forward.

Out of curiosity, what does the warm-up period accomplish?

Also, how long do you guess it would take a newb to manage to rebuild a power supply?

Shawn

If you don't want to do it yourself, you can probably find a rebuilt one for sale and sell off your existing one. Or mail it to someone on here and have them do it for you. It's not that hard of a project as others have noted, so you should be able to do it yourself. I believe Bob Roberts or Arcadeship should sell a rebuild kit for this power supply.

Another option is a plug and play switching power supply from Arcadeshop. I have used these in several of my games and had no issues (except for Williams games). It's a more expensive option, though.
 
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