ATARI Batman PCB issues

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I have an ATARI batman PCB that used to work great. For some reason
after it has been on for a while, (about ten min. at the most) the
screen turns bright yellow and stays that way until you leave it for a
day or so. Sometimes when I turn it on I get a bunch of colored squares
on the screen. if I leave it on for a while, in the yellow screen,
sometimes it will reboot and go back into game mode but will eventually
revert back to the yellow screen. I have checked the IC's and they seem
to be seated fine, wondering if it could be something else? I have
plugged my Rampart in to the same cabinet and it works fine so I think
I can rule out a power supply problem. Any suggestions?
Thanks,

-Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

OK, first of all, you shouldn't be leaving your games on for "a day or
so". That's just asking for trouble. Let's say something goes and you
don't catch it for "a day or so"... that's a long time for a game to
sit in a faulted state, possibly causing more damage to the PCB,
monitor... who knows, the thing could even catch fire on you. Good
rule of thumb, turn them on when you play them, off when you don't.

I've been known to leave my games on for a while for parties, my kids,
etc., but not totally unattended. I'll make sure to check on them
every once in a while (especially the historically troublesome games)
and am often glad that I do...

That being said, check your +5VDC on the board... something could be
dragging it down, preventing it from running... and some boards are
more particular about 5V than others.

Also feel all the chips with a finger... if any are getting REAL hot,
that's a problem.

Rob

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Rob Carroll wrote:
>
> That being said, check your +5VDC on the board... something could be
> dragging it down, preventing it from running... and some boards are
> more particular about 5V than others.
>

I agree with Rob - slight +/- in voltages can cause odd things to
happen. I bought a working MK1 PCB off of eBay and it arrived this
weekend. Pics in the auction show everything running great. Seller
has great feedback. Plug it in and it passes self test, makes it to
the title screen, and then all of the graphics turn into garble and the
board resets after a few seconds back into test mode and the cycle
repeats. I pulled my hair out for 20-25 minutes reseating chips,
checking this and that before it dawned on me to check my voltages.
Seems that the +5v was just a bit too high - once I dialed this down a
bit, the board came right back to life and now is perfect.

-Steve P.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Interesting story.... I didn't get a chance to check the voltage last
night, still working on the Tempest. But I will do it today and see
what I get. Thanks.

-Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

OK, I checked the voltage to the game and it was set to 4.99 so I
adjusted it up to 5.02 no change on the game, still goes to a yellow
screen. While I was working with it, I noticed that motion would cause
the game to react. I am starting to think that it could be a lose
connection or a broken trace causing the problem. I separated the audio
board from the game board and checked all of the IC's. Didn't change
anything, still have the problem. If it's a bad trace, how can I locate
it? Any other suggestions?

Thanks, -Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

I still haven't found the problem with this PCB, any one have some
suggestions for me to try? Will it hurt anything to run the game
without the audio board attached? Maybe if I can get the same problem
without that second board I can start to narrow the problem down.
Thanks,

-Dave

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Out of all the game hardware out there, and all the possibilities for
your situation nobody's gonna just up and tell you "Go here and look
for this chip, change it"

But a thermal situation seems probable. So order or buy yourself a can
of "freeze spray"

Get a mirror or a helper to stand in front of the game, turn it on and
wait until the screen goes apeshit on ya. When it does (use the little
tube with the can) pinpoint spray a little freeze spray on each chip on
the board and look for a change in behaviour. When you get one try it a
few times until it has been verified the culprit.

Then mark it with a dot of red nailpolish near the egde so you don't
cover up the numbers on the chip and get back to replacing it when you
can.

Best of luck.

- Matt

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.video.arcade.collecting (More info?)

Did you check the voltage while it was under load? I understand you
may realize this, but I thought I would point it out just in case..
Sometimes when people check voltage, they unplug the power supply from
the game boards, and then meter the power supply output. What they
really need to do is check the voltage somewhere on the game board and
see if anything on board is dragging the voltage low..

You might also want to check for a cold solder joint somewhere on your
board, especially near the external connections.

Good luck,

Jude