New Life Games LLC
Arcade Games, Pinball, Crane Games, Redemption Games and Other Stuff => Arcade Games **Video** => Topic started by: subzero on December 20, 2015, 10:49:33 PM
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Hi all,
I have a Atari Pole Position arcade game that is not working (bought untested)...looking for thoughts. Power would appear fine on the boards. If I power the machine on and turn on or flip it to test mode, the tests show everything working fine (Rams/Roms with no errors, all controls, coin mechs, all sounds are perfect, steering wheel feedback perfect, etc.). When I flip the test switch back (to game mode) ..it shows some garbled characters (as it should..like it is booting up according to the manual) then shows the convergence grid (also good) but then Nothing (black). If I continue to leave it on, then it just continuous to cycle this sequence of garbled characters, convergence screen, back to black). Flipping a credit and attempting to play does nothing (no sound).
Thanks for everyone's thoughts.
Ayron
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I presume you have tried all of the normal stuff - resocketing socketed chips, flexing the board slightly to see if anything changes, etc.
You mention that the power reads good, but did not say what it was at the connector nor at test points on the board (or at someplace like a chip's power leads). Those older Atari games could sometime cook their connectors causing subtle power issues. Cleaning the card edge connector would not be a bad idea, especially if it shows any signs of burning.
Did you go through all of the self test sounds? Could be that playing a certain sound, like the BOOM at the end of the startup test, might be causing issues...
Peace!
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JtWine,
thanks for your comments.
As far as the voltage, the +5 volts (posts) read at 4.93 volts. I tested both boards on the voltage. +5 volts are connected together as is the ground. Today, I replaced both large Caps (the two at the bottom of the game) based on other feedback. This did not solve the issue. Since in Test mode, all the Roms/Rams register as good and the sounds all play correctly and the monitor works (as I can see everything clear on the test results), it is a bit of a puzzle. I have checked all the connections (edge connector) and these seem good, but will be looking at that again. I will also take a look at the power supply....4.93 is close, but perhaps it needs to be exactly 5.0?
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I would try to get it to be at least 5V on the board, if not close to 5.1. Does your board have the battery, or has it been modded with a non-volatile chip?
If you have a spare CPU, swap it. CPUs can fail in odd ways, causing really strange game behavior.
Also feel around on the board for any chips that are too hot to keep a finger on. If you find any, replace them.
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can you post a pic of it when trying to boot ?? Ive fixed alot of these boards ... most times when it does that its the interconnect board not making good connection or low voltage ... they are power hogs ... check voltage at the furthest point on the board from the edge conn... if you havent yet jump power and ground to the test points on the board as well as tying the ground to other ground and 5v test points further down the board to help stabilize the power as best as possible ... not ass need that mod done depending on the condition of your edge con but it helps on atari stuff .