MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!!!!! TWOOOOOOO!!!!!

[Cobolisdead]

Lol, seriously though, after finishing up the Neo Geo, my next project is a Mortal Kombat 2 restoration. I got it in the same lot as the Neo Geo, and it was converted to a Rampage World Tour. It was working when I picked it up, but obviously it has a few issues in the monitor.  Well, I sold off the Rampage board, and got a MK2 board to go in it. Then I found out that it has a separate sound board so I picked up one of those too. I still need to get the cable that connects them. Well Last night, I tried to start up the MK2 board in it, and nothing happened. I tried another Jamma board I had(Class of 1981 Ms Pac Galaga), and it produced a high pitch whine and some screen garbage. I tested both the boards in my Simpsons cab and the Class of 81 board worked fine and the MK2 board ran through some test menus and then came up with a screen that said CMOS Coinage. Any ideas what that means? I am assuming that I need to adjust or replace the switching power supply in the MK2 cabinet. Pics of her as she was when I picked her up are attached!

[Malenko]

CMOS coinage means youre using the operator menu to configure coin settings (and other settings) . You can change it over to dip.  You should replace the CMOS battery though.


Make sure the power supply has -5V , MKII and many other midway boards require it.  I tend to replace the power supply in cabs I get, so I cant advise against doing that, it will probably fix the issue instea dof mucking around with the one you have. Again, make sure the new one has -5V

[Cobolisdead]

Just getting back to this project. I ordered a new power supply and it has the -5V!

[Malenko]

I'll take that rampage board if you dont want it. Gave Haruman mine and I kinda miss the game.

[Cobolisdead]

Sorry man, I sold it in a lot deal with a machine to a local collector last month.

[Cobolisdead]

Well, I finally ordered a cable to connect main sound card to my PCB.  It took forever to find one on ebay, so I am glad that it is on its way. When it gets here, I will swap out the switching power supply and hook up the sound board and the Main PCB and see where that leaves me.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I needed to replace mine on my Smash TV and Bob Roberts made one to order.  Works great.  Just thought that it could be an option for you if the one on ebay doesn't work or something.

DeL

[Cobolisdead]

So I have swapped out the switching power supply and installed the pubs. I tweaked the monitor, and replaced the battery. Once I hooked up the control panel it fired right up! No sound so I guess that I didn't hook up the power to the sound board.

[Cobolisdead]

And now what everyone has been waiting for, PICS!

After adjusting the screen:




The Sound Board. That camera flash makes the light look like it is on, but it is not:




The Main board and new Switching power supply. I will clean this up once it is all working:



Lots of Wires! Anyone see the power cable for the sound board in there? I can't imagine that they take it out and leave everything else!

[Malenko]

sound board gets power from the connector on the main boards. You'll also need a volume pot.

[Cobolisdead]

So there should be a power cable that runs from the main PCB to the soundboard as well as the ribbon cable?

[Malenko]

So there should be a power cable that runs from the main PCB to the soundboard as well as the ribbon cable?

Bingo


http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/images/10/1066269597.jpg

[Cobolisdead]

Cool. I just ordered a cable off of ebay, so hopefully when that comes in, the sound board will work and I can get to working on the artwork for this awesome machine!

[Cobolisdead]

So I got the power cable in Saturday, and I am having some issues. I am not getting any sound, but the light comes on and it gives me a beeping noise. Then the light will go off and come back on with another beep. Any ideas?

[Malenko]

whats the sound test stay in the operator menu?

[Cobolisdead]

I will check it as soon as I get home.

[Cobolisdead]

So how exactly do I get it into operator menu?

[Malenko]

Hit the test button, or Google the dipswitch setting

[MK3FAN]

sound board gets power from the connector on the main boards. You'll also need a volume pot.

Negative. You do not need a volume pot for MK2.

As for the sound issue. When you say you get a 'beeping noise,' exactly how many do you hear? The number of tones will tell you which rom is bad. 1 tone means everything is ok. 2 tones means the U2 sound rom is bad. 3 tones means the U3 sound rom is bad, etc. Post up a video if you can so we can see and hear what the issue is.

[Malenko]

You are correct, I was thinking MK1 for some reason

[Cobolisdead]

sound board gets power from the connector on the main boards. You'll also need a volume pot.

Negative. You do not need a volume pot for MK2.

As for the sound issue. When you say you get a 'beeping noise,' exactly how many do you hear? The number of tones will tell you which rom is bad. 1 tone means everything is ok. 2 tones means the U2 sound rom is bad. 3 tones means the U3 sound rom is bad, etc. Post up a video if you can so we can see and hear what the issue is.

It is just one tone, but it will do it every 45 seconds or so when I first start it up. I will try to get a video up tonight.

[MK3FAN]

One tone means it's ok. Does the LED light up? Sounds like it's resetting. Make sure your ribbon cable is on correctly at both ends, i.e pin 1 of main board to pin 1 of sound board, etc.

[Cobolisdead]

One tone means it's ok. Does the LED light up? Sounds like it's resetting. Make sure your ribbon cable is on correctly at both ends, i.e pin 1 of main board to pin 1 of sound board, etc.

Yes, the LED light does light up. I was out of town last night, but I will try and check it tonight.

[Cobolisdead]

Alright. I finally got some free time to work on this, and I can say that the problem was that I had e ribbon cable on backwards in the sound board. Flip it around and it worked perfectly!


Now my my issue is that the the player 1 down isn't workin. I tried it on a different switch, but it still didn't work. Any ideas.

[Malenko]

Alright. I finally got some free time to work on this, and I can say that the problem was that I had e ribbon cable on backwards in the sound board. Flip it around and it worked perfectly!


Now my my issue is that the the player 1 down isn't workin. I tried it on a different switch, but it still didn't work. Any ideas.

touch the wire to ground (preferably one that you know works), does it work?  Yes = switch issue No=follow the wire back to the jamma connector and look for cuts, breaks, etc

[Cobolisdead]

I tried the wire on a switch right next to it that I know works. Sadly that didn't fix the issue. I will have to try to follow the wire tomorrow and see where the issue with it is.

It was really great hearing that music pumping out of the arcade machine again!

I have a replacement bulb and starter for the light and I will install them and the new marquee tomorrow.

[Cobolisdead]

So I bought a new bulb and starter for the light, and installed it, but then I realized that the wires running to the light fixture were missing!  Anything special about that wire?

I did get the new marquee in there though.



I got the marquee in a lot deal off of ebay. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. I thought it was a reproduction marquee, but it was one printed on adhesive backing and had no stability to it. So I got some acrylic from Hobby Lobby and tried to put it on that. I got a lot of bubbles doing it that way, but it turned out alright. I still need to trim it down a little, but it looks so good in the machine already! 

[8BitMonk]

So I bought a new bulb and starter for the light, and installed it, but then I realized that the wires running to the light fixture were missing!  Anything special about that wire?

Nothing special about the wire, 16 gauge primary wire you can get from Home Depot will work. If there's nothing running to the fixure you'll need to run wires back to the power supply.  The wiring on the fixture should look something like the pics below.

[Malenko]

Now you know why people just buy under counter florescent fixtures and wire them in instead. Great pix 8bit.

[8BitMonk]

Now you know why people just buy under counter florescent fixtures and wire them in instead.

That's cheating! 

[Malenko]

Now you know why people just buy under counter florescent fixtures and wire them in instead.

That's cheating! 

I'll allow it. *sometimes* its just not worth dealing with the original fixture. Im actually going to swap out the twin bulb set up in my Dynaclone for a kitchen fixture. 

[8BitMonk]

I'll allow it. *sometimes* its just not worth dealing with the original fixture. Im actually going to swap out the twin bulb set up in my Dynaclone for a kitchen fixture. 

No shame in that, sometimes it's just gotta get done. 

[Cobolisdead]

Any tips on stiffing these joysticks up? They are a bit loose and I can't really pull off the super moves with them right now.

[Titchgamer]

What sticks are they?

[Cobolisdead]

Whatever came on it I guess. I will have to take a look at it.

[Cobolisdead]

Well, I have got one side stripped of the black paint. It looks pretty good, but the other side seems to have some sun fade on it. I will post some pics soon.

[Cobolisdead]

I still need to get the other side finished, but I am proud of how this turned out. It is 100X easier to remove the black paint off of this than it was my Galaxian.

[Malenko]

looks better than my MKII 

[Cobolisdead]

Thanks! I don't expect the other side to be as nice, but it should be the nicest machine that I have had to date.

[Cobolisdead]

Well, this Saturday, I took advantage of the last warm day I will have for four months, and stripped the paint off the other side and the Control panel. I have new t molding for it, but my CPO and Bezel art have been stuck in the holiday shipping glut. They spent a week sitting in IL!  Once I get it all in, I will take some more pics.

[Cobolisdead]

So, Long time no update! I have finally got some more work done on this.


I took off the Plexiglass on top of the control panel and and cleaned and polished that up a bit. I then, removed the punch, kick, jump stickers on the control panel. After I had my wife with her precision hands, exacto knife the artwork, I managed to get the new CPO on there and it looks pretty good to me! I ordered some new buttons to go in there, and that should really make it pop. Here it is without them.



I also had the wife cut out the white space for the marque artwork, and it looks amazing! Sorry that my finger was in the shot, but I didn't notice that until I got to work this morning. 



I just need to clean up the screws on the CPO, clean and paint the Coin door, replace the T molding, and track down why the player 1 down button isn't working, and I will be done with this project!

[Cobolisdead]

So here is where I am at. I have the machine reassembled, and it looks awesome!



However, looks aren't everything. Through game play, I have discovered that I only have Block, High Punch, and High Kick. The Low Punch and Low Kick buttons just do the same thing as the High Punch and High Kick buttons.  This along with the fact that player one down doesn't seem to be working has me to believe that I might have this stuff hooked up incorrectly or that the harness is wrong for the game. (I should note that they had converted this into a Rampage World tour when I got it). Here is a pic of the hook up from the Control panel to the PCB.





Any ideas on what to try? I am almost through with this project, and the control issues are the last thing left to fix!

[Cobolisdead]

I was really busy last night, so I didn't get a chance to work on it, but I did get a chance to take a few more pics of it.

Another shot of the Control panel.




A couple of the hanging PCB. I still need to get some PCB feet and put them in there.

[Cobolisdead]

So last night I had just a few minutes to look at this and run over some diagnostics. After failing to put it into test mode, as the switch seems to do nothing, I looked at the hardware more closely.  I took the suggestion of trying to swap out the two connectors on the harness, but that didn't work as the pin outs are a little different. So I decided to just start disconnecting everything until hings stopped working. So I unplugged the blue wired section from the harness, and nothing stopped working. Everything worked just as it had before. So I unplugged the purple wired section from the harness as well, and the only thing that stopped working was Player 2 start. So I took another look at the wiring itself. Looking closely at the wires, I noticed that in the rats nest of wiring on the controls, that they had cut several wires and spliced them into others. I assume that they did this to convert it. Now fortunately, the wires are all still there, I just need to connect them back together again. Hopefully I will get a chance to do that tonight.

[Cobolisdead]

So I spliced the wires back together for the low punch and low kick, and swapped them back to the spots that they are supposed to be at. That fixed everything but the issue with the Player one down. I swapped out the switch with a brand new one wondering if that was the issue but it isn't. So then I followed the wire all the way to the PCB. It goes into this little plastic box that I can't seem to open and then comes out to connect to the PCB via the JAMMA connector.











I guess that I need to test the Jamma connector where the signal comes in to make sure that it is getting the signal and move from there right?

[Cobolisdead]

So, I want to paint the back and top of this cab. Should I use flat or glossy paint?

[Ian]

Back of the cab? I would go flat... hides any and all flaws and every cab I have is flat black on the back.

[Cobolisdead]

I stopped by Walmart on the way and picked up a small can of Canyon Black in a satin finish. Unfortunately, that was all they had that might work for me. I will give that a shot this week sometime and see if that doesn't make the whole thing look a 1000 times better. 

[Mike A]

Every time I see an update to your thread, the Mortal Kombat movie theme runs through my head.

[Cobolisdead]

Lol! Mine too! I start humming it when I walk by the machine every day.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Satin finish looks the most natural in my opinion. I think you will be fine.

DeL

[Cobolisdead]

Cool! Hopefully I will get a chance to paint it tomorrow!

[Cobolisdead]

Here are some pics of the top and back after I painted them. They probably could have used a good sanding before hand, but I think that this would do nicely.

[Cobolisdead]

So I am about to put some new ROM chips in this week, but before I do I have a question. Does anyone know what the Voltage should be coming out of the switching power supply? I put a new one in there, and it partially works.

[Malenko]

is this a trick question?

you should have -5v on the -5v rail , +5v on the +5v rail , and +12v on the +12v rail.

measure the +5 at the chip should be between +5v and +5.1v