Atari Centipede Cocktail table game has no power

Arcade Collecting > Restorations & repair

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vapuser:
Mike, After I made the flyback swap, recapped the board, changed the H/Out transistor, added PCB fuse holders to the board, I just reassembled and turn the game on. I first wanted to see if the game would even turn on at all and also wanted to see the size of the video output. I really didn’t make any flyback adjustments per se. So, even though the output video appears to be ok, it only stays illuminated for about 40 seconds. The only modifications I’ve heard about was related to the resizing of the video display, which appears to be fine. I haven’t tried to actually play the game. I’ll try that tonight. I’ll see what happens while I have video display as well as when the video goes black. That should be interesting. I’ll give another update on Monday.

Perkins, I’m not sure what you mean by reflowing the edges on the board. Are you thinking that I need to heat up all the soldering connections on the neck board and on the main monitor board? I can do that this weekend as well. Thanks for all your input.

Mike A:
I admire you for sticking with it. That cab was pretty far gone and you almost have it operating. :applaud:

bperkins01:

--- Quote from: vapuser on May 15, 2020, 07:33:48 am ---Mike, After I made the flyback swap, recapped the board, changed the H/Out transistor, added PCB fuse holders to the board, I just reassembled and turn the game on. I first wanted to see if the game would even turn on at all and also wanted to see the size of the video output. I really didn’t make any flyback adjustments per se. So, even though the output video appears to be ok, it only stays illuminated for about 40 seconds. The only modifications I’ve heard about was related to the resizing of the video display, which appears to be fine. I haven’t tried to actually play the game. I’ll try that tonight. I’ll see what happens while I have video display as well as when the video goes black. That should be interesting. I’ll give another update on Monday.

Perkins, I’m not sure what you mean by reflowing the edges on the board. Are you thinking that I need to heat up all the soldering connections on the neck board and on the main monitor board? I can do that this weekend as well. Thanks for all your input.

--- End quote ---

I haven't read up on using a 19" flyback on a 13" monitor.. (makes me nervous that there is an over voltage situation that will cause the xray protection to kick in)
That said - definitely see if the game plays regardless of what is on the screen - you need to determine if its a monitor issue or a game board issue..
i.e. it will shoot, make noise, etc.. working except you can't see what is going on because the screen is dead (playing blind)

Re flowing the connectors - the joints in the pin connectors where the boards attach - after 40 years become loose / crack.
(pins 4,5,6 show this clearly)

Look close at the cracks on those pins.. a board warming up will cause those joints to move and lose connectivity.

To reflow a joint - heat it - remove some solder with a sucker or a wick and refresh it..

1. See if its playing blind
2. Check for cold solder joints - but reflow all the connector pins

HTH

Mike A:
I am really interested to see if it coins up and plays blind.

vapuser:
Good morning all, Perkins, I did what you suggested. As soon as I powered on the game and saw the video display, I put two coins in the coin receiver and pressed the LED buttons. As soon as I pressed the first LED button the screen went blank (very dark display). There was only one time that the game sounded like it was working. See Reply #199.
--- Quote --- Turned the game back on and all the lights came on. The PCB board LED light, the two coin receptor lights, plus the two LED's above the coin receptor. The speaker was even making some noise. For now, I left the monitor unplugged. I noticed that the two LED lights above the coin receptor were blinking, so I inserted two coins. I pushed those LED buttons and it sounded like the game was playing. I was pressing the fire button and rolling the yellow ball. The sound coming out of the speakers was a little fuzzy and staticy, but it sounded like it was working. So now I thought I'd plug in the monitor just to see If it would light up. Nothing. So I disconnected the monitor and checked the voltages on the two plugs. Still no voltage on the six pin plug, and 126 volts on the three pin plug just like before. I left the monitor unplugged and turned the game back on again, but can't get it to sound like it's playing. I hope I didn't cause any damage by plugging in the monitor.
--- End quote ---
Are you familiar with self-test mode? I can switch over to self-test mode at any time and see all the typical characters on the screen. That screen will stay on indefinitely. I actually started to go through the self-testing of the machine and noticed that the yellow ball was acting erratic depending on how much pressure I was applying to the ball. The self-test picture in the book says you should see the centipede character in the middle of the screen. I didn’t see that character unless I applied a little pressure on the ball. Since the ball is really dirty, I thought I’d take it apart and clean it up a little. I really don’t think has anything to do with the problem, but it’s funny how easy it is to get sidetracked. So getting back to reply #199, why did the game sound normal just that one time? I still need to put the monitor back on the bench and check for cold solder joints. I’ll keep you posted.

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