Is my Arkanoid Board Fried???

[Jabba]

Hi all,

Not sure where to post this question, but I thought I'd start here. Maybe we have some Jamma experts on the board. If not, if anyone can direct me to a different board, it would be appreciated.

I bought a Arkanoid Machine last year and over that last week, it started acting up. By acting up I mean when I power it up, I see a bunch of random characters on the screen. I tried re-seating the Jamma cable but this did not do anything. Still random characters. One time, the game started playing, but after an hour or so, the screen started flickering and then went back to Random characters.

I am no expert in Jamma. If there is someone on this board, do you think the Board is finished? Is there anything I can look for ? Would it be feasible to fix the board or should I get another?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Regards,

Garry

[MonitorGuru]

Arkanoid is not JAMMA.  The only variation of Arkanoid that is Jamma is "Revenge Of DOH".

I have all 4 arkanoid boards ( Ark, Ark DOH, Tournament Ark, and a early variation of Ark with daughter boards).

Here are my thoughts:
1) Lift and reseat all socketed chips very carefully.  Take a super fine emory board or 200+ sand paper (dont use cardboard nail files they're way too abrasive) and lightly rub any oxidation off the chip legs VERY CAREFULLY (you can easily break them by removing, sanding and reinserting if you're not used to doing it)

2) Add cooling over the board.. point a regular circular fan against it with the back open, see if it works better cool.

3) Take a pen/ink eraser (the silver-grey part of a rectangular eraser, not the pink or green part) and rub it across all the contacts on the edge of the board top and bottom to remove any oxidation--especially over the metal posts that accept the power input (if a regular arkanoid board) or the first part of the connector (if a DOH board which is jamma)

4) If you have access to another identical board, try swaping the socketed chips around and see if the problem remains with the board or moves with the chip. If move with the chip, reburn the bad chip(s) onto new ones.


Unfortunately Arkanoids are not well documented for repairs, most are probably thrown. They're not that rare so picking up a new one isn't too expensive (and thus not worth anyones time to repair), though I'd suggest salvaging all socketed chips including the security programmed motorola processor chip before tossing the board if it comes to that)  Or feel free to send me the board, I can always use it for parts for other games

[paigeoliver]

Have you CHECKED the voltages coming out of your power supply?

[RayB]

I'll second Paige's advice BEFORE you go through the trouble of checking chips n stuff. Get a multimeter and check the voltages coming off the power supply. It just might be a little too low.

[Grauwulf]

I would third the reccomendation of checking voltages. And if you have one of the Arkanoid boards that has a small daughter board on the top I would reccomend pulling it off and re-seating it. I have found that a lot of i/o errors and weird stuff I have seen on the few Arkanoid boards I'ev played with were usually related to the daughter board.

[Gunstar Hero]

Did you dip it in boiling hot oil?

If so... YES. It is in fact, deep fried.  

Sorry, it's late.  

[Jabba]

Thanks for all the prompt replies....

Guess what.. it ended up being the Power after all...

Your replies promopted me to think about the Power. After reading your posts, I realized I was testing my machine on an EXTENSION cord (long one at that) that my Crysal Castle was plugged into. I guess that Arkanoid was not getting enough Power. I plugged Arkanoid into a Wall socket and TADA  .... works
Learn something new every day. I didn't know Arcade machines were so sensitive on their Power consumption...
 
(Phew... I was getting a little scared reseating EPROMs on this board).

My mistake...Arkanoid IS NOT Jamma... That begs the question... what type is it??

Again, thank you MonitorGuru, paigeoliver, RayB  and Grauwulf for the excellent advise.

Gunstar Hero: I guess that would be a Scottish Arkanoid board

Garry

[MonitorGuru]

It's a "Taito Classic" connection. IRRC the Joy Left/Right serves as the spinner inputs.

There are only 22/44 pins on the connector, instead of 28/56, mainly because the power is separate.


If you're not getting enough power due to an extention cord, I'd be VERY worried about the quality of the wiring in:
- The cab
- Your extention cords (don't EVER use anything less than 16 gauge (e.g. 18, 20))
- Your home.

A simple extention cord should not deplete the power that significantly. Your switch mode power supply in the cabinet may be failing or could use an adjustment on the +5 volt line (there is usually a dial you can turn, measure WITH LOAD (e.g. connected to the gameboard) while adjusting and use a DMM to detect the voltage)

[Rocky]

When adjusting the knob on your switching power supply, use the +5v to test. It is the most important input voltage for the PCB.

Also, test it on the Arkanoid board at the edge connectors, not the Power supply.

A regular wall extension cord should not be the problem. I thought you meant an extension in the cab. (like a Taito to JAMMA extension / adaptor)

Good luck,
Rocky

[Grauwulf]

An extension cord shouldn't cause that kind of problem unless it's a really crappy cord. In that case I'd toss it and get a new one. If it's generating that kind of resistance it's a fire hazard.

[paigeoliver]

Jabba, and everyone else.

If you own even one real arcade game, then you NEED to own a multimeter and you need to check the voltages the power supply is putting out.

Power supply problems are the number one thing that cause games to fail, pcbs to get damaged, and so on.

Matter of fact, if you only have a couple of games, then you might want to go ahead and replace your power supplies with brand new ones. THey are pretty cheap from Bob Roberts.

[RayB]

well hot damn! This is a revelation! I've mentioned before how my Galaga was flakey after I moved, and I finally fixed it a while back by increasing the PS voltage... Well guess what! I have the cabinet connected to a 50' outdoor extension cord!!! Coincidence??

~Ray B.