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NEW PICS! - Got a Nintendo cabinet this weekend. Now where do I go?
Neilyboy:
Well where do I start. A friend of mine was wanting to get some fireworks (Living in IL you know they sell nothing but sparklers here) so I told him I would ride along with him. I didnt want the trip to be a waste for me so I told him I would find someone down near St. Louis, MO that had a cab for sale and I would pick it up along the way. So I came across this old Nintendo cab listed on craigslist for 75 bucks. I called the guy offered him $50 (now after getting it I probably paid a bit too much for it haha oh well). We arrived there, I didnt even look it over really just loaded it up and took off.
So I get home and unload it and plug it in. I hear it fire up and the monitor glows from behind but the only thing displayed is a white screen. So I have no idea whats going on with it but thats where im at now.
I really want to convert this back to the original Donkey Kong cab it was to begin with.
I figure the TKG4 serial places it to be an original DK cab.
I dont know much about the guts of this machine but looks like they converted it to a Rastan Jamma Cab.
I really want to get into this guy and just strip it all down and repaint it back to original color (Anyone know which color to buy for an original Donkey Kong light blue cab?). I have never messed with an arcade monitor before but I know not to go touching anything close to the huge suction cup like thing on the back of the monitor.
I guess I need to find a good tutorial on how to discharge the monitor safely and then un-mount it from the cab so I can start gutting it. Are there any wires down below that hold a charge that I should be aware of if im going to start pulling what is in there?
Does it sound like a monitor issue if when its plugged in and turned on all that happens is I get a white screen? I dont think its the monitor issue since I get no sounds from the speaker which looks to be hooked up right.
I dont even know where to start here the inside of this thing is just a wire nightmare. Seriously what in the hell was the person thinking that wired this thing together. I really think this thing is just one big fire hazard the way it is now haha. Look at all the wire nuts in there this pic only displays half of them haha..
Its hard to tell anymore what is original or not in this cab..
I am guessing this is the video card its mounted below the monitor just sitting there on pcb feet im sure this is not in its original spot (that or the guy on the line was wasted when he mounted this thing).
Here are a few more random pictures.
Marquee wired with speaker wire haha nice..
So here I am asking for advice on where I should go with this. Where should I look for maybe a video on removing the monitor and dis-charging it (I heard it mentioned before but cannot find it for the life of me). I keep looking around on ebay in hopes to find a control panel pulled from a working cab along with a bezel and marquee. If anyone has anything they are wanting to get rid of PCB wire harness etc. Let me know.
Neil
BobA:
When a conversion looks like that it is probably better to start over. Decide what you want to do and wire it up clean and new. Do you want a restored DK and that is it or do you have other plans for the cab as well. What you decide will determine what type of harness to wire and what to use in the cab. The cab right now has the original DK PS and transformer at the botton. The crooked PS is an add on and the monitor looks almost too clean to be original. It does look like a DK monitor that has been mounted Horiz instead of Vert.
edit: spelling
CheffoJeffo:
I agree with BobA.
... oh ... almost forgot ... Restoration Page In The Wiki has some useful links.
Neilyboy:
Well, my plan is to one day have a MAME machine (since I have about 500 dollars worth of parts that I purchased last year to build a cabinet with). I was lucky enough to aquire a Ms. Pac-Man cab about two months ago that I am in the process of restoring. I am working with another member on the board here in hopes that I will be able to make the trip out his way to pickup a cab that will be perfect to mame. So I guess I wouldnt mind having an original DK cab or DK jr or 3. I dont really care but Wouldnt mind keeping it original.
I know nothing about the insides of these things yet other than the typical stuff like it has a power supply powering the monitor and the pcb game itself. Other than that I have no idea how the video is run to the monitor. From the looks of this cab Im totally lost on that. I posted that pic above which I figure was some sort of video card but then again I have no idea.
I totally agree on starting fresh on this project and ripping everything out and starting new. So I am totally open to all suggestions and pointers. Like I have said a bunch before I have no idea where to really start on this one. I wouldnt mind this being my summer project so cleaning the cab up isnt a big deal sanding painting and such but the internal workings have me all confused haha.
Neil
BobA:
On a Nintendo cab the monitor and light were run from the transformer at 100V. The monitor is also inverted video. It looks like the added card is not the one usually seen in a DK cab. Since you are running a jamma board right now I assume that the card is inverting the video to make it the right way for the jamma card. In other words Inv Video + Added Card = Regular video. This is only a guess however and should be verified with closer pics of the card and monitor showing model numbers.
If your light is no longer plugged into the socket at the bottom of the cab it may have been changed over to a 115V unit as the 100V flourescent tubes were expensive. The 100 V transformer also serves as an isolation transformer so do not plug your monitor directly into an AC outlet because it will blow. You will have to trace the AC wiring for the monitor to see if it comes from the power plug at the botton and see if that plug is still fed by the transformer.
Just some into to start with.