Blitz 99 4 Player 49-Way Control

[Cenzo]

Hello,

I just acquired a 4-player Blitz '99 arcade game.  Everything works fine except for the #4 player joystick.  It works great for up, down, and right, but when I press to the left on the joystick, it goes to the right. 

I am new to the arcade scene and am hoping one of the gurus here may be able to shed some light on this situation for a newbie.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Much thanks in advance!

Vince

[MonMotha]

There are several optical sensors on the stick.  Check that they all work.  This can be verified by using a multimeter on the voltage setting and checking the output of the sensor right up at the stick while the machine is on.  Sometimes, it's just an obstruction like a piece of paper.  Sounds like one of your sensors is not working or blocked.

[Cenzo]

I cleaned out the dust in the cabinet.  I took the joystick apart as well as the housing and cleaned it. I found a wiring diagram on the net and verified the wire colors on both ends are correct.  While doing all of that I found what appears to be corrosion or a spill on the ?joystick connection board?  Forgive me for not knowing the correct term for this board.  Is this corrosion able to be cleaned off and the joystick work or will it have to be replaced?  Hopefully if it has to be replaced I can get it easily and also that it wont be terribly expensive.  See attached pics:


Thank you again for your help!

Vince

[MonMotha]

That particular board is called an I-40 board.  Midway used it to multiplex all the joystick inputs together since their Seattle hardware didn't have enough inputs to handle all of those 49-way sticks.  Looks like you have some parts that may be corroded or burned up.  That could cause your problem.  Is that corrosion near the input for joystick number 4?  I don't have my I-40s handy to look at.

Given that the board still works, it can likely be repaired if it is the fault, but you may have to solder some of those surface mount passives (it's not nearly as hard as people think).  Replacement boards, when you can find them, are generally $20-100, depending on the market.  I have a spare or two laying around if you end up needing one.

[Cenzo]

I found 1 of these adapters online but it is untested and also $79.99.

http://www.kpsurplus.com/products/view/26163

and also on ebay the same seller from the pervious site:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Midway-Games-5772-15636-I-40-Adapter-Board_W0QQitemZ200392456813QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVideo_Games_Accessories?hash=item2ea8523a6d

$89.99 and untested.


I'm hoping that someone here has one to sell or knows of a better place to get the board that is working and cheaper.


Thanks for your time

Vince

[MonMotha]

Clean off your existing board with some rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush or q-tip.  Should give you a good idea of what parts are dead, if any.  Looks like you have 3 toasted resistors at the left of that bank near the 4th player connector.  They could be easily replaced at a parts cost of a few cents, and you'd probably have a working board.

[Cenzo]

Well its 2:30am so I'm going to bed.  I cleaned the board lightly with rubbing alcohol and a few q-tips.  See attached pics. 

Thanks MonMotha!  I very much appreciate your time.

Vince

[Cenzo]

Good Morning,


I went back in and used a toothbrush as you had suggested.  It definitely cleaned up better.  After making sure it was dry I turned the machine on and played a game.  I now can go down and left & up and left a very little bit but direct left goes direct right still.  I think a few those surface mount passives that you had mentioned earlier are truly bad.  Is there way to test them individually with a multimeter?  I don't solder much but may be able to try it if I could get the new working surface mount passives in town somewhere.  I put in a lowball offer on the untested board on ebay.  He wanted $80 and I put in an offer for $20 and he came back with an offer of $40.  I'm just nervous about paying $40 for a untested board.

See the new pics:

[MonMotha]

Most of those resistors around the edge will have one end open if you disconnect all the cables, so you could test them on the board with a multimeter.  Put it on the 20k setting and check right across both sides of each one.  Expected resistance is written in a code on the top where the first 2 numbers are the "significant digits" and the last number is the number of zeros to add (so 472 is 4700 or 4.7k).

0805 passives (the size used on that board, IIRC) are probably not available at retail in your area, but digikey or mouser will happily sell them to you in small quantity at reasonable prices.  Digikey will even just dump them in an envelope and mail them to you 1st class mail for a buck or so.  May just be that you need to reflow some of the joints.

[u_rebelscum]

...I now can go down and left & up and left a very little bit but direct left goes direct right still. 

Check you 49-way joystick first.  Cheaper and easier to replace, and easier to test too.  With straight all the way left resulting in right, propably one, repeat 1, connection somewhere is not working: most likely the X axis "direction" pin.

Quick 49-way overview:
Four pins/cables per axis.
Three optical sensors per axis, each with its own pin & cable connection to the board.
The fourth pin/cable is the "direction" pin.
Centered stick, all optical sensors are blocked.
Full left & full right, all optical sensors are open, so the only difference is the direction pin.
The direction pin is set from the joystick board by the order the sensors are unblocked.

So test the four pins for the X axis on the joystick, and make sure each make a connection correctly.

If all test good on the joystick, then you'll know the problem is on the I-40.  If the joystick doesn't pass with flying colors, then fix it first before worrying about the I-40.

(Very quick test: test same joystick on player 3, and test a working joystick on player 4.)

[MonMotha]

That's true, I forgot that, while the cables going to the I-40 are pinned differently per player, the connector going to the sticks are all the same.  Just swap the cables between player three and player four and see if the problem moves.  If it does move, the I-40 is at fault, if it stays, the stick is faulty.

[Cenzo]

Excellent diagnosis!  I would not have known that they were interchangable at the joystick.  I saw how the blank pinout was different at the I-40.  I switched the plugs for 3 and 4 and the problem stayed on joystick 4.  So then it must be the joystick mechanics or electronics.  I have the joystick mechanics/electronics out of the machine and apart.  I will see if I can clean any better.  Can I assume that its not the joystick hardware itself and leave that in the machine?  The ball handled joystick itself?

How should I proceed from here diagnosing the joystick electronics and mechanics to determine if its a mechanical issue or electronic issue?


You guys rock!

Thanks for the assistance!

Vince

[Cenzo]

At a closer inspection it appears that his board is missing 2 pieces and they also appear to be part of the left/right circuitry.  In the attached pic there are items missing at W4 and also W2.  It is possible that they are not meant to be filled and are supposed to be blank but they have indentations on them as if there were, at one time, items soldered to them.  I googled every model # on the circuit board and ever sticker attached to it to no avail.  I was hoping for a pic of another of the same board to verify if the missing components are indeed missing.

Do either of you have access to a pic of this board with these items either soldered in or left blank?

thanks!

Vince

[MonMotha]

Those look like build options.  Probably correct.  Just compare it to one of your working sticks.

[Cenzo]

Yup, blank on the others.  I wasnt sure if they were all the same or they were supposed to be different.  So I guess I'm back to either buying another of that board in the pic or further diagnosis of it.  Do you know the same of that board so I can price a new/used one?  It may be easier to buy one if they are not too expensive.

thanks!

Vince

[MonMotha]

The only way you're going to be able to find one of those boards is by tearing it off of another 49-way stick.  Check the sensors themselves; they're the parts most likely to go bad.  You can also try putting that board on another stick's body to rule out mechanical issues.

[u_rebelscum]

Well, there's ebay for $24 (buy it  now only).  He's mislabeling them as williams parts.

Happs sells the complete joysticks,, and replacement optisenors, but not just the complete joystick board.


But check out your joystick board first.  Find the four pins for the x axis (I think pins 6-9).  Centered should have the three sensors no current (IIRC), left and right should result in current as follows for pins x1, x2 & x3:

<<<     <<       <     center    >       >>     >>>
111     011     001     000     100     110     111

Notice the two ends are the same?  The fourth pin, xD, (not should above) should be making the difference.  One side it's on, the other not.  If you can, four LEDs, 5v+ source and ground really makes seeing exactly how the stick is outputing wrong a lot easier.  Otherwise, multimeter each of the four pins, in all the 7 positions each.

[LLUncoolJ]

I have 3 sticks off of a Blitz 99 CP (in fact, they are still on the CP). I also have the little board I guess they plug into (may be sold). I MAME'd the cabinet and these are left over parts. I'll sell them cheap, PM me if interested.

edit:  Also have the metal CP overlay...seems to be in pretty good shape. I'll add a pic of it later.

[Cenzo]

I got time today for further testing.  I switched the joystick board and dual tab sliders to player 3 while keeping the actual joysticks in the same place.  The problem followed the joystick board.  That is the damaged part.  I really appreciate each of you helping me.  Thanks for your time in helping me diagnose this and learn a lot in the process.

The last post from LLUncoolJ said he had compatible joystick boards.  I will pm him to check availability and prices.  


You guys rock!  If you are ever in Raleigh I owe ya a beer.

Vince