Arcade Monitor Testing

[Lilwolf]

Hey, I'm not considered using my 19" arcade monitor instead of my current CRT for my next project.

But does anyone know how to test if it's still working?  I would hate to buy an ArcadeVGA and find out that my monitor is dead.

It hasn't been used in 2 years.  And 1/2 of that time its been stored outside (dry areas... but freezing).  Is this super bad?  

The main trouble is when I disconnected my cab... I should have removed it all in working order... and so I could use it on the floor.  I didn't do that (I know... stupid)... And I didn't take notes... Sigh... I was too excited to get my mame stuff in....  And I was using the controllers in the mame stuff. ...   (I wish JPacs where out back then)

So is my only real choice to try to get everything working on the floor?

Thanks!

[crashdmj]

I would also like to know as I purchased a used cab and recently took the monitor out and havent a clue how to test if it works.
Derek

[F|end]

I don't know how to test a mon. but if you're thinking in buying a Arcade VGA, go for it!

Even if the mon. is dead, you can buy a cheap tv and then connect it to your pc with the board!  

Afterwards, go for a Wells Gardener 9k something!  

[rampy]

Hey lilwolf...

I dunno... you probably should have *some* video source to test it.

I assume you still  have the isolation transformer (if required)...

If you got power to the monitor properly, with no rbg/sync etc...

You *should* see raster grey on the monitor (and you should see a slight glow on the tube on the back)  OF course that won't tell you if it has other problems but it's a start.

If you make it passed that step ... perhaps you could take the time to do a VGA cable hack and use an older card with a arcmon tsr.  that way you can get some 15khz signal and see what's doing... I'm sure there's another way, but i'm not an expert and that was just my thoughts off teh cuff...

good luck...

rampy

[Thenasty]

fire it up and see if it glows on the neck.
crank up the brightness.
plug in a Arcade PCB
rig up a RGB VGA cable hack

I do have a question. Why bother finding out if it works or not, you are not going to use it.

[rampy]

fire it up and see if it glows on the neck.
crank up the brightness.
plug in a Arcade PCB
rig up a RGB VGA cable hack

I do have a question. Why bother finding out if it works or not, you are not going to use it.

Well, it's quite simple really... he wants to know if if works BEFORE shelling out 89 bucks plus shipping for an ArcadeVGA card to work with it... makes sense, don't it?

He didn't have the luxary of jpac's and ArcadeVGA cards when he first started his project  so many years ago...

Rampy

[Thenasty]

fire it up and see if it glows on the neck.
crank up the brightness.
plug in a Arcade PCB
rig up a RGB VGA cable hack

I do have a question. Why bother finding out if it works or not, you are not going to use it.

Well, it's quite simple really... he wants to know if if works BEFORE shelling out 89 bucks plus shipping for an ArcadeVGA card to work with it... makes sense, don't it?

He didn't have the luxary of jpac's and ArcadeVGA cards when he first started his project  so many years ago...

Rampy

But he said, not considering using it at all.

[Lilwolf]

No, I would definately use an AradeVGA!  But I don't really want to buy it if my old arcade monitor died in storage.

I might go jpac also (because I would LOVE easy access to using real pcbs... but I need a bunch of inputs or find a way to switch between different cp's... And I haven't figured out what I going to do.

I think I will try to get the old original arcade going on a table.  Hopefully I can figure out what wires go where...

[OSCAR]

Rampy nailed it... I was going to post exactly the same thing regarding using a VGA cable hack and an old Blade3D/whatever card to test it.  That would be the easiest way if you don't have a jamma cab or test bench to try it on.

Monitors can survive quite well in cold storage.  My trusty W-G 7901 was in an unheated building for two Michigan winters (that I know of) and it worked just fine when I plugged it in.  However, frequent/rapid temperature changes have been known to be unfriendly to a chassis and the solder joints.