Help connecting PC to Sega MC-2000

[turboglyde]

What the heck am I doing wrong here? Please Help...
 
I have an old Frogger cabinet that has been converted to Time Pilot 84. I am trying to convert this to a basic MAME cabinet. I first attempted to install an ArcadeVGA 5000, and then tried to use CRT emudriver 2.0 on an old HD6450 card. All i ever get is a blue screen on my cabinet. I feel i have followed the instructions for both methods well, but when it comes time to hook VGA cable to arcade CRT, all I ever see on my arcade CRT is a blue screen. I know that the monitor works because I have reconnected it to the Time Pilot board multiple times just to make sure that the CRT wasn't messed up.

I am using an Ultimarc Arcade Monitor Video Amplifier to connect the PC VGA signal to the chassis of the MC-2000. Here is a photo of how i have it wired.


 

Here is where the wires come into the MC-2000 chassis.
 

 

And here is what I get when i connect the monitor to anything other than my Time Pilot board...


 
So what the heck? Is there something wrong with my video amplifier? Am I not seeing something and wiring it wrong (there's only 5 wires, I'm not sure how i could screw this up)? Is there something strange about a Sega MC-2000 that i can't find anywhere? I read in the MC-2000 manual that it outputs 15.75 hz so when i run vmmaker i set it for standard arcade 15.7
 
Also I have tried the ArcadeVGA on two different PC's. One an older P4 running widows xp, the other an AMD X4 running windows 7 64bit

Please help me...I am seriously losing my mind
 
Thank you!..

 
 

[grantspain]

are you aware that japanese wiring is different
white is ground
blue/white is sync

[turboglyde]

are you aware that japanese wiring is different
white is ground
blue/white is sync

The chassis is labeled, so i just followed the wires from the chassis (see picture).
 
R = Red
G = Green
B = Blue
GND = White
HD (which I assume is sync) = blue w/white stripe


 
to this wiring harness.
 
(R) red in ---> red out
(G) green in ---> green out
(B) blue in ---> blue out
(SYNC) blue w/white stripe ---> gray
(Ground) white in ---> black out

 

 
Which is then wired to this video amplifier.
 

[grantspain]

ok that looks correct
have you tried adjusting the gain pots yet

[turboglyde]

ok that looks correct
have you tried adjusting the gain pots yet

I tried adjusting the video bias, R gain, G gain, and B gain (as pictured)
 


 
I also tried adjust the brightness, but didn't really mess with the V or H...
 

 
I didnt mess with any of these located on the neckboard
 

 
I also tried adjusting the focus and brightness, located in the "high voltage" section of the chassis board. All any of this did was make the  blue on the cab screen brighter or darker. It also made for a pain when i hooked Time Pilot 84 back up, but I must say after adjusting it, it looks better than it ever has!
 
Maybe it could be something with the pots. Should my MC-2000 always show a blue screen, even when nothing is hooked up? It's just strange that when i hook up the Time Pilot board it works perfectly.

[Malenko]

are you sure the PC is outputting a compatible signal?  Just for fun, what happens when you hook up the PC to an LCD monitor?
I only ask because all your wiring looks good to me.

[turboglyde]

are you sure the PC is outputting a compatible signal?  Just for fun, what happens when you hook up the PC to an LCD monitor?
I only ask because all your wiring looks good to me.

When using CRT emudriver following this guide

http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?id=301

I enable Arcade 15.7 hz and change to vertical.
 

 
Then I get to this step of enabling EDID emulation and as soo as I click enable EDID emulation my screen goes black and says "output not supported". This is what is supposed to happen.
 

 
At this point I take the VGA cable out of the LCD monitor and plug it into the video amplifier...and nothing happens, the screen stays blue. The screen maybe goes from a light blue to a dark blue, so something is happening but not what it supposed to do.
 

[Malenko]

Can you bypass the amp and just use a VGA breakout cable right into the monitor?

[turboglyde]

Can you bypass the amp and just use a VGA breakout cable right into the monitor?

I would if I could, but I dont have a VGA breakout cable. The main reason I bought the video amplifier was that I'm pretty inexperienced in the soldering department. But I think i have found a way to build a VGA breakout cable without soldering.
 
If I buy this DE-15 to terminal socket breakout adapter I should just be able to connect the wires from the harness of the MC-2000
 
https://www.adafruit.com/products/3124
 


Which I would wire:

1 ---> R
2 ---> G
3 ---> B
13 ---> sync
Ground ---> ground

This would effectively work as a VGA breakout cable correct?

Thank you for any help!

[Malenko]

well you can just take a VGA Cable, cut one end off and just temp twist the wires together. No point in spending money on something you'll only ever use once.

I'd hate for you to spend any money and me be totally wrong about the amp.

[turboglyde]

well you can just take a VGA Cable, cut one end off and just temp twist the wires together. No point in spending money on something you'll only ever use once.

I'd hate for you to spend any money and me be totally wrong about the amp.

Took your advice and made my own VGA breakout cable. I now have a picture on my MC-2000! Thank you Malenko! Now if i could just get the damn thing to stop scrolling on me...I have been messing with the V-hold all day and the best I can do is get it to scroll slow in one direction or the other. Any advice on adjusting this or is it just that hard?
 
Thank you again for helping me get this far. I seriously cried tears of joy when I had a picture show up on the MC-2000.

[Malenko]

Glad to help.

As for the scrolling, you could try combining Hsync and Vsync or trying another resolution. Just so you know you might have to adjust Vhold between resolutions, thats just the way some arcade CRTs are.

[turboglyde]

Glad to help.

As for the scrolling, you could try combining Hsync and Vsync or trying another resolution. Just so you know you might have to adjust Vhold between resolutions, thats just the way some arcade CRTs are.

 
Combining the Hsync and Vsync did the trick! Thank you again for all your help!

[Malenko]

Neat. Glad it works