Asteroids Deluxe resurrection

[ChadTower]

(Of course I had discharged myself prior to doing the fingering).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2tfEhubhXI[/youtube]

 

[Level42]

 

You can say what you want of Cameron but ---fudgesicle--- she looks hot there.....(pre- "gel" that is).

[ChadTower]

So I finally decided to either get this game working or get it out of my basement.  It was last left with the game board at the repair shop but the guy was claiming I gave him an Asteroids board.  I haven't talked to him in a while so I figured I'd chase that board later and get this moving.

Bought a working game board off Ebay.  The seller left out one little detail, though - it not working.  Plays blind but if you turn the brightness way up you see a flat line on the X axis.  That's just too damn much money for a nonworking board.

I get good voltage at the monitor input for X as expected.  The fact that you can turn up the brightness and see the pic shows a good Z.  I get nearly no AC on Y but I do get neg DC.  I'm only getting half of the Y off the board.  I have sent the seller an email but I'm betting nothing comes of it.

I'm having a serious problem lately with things that I buy actually showing up or when then do they are not as listed.   

[SirPeale]

File a Paypal claim.

[ChadTower]

File a Paypal claim.

I sent him an email today.  If I don't get some type of response in a few days I'll do that.

[ChadTower]

im sorry it worked great we plugged it in my friends game, is it possible
something is bent from fedex we can do 2 things, i can have u ship back for
refund or ill but a claim in if you seed amage and u get refund and keep
board your call sorry this never ever happened before never sold something
and someone had a problem im so sorry your call let me know thanks

If dude is telling the truth... odds are it's cracked solder joints... since there is nothing physically damaged on this board.  If I touch them up, though, I have altered the board, and as a seller I sure wouldn't want an unknown buyer taking an iron to a board while pondering a refund.

[Kevin Mullins]

Well, you seem to have gotten a kinder response than most give these days.
There's not much for solder joints to just be a common cracked joint on those though.

I didn't read back through the thread, but is this problem on a known working monitor ?
What was the other boardset doing? (the one in the shop)

My AD is not accessible at the moment, but I do have a boardset handy to look at if you question anything you see on that one.
(a spare working boardset no less) 

[ChadTower]

Thanks for the offer... may be moot for a bit now.  I popped a g05 rebuild kit into the monitor last night to be sure.  Went well, fired it up... BIZZAP.  Forgot to reattach the anode cap.  Shorted to the frame.

 

After that no activity at all, spot killer on, just a dull glow in the tube when I turn the brightness up.

I did find one dead fb fuse.  Hopefully that's it and I didn't just kill every component connected to the frame.

[Kevin Mullins]

Ouch.... best to go back through and check all the transistors again now.
(if the new fuse blows immediately)

[ChadTower]

Yeah.  That and the HV diode that causes you to need the resistor to discharge.  I assume arcing the anode to the frame is pretty much the same except this time you put amps behind it.

[ChadTower]

Popped a new fuse in, got back to a spot.  Fuse did not blow.

Pulled out two of the new chassis transistors and they test good as far as I can tell.  Might be worth popping all four of the old ones back in and see if it goes back to how it was (a vertical line on X).

[ChadTower]

Popped the 4 old ones back in to see if I could get back to where I started... nothing.

Pulled deflection board.  F600 and F700 dead.  Time to trace backwards from those and see what I find.

[ChadTower]

• R620 and R670 are both short- big cement resistors, one on each X and Y.
• R613 and R713 are both short.
• R618 and R718 are both short.
• R615 and R715 are both short.
• R619 and R719 are both short.

Note:  check values on these, they might be testing open because the intended value is below the continuity threshhold on the meter.

EDIT:  nevermind.  R620 and R720 test at 2 ohms which is the correct value.  Meter's spec on continuity is <=50 +/- 30 ohms.  I guess continuity isn't the best way to check low valued resistors.

[SirPeale]

You don't want to use a continuity check to check resistors, always Ohms check. 

[Kevin Mullins]

You're gonna want to check ALL the small transistors as well.

[Level42]

im sorry it worked great we plugged it in my friends game, is it possible
something is bent from fedex we can do 2 things, i can have u ship back for
refund or ill but a claim in if you seed amage and u get refund and keep
board your call sorry this never ever happened before never sold something
and someone had a problem im so sorry your call let me know thanks

Sounds like too many sorry's in there......

[ChadTower]

You're gonna want to check ALL the small transistors as well.

Yeah, haven't posted it, but two of the heat sinked transistors tested out of range.  Just barely, like .3v drop, but that's out of range.  I still have to test the nonsinked transistors.

[RayB]

im sorry it worked great we plugged it in my friends game, is it possible
something is bent from fedex we can do 2 things, i can have u ship back for
refund or ill but a claim in if you seed amage and u get refund and keep
board your call sorry this never ever happened before never sold something
and someone had a problem im so sorry your call let me know thanks

Sounds like too many sorry's in there......

He's probably just got Canadian genes.

[Kevin Mullins]

You're gonna want to check ALL the small transistors as well.

Yeah, haven't posted it, but two of the heat sinked transistors tested out of range.  Just barely, like .3v drop, but that's out of range.  I still have to test the nonsinked transistors.

In circuit you may find some reading fluctuations.
If in doubt, test out of circuit.
Generally you'll find a bad one either dead shorted or wide open. There have been some weird instances where one will check good but actually be bad, but I have not had that problem.
But in your case since it took a "zap"..... I'd look for any that are just plum dead.
 

[ChadTower]

Yeah, haven't taken them out yet, that's next.  I just ordered some replacements from Zanen along with the HV diode which may also be fried.  I'd rather have spares at this point than end up waiting a bunch of time on this one.  It was supposed to be quick - that's why I dropped the cash on a "working" board!

[ChadTower]

Sigh.  So I am sitting here putting in the replacement HV diode... damn thing is too long!  I have no idea how you're supposed to get this thing in properly.  It's a good inch or more longer than the original.  If you put it in line with the anode wire then there isn't enough slack to put it back properly into the HV cage.   

[SirPeale]

Put it in standing up.

[ChadTower]

It's not PCB mounted.  It's in line with the anode wire in a socket.  I can get it done but it's a bit of a pain in the behind and I have to find something that can insulate around the new connections and stand up to the HV.  

Like this (this pic isn't mine):

[ChadTower]

Didn't like his method as shown above so I spliced in some extra wire between the transformer and the diode.  110v lamp cord and two layers of heat shrink on the joints.




Cleaned up power block + new big blue.

[ChadTower]

Just remembered this thread... so for the sake of closure...





BTW, that diode fix shown above did not work.  The shrinkwrap isn't nearly enough insulation so it arcs visibly to the cage shield.  I put in a different HV cage and need to find a better insulating solution for that one.

[Paladin]

So was the problem just with the monitor, or did the game board you bought turn out to have issues as well?

Sucks you had such a hard time, but congrats you got it going!

[ChadTower]

So was the problem just with the monitor, or did the game board you bought turn out to have issues as well?

Sucks you had such a hard time, but congrats you got it going!

Long story...

Without checking what's actually in this thread... I brought the original board to a local guy to be repaired to save myself the time.  He lost the board and claimed I gave him an Asteroids board.  I bought a second "working" board off ebay.  It had output problems.  I brought that board to a different, far more reputable, local repair guy.  This guy got it right.  In the mean time I bought 5 vector projects from a warehouse.  All of the g05s went into a pool and are getting repaired one by one.  One of those ended up in this game.

EDIT:  forgot to mention.  The issue on the second board was the op amp on the Y output.  I suspect the problem on the original board, now that I know so much more than I did then, was also an op amp.