monitor question from a newbie

[SouthernFist]

Greetings everyone.
First off, I have to apologize for posting a question that has most likely been answered time and time again. My searches of older topics revealed alot of help but I am hoping to gain some extra clarification...

I recently purchased an SF Alpha 3 machine (300.00) from a local dealer liquidating his stock. At his house everything looked great, however after driving it to my house 2 hours away and over the congestied CA highways it did not. Still plays fine, but when I turn the cab on there are (here it comes) thin blue lines running horizontaly across the screen, evenly spaced and sloping upwards toward the right corner. As well, the overall picture quality is much too blue. I have read that this may just be an adjustment problem, however the monitor adjustors that are readily accesible do not affect this at all. they are located right under the control panel for easy access. Is there more directly on the monitor or chassis that I am missing. This jamma is a pull out cab and I have no idea how to get in deeper. I have attached a pic, sorry bout the quality. let me know if I should provide any better/clearer pics for an accurate diagnosis.

A friend mentioned it could be a capacitator problem. i am going out to buy a soldering gun now, My SF turbo cab needs new switches, so I can do this if this is the problem. However I will have a ton of questions if this is the problem as I have no sort of electrical experience. If it is an easy fix, no problem. But otherwise, I may leave it until i can have someone repair it for me as I would much rather not blow the monitor or board.

Thanks so much for everyones time and sorry to post such redundant questions. Thank you in advance, any and all comments are appreciated.

SouthernFist

[grantspain]

likely that if it worked fine before you transported then its bad solder joint or bad track,i bet its a wells gardner chassis-look at the neck card for the aforementioned problems-basically your blue background has gone sky high,also check your colour adjustment pots could be a dirty or bad solder joint on the pot,worst case scenario is the blue drive transistor shot,i suppose it could be a cap but you have to look at it logically-machine works fine,move machine now it don't work fine---bad connection

[SouthernFist]

thanks Grantspain for the quick reply!

So for this "bad solder joint or bad track" where exactly to I check for the diagnosis? And how do I know if this is the problem?

As for the color adjustment pots, I have included this pic of where the accesible one is and I drew a diagram for closer observation. See below for attachements. My question is, should there be more of these than pictured that might (1) fix the horizontal lines and (2) help with the color saturation?

If the blue drive transistor is shot, how would I figure this out and if it is does that mean I just need to buy a new monitor?

I tried to check the monitor type but it seems I am lacking a star screwdriver to access the back of the cabinet as the jamma is a pull out in a dynamo cab. My SF Hyper cab has a simple access door.

Seems like I have 2 problems here huh. The lines and the blue over saturation. boo.

Sorry guys, I know it is painfully obvious I have no idea what the hell I am doing aside from actually playing the games. The days of the arcade seem to be over so thats why Im here, to hopefully learn some of this myself so I can maintain my growing collection. I hope you guys dont mind. Thanks again.

[Kevin Mullins]

Well, we're all more than happy to help ya out if we can. It's a hobby and we all learn something from somebody from somewhere.

But first ..... you need to get to the back of that monitor.
That way you can find the make and model.
And there are several additional color adjustments to check.
Any bad solder points will be on the monitor chassis itself.
Bad connections, etc...all this is on the monitor itself.

Vibration of moving a cab can reak havic on a monitor. But there is no reason to just up and replace yours, it's totally fixable.

[SouthernFist]

thanks kevin!
I will try to get that screwdriver tonight and hopefully do some checking tonight! Thanks for the advice man. And for the patience. heheh

[eccs19]

Just a quick comment.  You mentioned that you were going out to by a soldering gun.  Make sure you get a soldering iron, not a gun.  Guns get to hot, and you will more than likely burn your traces right off the curcuit board using a gun.

[SouthernFist]

 Hi Guys
  sorry for the lengthy delay in getting back to this...

Thanks eccs19, took your advice and got the iron.

Okay so I got into the back of the alpha 3 machine finally, I adjusted the pots on the monitor neck, this took care of the over saturated blues. Monitor looks great now aside from the blue lines... doh.

I noticed when I was adjusting the front access monitor controls that the blue lines would shift a little bit, though it was hard to tell what was causing them to shift. Logically, I guess that would mean some wiring/joint issues. But in toying with them a little bit it had no effect wether good or bad.

So the neck of the monitor glows orange. I think that is a good sign. I would like to check out the connections on the chassis but am a little nervous about that. Any advice with the first steps to take here a great. My digital camera just crapped the bed so I cannot post any pics since I just bought a SF3:third strike machine this morning. Its pretty sweet, nice and big with Qsound. hehe. But the monitor information I was able to get off the stickers are as follows;

ZENITH
color tube
EIA-1101

then these too? Looked important. duh....
6-A63ADG25X
04RC0105-009

OEM-139547

Does this help?
I am guessing at this point it is either bad joints or needs a cap kit. Either case, what is the best way to diagnosis this, ie. what to look for, precautions before dinging around in there.

As always, thanks very much for all the helpful advice. I really appreciate everyones input. Ill get some pics as soon as possible if that will help.

[grantspain]

the lines you are seeing are known as flyback lines,if you now turn down the screen volts these should go-but all you suffering is a badly adjusted monitor,you need to lower the blue background/cut off for these lines to go now

[SouthernFist]

thanks grantspain. I will try these out and see what happens

[SouthernFist]

sorry, Grantspain, the screen volts. the controls are on the chassis or the power supply. Thanks.

[SirPeale]

They are on the chassis, on a black transformer called a flyback.

[grantspain]

open the back of the machine,look at the monitor chassis-you will see a black pastic component on the right with two adjustable pots(use a torch),one will say focus the other will say screen volts/a1-its the a1 you need to adjust.
about 90 percent of monitor problems on this forum seem to be badly adjusted setup-for me its a two second job because i do it every day,but i do understand how daunting it may be for someone new to this

[Kevin Mullins]

use a torch

Ha,ha.... that one trips me out every time I see it. Good thing I understand.....
Those of us in the US call those "flashlights"   
(otherwise we'd be getting ready to cut something with a flame)

But yeah, the large black thing is the flyback, can't miss it.
But stay clear of the large red lead coming from it, that would be the anode.
(it can bite)

Oh, and those numbers you gave are for the glass tube itself mostly.
Ya more than likely have a WG K7191 or something like that.
Look for any kind of "WG" labels around or on the chassis (circuit board) or the metal frame itself.

[SouthernFist]

Wow! Thanks so much guys, the picture is crisp and clear now. The blue lines disappeared completely and the colors are clean and rich. In fact Ive never seen the monitor look so good! I cant thank you guys enough for your help and advice. Between this and the faqs that were put together, I feel a little braver now about getting back in there!

I just ordered the BYOAC book today, cant get wait to get it and hopefully start really learning about this stuff and how to maintain my machines.

Thanks everyone who helped out. Much appreciated.

[SouthernFist]

I kinda figured it out beforehand. heheheh.
At the game studio where I work our producer (nice irish girl) asked me one day If I had a softy. I'm thinking to myself ,"this has got to be a trick question. Im too young for that!". heheh.