Checklist before swapping PCB's?

[Ninten-doh]

Okay, paranoid about my first real, non-MAME arcade cab. This first cab is a Turbo Outrun that I recently picked up. I have an untested Outrun board that I want to swap in. I know the boards are interchangeable, so I can just swap them out, but before I do, is there anything I should be checking on either the board or the cab?

Can the untested board do any kind of damage to the other cab components if I do something wrong, or is the worst thing that can happen be that the board simply doesn't work?

Any and all feedback appreciated!   

[RayB]

Do it with the power off.

[Ninten-doh]

Yep, that part I knew about.   

[ChadTower]

Yes, depending on the architecture of the cab itself, an untested board can damage other components if it has flaws.  Most of the time it won't but it can happen.

[Ninten-doh]

Thanks for the heads up Chad.  Someone over at KLOV also told me to be ready to pull the plug on the slim chance I smell smoke.

[ChadTower]

I don't know the specific layout of that game but I'm guessing it's not that complex.  Worst likely case is the board further damaging itself.  If there are aux boards in there (e.g. like the AR boards in Atari games), that could potentially be damaged by a bad game PCB.  The power supply probably would not be and the monitor very likely would not be unless the monitor is pulling power from the game PCB for some reason.

[Ninten-doh]

Yep, looks pretty straightforward to me...

[ChadTower]

Looks to me like that's a multiPCB game and you can't see one underneath.  Hard to tell for sure from that pic.

[Ninten-doh]

Chad, it definitely is a multi PCB game. 

[ChadTower]

Are you swapping out the whole set or just one?

[Ninten-doh]

The whole set.  Turbo Outrun is being replaced with Outrun.

[paigeoliver]

If the Outrun board works then take pictures and then list it on ebay as tested/working. You will be very happy with the results.

Outrun boards normally go for more than the entire game is worth. I think it is due to the fact that there are still some Outruns out there on location and it is a really popular game amongst non-techie arcade collectors.