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Dedicated arcade repair tutorial

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Spyridon:
Level42, thanks for that link.  I plan on restoring only 80's classics so this will be informative stuff.

I'm new to this as well.  I ordered the Randy Fromm DVD set last week (hopefully it arrives soon).  Once I get through it, I'll post a review from a newbie perspective.  I can build a PC myself, but I'm completely lost when staring at an arcade PCB so I would agree that we are dealing with two completely different animals here.


Level42:
I kinda expected that one :)

Amazingly (or not) most of that book is still current.

Measuring voltages, currents, resistors.....still the same.
Soldering.....still the same.
Tools....still the same (OK we got DVM's now....)
Pots, switches, opto boards......still the same...




Level42:
Haha, I'm so glad I grew up in the golden age of video games, and especially the home computers of that time. I can compare, I've seen younger colleagues who only knew from Windows 3.11 and up, and they don't have a clue what's going on in a computer (which is hard to blame, because nobody still really knows what a Windows machine is doing without you knowing about it ;) )

An arcade game PCB _IS_ a computer. (But about a 1000 times more stable than any Windoze machine :P)

I'd say repairing a PCB is pretty hard if you don' t know basic (digital) electronics. However, there are still things you can try to fix. Most problems are pretty easy and simple. But not all of them.
I just fixed my first PCB (Centipede) and am damn proud of it :P Even though I know enough about electronics to trouble shoot, I'm not a "design" expert, and I don't do repairs on component level on a daily basis.

Also you have to "unlearn" things. There's no videochip on early game PCB's. There's no audio chip on the really old one's either. Heck, there are even games without CPU's !

They made a lot "themselves" by hooking up standard IC's together to get what they wanted.

If you seriously want to do PCB repair you need some good tools as well:
- DVM
- logic probe and/or oscilloscope (I use this: Oszifox (http://business.search.ebay.com/_Business-Industrial_W0QQsacatZ12576QQsassZgreentekusa) My they are cheap these days !!!!
They're a bit clumsy to use because of a lot of wires, but they work great, especially with a PC/laptop. They are very suitable for the earlier games (let's say, until early 90's), as speed is not so high on those PCBs.
- good soldering equipment (see The Book)

But, you can still restore original games withoug doing the PCB repair yourself. There are people that either fix your board or offer exchange of a non-working PCB with a working, for some money of course, but it can save a lot of time and hassle.

I personally like the challenge of getting a PCB working again, but sometimes it can drive you up the wall. Then I throw it aside for some time, and then go work on it again when I really want to win from that sucker ! Nothing beats the feeling of getting something working again  :laugh: :laugh:

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