centipede arcade

[taorminapeter]

i am new to this forum and new to arcade game repair. i am an automotive tech at a dodge dealship so i have good general knowledge about electronics. i recently purchased an old centipede machine at a garage sale for 100 bucks, the cabinet is in good condition. The guy i bought it from said it stopped working during a lightning storm. i repaired all the lighting, marquee and coin doors. i assumed that the pcb must have suffered damage. i purchased a working pcb on ebay. still have the same problem. i have checked all the voltages at the pcb and all seem fine. i bumped up the five volt feed to, 5.0 and still nothing. the led on the board lights up but no game. the 1 and 2 player buttons stay lit, no blinking. no sound but loud buzzing. i have tried test mode and still nothing. i am lost and don't know where to go next. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Kevin Mullins]

Start with the Audio Regulator board....... check all output voltages there. And also check to see if the "5v Sense" line resistors have toasted. (R29-R30 or something)
Make sure your edge connector on the pcb has a good and tight connection on every pin.

Double check ALL fuses AND fuse holders down by the transformer.

Since two pcb's do exactly the same thing.......backtrack from there..... edge harness, ARII board, powersupply, etc.

[RayB]

Replace the big huge capacitor at the bottom. Check/replace the fuses as necessary. Look for "glow" in the monitor neck (after its on for a couple minutes). Um....

[taorminapeter]

just to check i hooked up the old board after checking all the fuses and resistors. the picture didn't change but it is putting out a bunch of different tones that seem to change when i push different buttons. any ideas?

[SirPeale]

Did you flip the switch out of test mode?

[Kevin Mullins]

Agreed..... that sounds like it's in test mode.

What kind of image do have ? (if any at all)

[taorminapeter]

you were right! it was in test mode. now with it out of test mode i get an intermittent loud buzz and the screen shows garbage, basically a white screen that flickers. I've read allot about the big blue cap, I'm gonna replace that and see what happens.

[SirPeale]

When you were in test mode did it beep when you first powered the unit?

[RayB]

It's not normal that test mode made no sounds. Did you turn the volume knob at all? In test mode you usually get beeps and grunts to tell you what is good or bad.

[SirPeale]

It's not normal that test mode made no sounds. Did you turn the volume knob at all? In test mode you usually get beeps and grunts to tell you what is good or bad.

It also depends on what's wrong with the board.  If it's severely damaged the self test won't even run.