Arcade Game related - any Jamma/ 48 in one experts?

[Wotto]

Hi,

I have a bloke at work with a Galaga upright.
Says it has gone 'dodgy' and wont boot up.

Is it better for him just to buy a 48/1 board and plug it in.
Is that ALL you need to do??

I know nothing about this topic 

[Ric]

If it is an original Galaga, it will be a midway boardset that is not jamma (it will only have 22 pins)

accordingly, it won't be a straight swap unless he has a JAMMA cabinet and is using a harness to connect the board.

I had a feeling that these boards do a self test on boot up

What is the the actual issue?

[Wotto]

Thanks Ric - I have only had the 'issue' described to me over the phone by my workmate who knows even less than I do about it.

What I might do is rip down to his place take a look at it and get some pics and post em up here so that I can better explain this.

[Ric]

That would be great.

These boards are actually relatively easy to troubleshoot (as in even I know what is going on with them)

all the best

Ric

[Strangeways]

I'd be checking that the 5VDC is stable - A multimeter across the power supply and then the edge connector at the board.

Re-seat the ROMs on the board.

Remove the edge connector from the board and rub the connector (at the board) with a pencil eraser. Re connect the edge connector and test.

If the board has failed, then I'd buy a 60 in 1 - but the cabinet would have to be re wired to Jamma as described.

[Wotto]

Here ya's go.

Bearing in mind I know nothing about what these are meant to look like , I am guessing the red, yellow, orange wires and the little piggy backed 'grey' board in the middle is some type of hack job as one end of the wires are soldered directly to the board where the 'Galaga Connector' attaches???












Here is a look at the screen after about 60 seconds....it stays like this.







Inside the cab ....






The only other , and possibly insignificant thing I noticed was that when I wiggled the ‘Galaga Connector’ the sound came on / went off etc, and the sound that came through wasnt correct anyway.

[Retropin]

Limited knowledge here also mate... but i do know that the little "hack "board is actually a RAPID FIRE PCB... these were an add on to prevent your wrist getting RSI... and i need one!

[Ric]

it could be something as simple as reseating the roms however when you just get starfield it could be something else.

I had something similar on a board and it turned out to be a chip whose leg had snapped off

I would check the IC's to see if there is any obvious damage to them and replace any that have been damaged hacked etc

[Strangeways]

Could be as easy as removing and refitting the "Galaga" connector - do this while the game is off.

If that game was "in front of me" - I'd refit the "Galaga" connector, reseat the EEPROMS, Refit the board ribbon cables and check the 5VDC at the "Galaga" connector.

[Wotto]

Could be as easy as removing and refitting the "Galaga" connector - do this while the game is off.

If that game was "in front of me" - I'd refit the "Galaga" connector, reseat the EEPROMS, Refit the board ribbon cables and check the 5VDC at the "Galaga" connector.

Done all that - still no go....at least now I get a normal looking Galaga screen as opposed to just dots and lines.
Game appears to be really 'trying hard' to boot up - but it just goes to the normal Galaga Star background, has Player 1/2 and score info at top and level 'flags' at the bottom of the screen but NO fighter ship is displayed and no demo of the 'bees/ attacking ships' - it says Stage 1 for a second, then Stage 2, then Challenging Stage etc etc etc and just keeps on rockin its way up to Level 166 and beyond.

The guy is in Engadine in Sydney's southern suburbs - anyone know of someone who can service this for him - he will pay.

Cheers

[Strangeways]

I'm no expert, but it sounds like a dodgy ROM / Socket. The ROMs in different physical areas of the board are responsible for different aspects of the game. The background video is ok, but the moving characters are not.

Did you try to start a game - did it accept credits and were there sounds ?

Sounds to me like a board fault - but being Galaga - it is worth fixing.

[Wotto]

The game wouldnt accept credits ( I was flicking the wire switch in the coin mech )
There were sounds but not correct - they WERE Galaga sounds but they were 'all over the shop'

[Extra Ball]

strip the cab, wire to jamma, fit a 60in1, fit a pc monitor, and never look back