July 1985 (3)
**********************•~-*********·************************
connects or soldering and heat shrink
tubing.
If your flOlilE!r supply is not adequate,
for instance not having -Svdc, you can
always buy a switching PQlller supply,
available al110St anyNhere for about
S49. 95.
Rellember to route your Mires and cut
thea to proper length so Nhen you tie
it up, your new harness will look
clean, neat and professional. Besides,
you'll have less proble■s later.
OITOR
On the .:>nitor hook up there should
be 5 or 6 connections, depending on the
sync being separate or composite. These
MOUid be red video, blue video, greer,
video, ground, and sync. Wells Gardner
and Electrohoae 10nitors Mill use lllole><
connectors. These replacement pins are
available fr011 Wico (121-5807>.
First identify your red, green, blue,
and ground inputs on the 110nitor.
Extract these pins and replace Mith
red, blue, green, and ground fro11 new
harness. Then ..e have to sync the
.:>nitor. Most all kits I have done use
negative eo11posite sync. Later model
Electroh011e and Wells Sardner 110nitors
have provided for negative C011posite
sync. There Mill be a three pin Mole>e
header wafer connector right next to
the aain video input connector. (On the
Electroh011e it Mill be Just above, and
on the Wells Gardner Just below this
connector>. For e011p sync, connect the
sync Mire Mith a JU11per bet..een both -H
and -V inputs.
POIER-UP
At this point, after re-checking the
f)ONer supply and aonitor connections,
f)ONer up the game. It's a good idea to
aonitor +Svdc on poi,ier-up to ■ake sure
it is +Svdc. S
necessary on the po..er supply. You
should aonitor +Sv on the board itself.
If you do not have a stable picture
or a picture that is off center, turn
off the gaae and 110ve the sync to +H
and +V sync inputs. If you still do not
have a stable picture or your 110nitor
does not have a negative composite sync
input, you can alter the sync by using
a 74LS04 hex inverter IC. Connect pin
1~ to a +Svdc source, pin 7 to ground,
pin 1 to coaposite sync froa the logic
board, and pin 2 to the 110nitor sync
inputs.
With one of these coaposite sync
coabinations, you should achieve a
stable centered picture. A fe111 kits
such as Konaai TIME PILOT 1 84, can
supply separate sync. The instructions
for this are on page 3 of the
instruction aanual for this kit are
very clear for this type hook-up.
Once you have a good picture, you
Mill then see Nhether you have
(hopefully) chosen the right gaMe with
a vertically or horizontally 110unted
aonitor. S
tell you! Also, Konaai VIE AR KUNG-FU
Nhich is a horizontal mount, I found
the instruction booklet mistakingly
says that it requires a vertically
aounted aonitor. To re1110unt the
110ni tor, you' 11 need a 1 i tt le carpentry
e>eperience and, you guessed it, more
t irae.
Ne>et tiae, .:>re info on control
panels, coin doors, and 110re
tiae--saving tips on video gaae
conversions.
************
WILLIAMS
DIASNJSTICS
Williaas Electronics' gaaes provide,
in its gaaes untilizing the System 9
circuitry, an integral diagnostic
capability. This feature permits the
gaae operator to deter■ ine (much better
than in the past) Nhether the game has
a problea, and provides s01e indication
of Nhich parts to check in verifying
that the proble11 actually exists.
Indication
Probable Cause
8
Test passed (game returns to
1
CPU-Board lockup; also check
aeaory-protect circuit and
U18 1)1)8 RAN for stuck bits.
1.128 6aae RfJf 1 faulty.
IJ28 6aae ROM 1 faulty.
U19 6aae ROM 2 faulty.
Blanking-signal stuck; coin
door closed; 11e1110ry-protect
circuit faulty; or U18 CfllOS
RAN faulty,
CPU-Board lockup; PIA US
faulty.
1.128 Sue RfJf 1 faulty.
Saae--Over IIOde).
2
3
4
5
7
None
For the '7' indication in the Meaory
Chip Test table, besides the already
listed Probable Causes, Williaas has
found that, occasionally, the following
coaponents can contribute to this CPU
lockup problN h1hich perhaps should be
grouped as • ■ issing aeaory address
data•>, to produce the '7' indication;
* 1121 Crystal Oscillator, * C011ponents
in the IRQ circuit, t broken leads on
C9 (22 ■fd) in the reset circuit, * and
loosely seated ICs on the CPU board.
*****1r******
MURPHY
A transistor protected by a
fast-acting fuse Mill protect the fuse
by bl011ing first.
***********1r
ERICKSON
SERVI~ TRAIL •••
Cit Tt£
By Todd Erickson,
St. Paul, lfi.
ATARI SYSTEN 1
Su■111it
Allusement,
After basically nothing of any ■aJor
to the aarketplace, Atari
has returned with a treaendous hardware
i ■portance
STAR*TECH Journal
package. The Motorola 16 bit 68010
processor gives all that is necessary
in todays ga■e syste■. The first game
on the neti1 systetn is MARBLE MADNESS.
This ga■e utilizes about one IIIE!g
(1illionl bits of ■e■ory. The sound is
excellent, graphics are too. System 1 1
I feel, with the proper ga■es to rone
will be a building block for the
industry. Nintendo's VS syste■ with its
library of ga■es has been excellent. Ny
belief is that Systea 1 Mill also
becoae an excellent invest ■ent.
INITIR.. PROBLEMS
The early Systea 1 games had control
panels with short wiring harnesses.
They MOUid pull out of the PCB and bend
the pins. (This ■ade it real easy to
tell Mhere they went back in!} The off
and on SMitch is located on the lower
rear of the ga■e. This is all well and
good except it can't be used if the
ga■es are in a line. (Can't the
aanufacturers at least standardize the
off/on SMitch place■ent!l
If a drink is spilled on top of this
ga■e, the liquid goes onto the top of
the CRT and down into the neck of the
tube. (This creates a nice rainbow
effect to the picture!)
Unfortunately, it doesn't take a
genius to figure out Milich games are
taking in a lot of 110ney. The coin door
on this ga■e is easily opened Mith a
S.59 & tax sc:retldriver! This condition
has always existed in our industry. (Is
this acceptable?)
Trying to 110unt a bar on this ga■e is
fun & gaaes, There is not a single good
place to 110unt it. Would it be too much
MOrk for the coin door ■fg. to have 2
holes in the fra■e so a standard bar
can be installed in a fet1 11inutes?
Different doors take different locks
and ca■s. The Vending Industry
standardized their plug lock 15 years
ago, but I en,Joy stocking 5/S•, 7/8" &
1-1/S• locks and assorted ca■s for my
aany break-ins.
On the l011er back of the cabinet is a
fan. This does a great Job of cooling
the electronics. It also gets dirt off
the floor and into the ga■e, The only
problea Mith this is the steering
boards on the trac-ball get dirty.
The SPNkers are 110unted on the front
of the gae. Liquids can be poured into
the speaker or center hole. This can
drip dOlffl on the PCB. This happened
Mith one of IY gaes. Only 125 miles
round trip for that service call.
NJT Ill BAD KIEVER
It aay sound like I aa dOlffl on System
1. Not so. Many of the things I aa1
pointing out here are examples of our
entire industry. I have bought aany
Systea 1 gaaes Just as I did VS syste■s
Nhen they .re first introduced. MARBLE
MADNESS is a great 8 ..eek ga■e. It has
to be ■oved to get ■axi ■UII earnings,
but this is Nhat our industry was
ah,ays about. MARBLE IWH:SS has a
histograa. The playing ti■es are too