The Broken Joystick

Man it’s frustrating when you don’t really know what you’re doing.

I posted this to RGVAC and the klov forums:

Quick backstory:

My Centipede worked 100% 2 years ago. I pulled the working PCB to use to test another cab and then put it in a box that was fairly well protected. I ended up pulling the monitor too for another project. I go to put it back together and she doesn’t work now.

I had the PCB set to free play. When I power it up blind I see the start buttons are staying on and not blinking. I check some voltages and turn the voltages down a bit and now the buttons do blink. I can hit one of the start buttons and it stays lit. I get NO sound at all. I hook it up to a monitor (then another then another) and I get the pic you see above.

Basically, it’s a green line through the middle that moves a bit randomly and then a thicker red line that sometimes stays at the top or bottom and sometimes scrolls through. No sign of any Centipede graphics at all.

If I press a start button it stays lit and eventually goes back to both blinking which makes me think the game is actually playing and eventually all lives are lost and it goes back to blinking.

I tested the voltages on the PCB next to the connectors and got this:
+5 = +4.85
+12 = +11.53
-5 = -5.36
+22 = +24.1
-22 = -24.5

That’s pretty much all I know to do now. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what to do next? I don’t know if it’s my cabinet/voltages or the PCB that has the problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Worked today on the monitor in the multigame. I could not get a picture on it. Power going in was fine. Used my JAMMA test rig to send a signal to it too and got nothing.

I ended up swapping in a different monitor that’s crystal clear and no bun-in. Looks great. Have to figure out what to do with the control panel now (layout/art/etc.)

I also fixed my adapter for my Apple monitors I use for testing arcade signals. I resoldered a few connections and it works again.

I picked up a new cabinet today to house my vertical multigame PCB. Found it on Craigslist locally. It’s JAMMA and plays blind – will have to see if I can get the monitor to work – if no, I have an extra working monitor. It will be a fun project to convert. Anyone know what cabinet this used to be? I suspect Atari but I couldn’t figure out which one.

Also, it had a weird converter card in it that says Dynamo:

Anyone seen one of those before?