Strange SPACE DUEL problem

[Arcade Antics]

Having an issue with Space Duel. Here's a quick description...

On power up, if left in attract mode without adding credits, it reboots itself. If left to its own devices, it will reboot approximately every ten seconds.

HOWEVER, once credits are put on the machine, it will remain on. It will remain on the select screen indefinitely until another move is made.

Once at the select screen, you can cycle through all four variations of play (1-1, 1-2, 2-2 and then back to 2-1) without incident.

If the player chooses either of the "tethered" games, everything works fine. You can play through entire games, no problem. Everytyhing works perfectly. When the game ends, it goes back into attract mode and stays on and continues to cycle through everything normally.

HOWEVER (again :)) If either of the separate ship games is selected, the game reboots.

Self Test passes. Odd -- if it had failed, I'd guess that some weird problem in one of the ROMS is disallowing the untethered games to run.

It doesn't seem to be the monitor. I've read that Tempest and SD monitors had an odd problem where they'd cut out, but throughout all of the weirdness, the monitor stays on.

I've looked around the web and come up empty. Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be? Or maybe what the best thing to troubleshoot next is? I've reseated all the ROMs already, any specific things to look for or solder points to examine more closely?

Thanks gang. :)

[DogP]

That's a really strange problem... On the attract screen, do you ever see the ships shooting at the Space Duel logo? if not, that's probably why it's rebooting... now why the untethered ships cause a reboot, hmm... have you cleaned the edge connector, and I see you reseated the ROMs, but you might want to try actually cleaning them. You should also check all the voltages at the game PCB and chips, make sure they're not too far off from what they should be.

DogP

[Arcade Antics]

That's a really strange problem... On the attract screen, do you ever see the ships shooting at the Space Duel logo?

No - it cuts out just before that point. The really weird thing is that if you play through a tethered ships game and then let it go back to attract mode, it's fine. Is it possible that the attract mode code is in two different places among the ROMs?

I'll try testing the voltages and cleaning tomorrow. Thanks for the tips! If anything else comes to mind, let me know. :) I'll report back with any progress.

[DogP]

Yeah, that's really strange that it goes back into the attract mode just fine after a tethered game... I agree with you that it's probably not the monitor. I guess it's possible that the attract code is in two different places, but that'd be very strange (but maybe they had some weird problem with reinitialization, so they made a separate after tethered/untethered attract, who knows :P ).

Did this just start happening, or did you buy it with this problem? If you bought it like that, you may want to double check all of the dip switches and any jumpers on the PCB with the manual, since I've had it where the previous owner didn't know what they were doing and started messing with connectors, then couldn't fix it, so they just sold it as it was, and then I get strange problems. You should also check the bottom of the cabinet to make sure that nothing weird is laying on the bottom (like jumpers, chips, etc, it's much easier to spot something like that on the bottom of the cab than to spot a missing one on the PCB). If you need me to look at anything on mine, or send you any pics, let me know.

Well, now you've made me want to go down and play mine now, so good luck :) .

DogP

[chadtower]

There are a couple more obscure possibilities. Check the output of the power supply first, ALWAYS. Make sure the power supply outputs are putting out the proper stuff (I have a Space Duel, but don't remember the outs).

There are likely three outputs: something like +12v dc, +5v dc, and maybe an unregulated third DC.

Check the outputs for the appropriate values. Then switch the multimeter over to AC and check the DC outputs for AC. Sometimes phantom AC voltage on the DC lines cause the watchdog to shut things down in some situations.

How old is the big blue cap in the power supply? If you don't know, or if it's old, replace it. That is ALWAYS worth it.

Have you tested the function of the AR board? Those commonly need to be rebuilt if it's never been done. This is critical for proper power distribution and probably the most common power related failure in Atari cabs.

Check those things and get back to us. Just for emphasis, FIRST STEP IS ALWAYS ENSURING PROPER POWER.

[98PaceCar]

I agree with checking the power first, but I would also suspect bad sockets on the pcb. Atari boards are notorious for flakey sockets. It's an easy fix, but it is time consuming. If all else fails, try that!

[chadtower]

Um, that's the first thing I told him to check ;)

You told him to check power at the game board. I told him to check power at the source and at the AR board. Not the same thing and the sources should be checked before the destinations.

[chadtower]

Sure, not establishing proper and reliable power up front may not be the sum of his current problem. I guarantee you, though, that if he does not get all of that right and reliable, this game will break down again and soon. I'm not telling him how to fix only this specific problem as much as I'm trying to guide him a bit in what you do on any game that you want to run reliably.