Helppppppppp Pleaseee

[bwild22]

So a guy advertised a coin-op on craigslist as NBA Jam TE - Just what I had wanted since I was a kid

It was 3 hours away, same town as my cousin lived in. He picked it up for me - placed it in his garage. The guy told me it was great shape and working perfect.

Yesterday, I spent $100 worth of gas and 6 hours worth of driving to pick it up


This is what I have

1) NBA Hangtime not NBA JAM TE
2) the 4 joysticks, 1 which does not seem to operate and 4 buttons that seem to be jammed
3) A screen that says Rom Errors when It tried to boot up.
4) A more blurred screen around the characters - like they are fuzzy and the writing is fuzzy
5) I have no plexi or anything to mount the marquee

I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT COIN OP ARCADES - This was a bit of a dream for me to get NBA Jam and this is what I am dealt with....any idea if i can do anything about any of the issues at hand?

I probably got ripped - but paid $400 for this and have between 100-125 worth of gas into it....so I am up to 500-525

[8-bitNesMan]

Man that is a bad deal. Maybe you could try to find a board for NBA Jam on the web and do a swap? Sounds like the item was severely misrepresented!

[mills]

a hard lesson learned.

Next time, ask for pictures. Ask "are there ANY notable flaws with the machine itself, the cabinet, monitor etc, does it boot up and play, does it need work, any physical damage, stains?" etc etc etc

[bwild22]

i did... and he told me it was all great.... told my cousin the same thing as far as working and functioning

[FantasiaWHT]

Yeah, ask for pictures first, especially if you're driving a distance.

Why didn't you ask that he plug it in and show you that it worked when you got there? Why didn't you not buy it when it was Hangtime and not Jam?

[bwild22]

As i stated up above - my cousin went over there and grabbed it for me and paid him - and stored it in his own garage for 1 week until i was able to get up there

or else i would have asked to see it and also known it was nba hangtime and not jam

i took the guys word man

[Peale]

Seems that you got ripped, sorry.

Check the wiring for any obvious faults - eg wires that are broken, harnesses that aren't plugged into the board, etc.

[shawnbo42]

So a guy advertised a coin-op on craigslist as NBA Jam TE - Just what I had wanted since I was a kid

It was 3 hours away, same town as my cousin lived in. He picked it up for me - placed it in his garage. The guy told me it was great shape and working perfect.

Yesterday, I spent $100 worth of gas and 6 hours worth of driving to pick it up


This is what I have

1) NBA Hangtime not NBA JAM TE
2) the 4 joysticks, 1 which does not seem to operate and 4 buttons that seem to be jammed
3) A screen that says Rom Errors when It tried to boot up.
4) A more blurred screen around the characters - like they are fuzzy and the writing is fuzzy
5) I have no plexi or anything to mount the marquee

I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT COIN OP ARCADES - This was a bit of a dream for me to get NBA Jam and this is what I am dealt with....any idea if i can do anything about any of the issues at hand?

I probably got ripped - but paid $400 for this and have between 100-125 worth of gas into it....so I am up to 500-525

About your issues, let's start at the top.
1. Hangtime, NOT Tournament Edition. I BELIEVE (I could be wrong) You could change out some chips, and make that board TE again (or, if you're not comfortable with it, one of us around here would probably do it, ask around to see if anyone would and what they'd charge). If the board is NOT re-convertible, then you could pick up an NBA T.E. on Ebay, I've seen them before.
2.If you have a little mechanical skill, you can look at the joystick and figure out how it works. A "standard" joystick is 8 way (up, down, left, right, and your diagonals). This is the type of joystick that should be in your machine. First check the 4 switches, they should "click" when you move the joystick around. If one doesn't, it's a 99% sure sign that that's your problem with the joystick not functioning properly. If they all do click, then chances are your switches are ok. Just to be sure, swap it with another one and see if the problem follows the switch or not. If it doesn't, check the wires, are they connected? (Should be 2 wires, black for a ground, look on the side of the switch, it should be marked "nc","no",and "c". N.C is Normally Closed, there should be nothing connected to that, N.O. is Normally Open, you should have an input wire of some kind here, and C stands for common, or ground. Ground is common to all the functions of the Control Panel (CP) joysticks, buttons, etc. If you look at the underside of your cp, you'll see the black wire "loops" to everything, whereas your inputs are single wires specific to each switch.)
3. Screen that says ROM Errors. Potentially this is the biggest of your problems. This means that one of your program chips has gone bad. It's not quite the end of the world just yet though. Look at all the chips on the circuit board. (should be mounted inside the machine sideways). Carefully push on the chips (be careful NOT to bend/break the "legs"), it's possible that one of the chips has worked itself loose with all the moving around. If in fact you DO have a bad board, it's ok, because if you convert that board, you'll be replacing all the ROM's anyways, so that should correct your problem, or if you buy a new board, same thing.
4. A more blurred screen around characters/writing. Focus may be out on the monitor. There are posts around here on monitors, PLEASE READ THEM FIRST!!! A monitor can be a VERY dangerous thing if you're not experienced. PLEASE get some info BEFORE attempting any adjustments on the monitor's circuit board! That being said, there should be a "remote board" somewhere in the cabinet. Usually on a dedicated NBA Jam, it would be underneath the monitor when you lift up the control panel. It'll have adjusments on it for Brightness, Contrast, V-pos, etc. ( kind of a list of adjustments like a TV would have). Try adjusting you brightness and contrast first, see if that helps the picture any.
5. No plexi for the marquee or anything. If you have some mechanical skills and the actual marquee, simply measure out what you'd need for plexi, get a piece cut at a glass shop, use a piece of angle iron for a top bracket (again, just measure out the length of what you'd need, and drill a few holes in it to screw it down.).
6. I forgot about your buttons. Pull out the switch (it's mounted by two tabs that hold the button in place, at least, it should be. ), take off the big nut that holds the button in place, and pull the button out. if you push the two legs on the button in towards the center of the button, you can pull out the center, and clean it. I garuntee that's the problem there, probably someone spilled a soda in there or something. Assembly is reverse order of what you just read, just push the spring down hold the center legs in to keep the spring in place, and pop it back in to the outside part of the button.
That's about it for what you're looking at, don't worry, it IS repairable. Did you spend too much money? Maybe, but if the fun value is worth the price tag when you're done, that's what is important. Hopefully this helps you somewhat, any more info you need, post it up, and someone here'll be happy to help you.

[Flack]

You can get new buttons for a buck each or less so sticky buttons aren't your biggest problem at the moment. Neither is the plexiglass for the marquee, which can be picked up for around $10.

For the monitor, it's possible that it simply need degaussing depending on how it was moved/stored, so you might look into that first. If you find a focus knob and that works, great, but hearing the shape of everything else I have a bad feeling about the monitor as well.

Like Shawn said, the board may or may not end up being an easy fix. You can always try pressing down on all the chips and see if that fixes the ROM error. If not you'll need to have it repaired, or simply replace it with the other game you mentioned. I once bought a Karate Champ with messed up graphics. I was able to buy a replacement board for $20 off eBay and sold the other one for $15, so that was definitely worth it to me.

[bwild22]

you guys are awesome, i greatly appreciate all of your time and responses....

i have since attempted to get ahold of the seller on numerous occassions today and he is still avoiding picking up or responding to phone calls... not a real surprise to me....

i want to see what he will do before i try to fix it, my heart was set on a dedicated arcade (NBA JAM TE) so its a bit of a letdown for me to have a jamma conversion hangtime.... either way, it really means a lot to me that you guys took time to give me advice...i tried to clean some contacts today with rubbing alcohol, figured it needs a good bath anyway, i posted pics of all the components on my photobucket, etc....