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Wells Gardner X-Arcade (XGaming.com) CRT Arcade Monitor Display Problem

Question from David: I think I may have a sync issue but I am not sure. It could be an issue with Windows OS. I purchased a CRT monitor 7 years ago. It worked great under Windows XP running MAME. The last time I ran the CRT in this configuration, it worked great. I started a hardware, emulator(s), and system upgrade and I unplugged the CRT for 2/2.5 years.

I upgraded my hardware and literally starting over on emulators and to just modernize the current configurations. I migrated from Windows XP to Windows 7 64 bit, Intel i5, and Nvidia 650TI. I was doing all my configuration work on a computer that was connected to an LCD via DVI plug. I set the resolution of Windows 7 and all applications to 800×600 60Hz and 32 bit color. I moved  the computer back in the arcade cabinet and plugging the CRT via a DVI to RGB adapter. The CRT has an RGB video port. The CRT fired up and immediately showed “No Signal” on the all white screen as expected (see attached files). Once I turned power on to the computer, no motherboard splash screen was visible. Nothing was viewable until the system booted to the front end (I set Hyperspin to boot at boot up instead of your normal Windows desktop interface). When Hyperspin loaded, the only thing happened was some lines of color but only maybe 20 lines and they were not full screen (see attached files). Nothing displayed that was legible at all it was merely a few lines of color that are horizontal.

I have tried a few things to fix it. I pulled in an old 17″ CRT. I was able to go into the 17″ CRT and set the screen resolution to 640×480 at 60Hz 32 bit. in Windows Desktop. Once I did this, I plugged the arcade CRT (Wells Gardner) in and the image of Windows Desktop appeared and was correct (except some distortion that has always existed in the left corner of the CRT). I rebooted the system, and it went back to the few colored, horizontal lines (as original boot).

I don’t really want to upgrade to an LCD as I want this arcade cabinet to have a real arcade cabinet feel (natural scan lines, etc.). And it only has maybe 200 hours of use MAX. I’m assuming this is something with Windows 7 64 bit and Nvidia but I have literally no idea what to try. I’m thinking maybe it is a sync issue. I am not certain if a sync signal is being sent. I am at a loss on what to try or how to check to see if a sync signal is being sent to the CRT. 

Thanks for your help. David

 

Wells Gardner X-Arcade 1 Wells Gardner X-Arcade 4 Wells Gardner X-Arcade 3 Wells Gardner X-Arcade 2

1 answer

Jonathan Leung Jonathan Leung Staff July 6, 2017
Public

Response from Jonathan: David,

I’m not sure which Wells Gardner monitor you have but the most common one I’ve seen in MAME setups is the D9200. If you do have the D9200, there’s a pretty good chance that 640×480 will be the highest resolution that it supports. There are some versions that support 800×600 but they are rare in comparison. You might check your manual to see what resolutions your version supports. There’s some additional information on the D9200 on the Easy MAMECab website.

Now, there’s a possibility that your monitor does support 800×600 but that there are other settings/adjustments that are preventing it from displaying properly. You could try to reset the settings memory to see if that helps. You can do this by holding the DOWN and SEL buttons on the remote at the same time until the Factory Menu comes up. Then, select the reset of the memory option to reset the settings. I would typically suggest checking your wiring in this case but considering it comes up fine in 640×480 mode your wiring is probably OK. Other than that, it might be worth calling the Wells Gardner service department to see if they have any additional information that might help you out.

Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.

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