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Ms Pacman – Monitor Fixable?
Question from Chris: Hi Jonathan, First, thank you for all the help you’ve provided in the past. You and Arcade Repair Tips are awesome. I’ve got a new one for you, a project I picked up today. I purchased a Ms. Pacman upright extremely cheap because the former owner said he couldn’t get it to work. I’ve posted over on the KLOV forums, but I know you guys are great with these older machines, as many of your videos show. I plugged it in, turned it on, and immediately hear the monitor attempting to come on. After about 10-15 seconds, I see a glow appear (blue, changing to green) then the screen turns itself off. From the rear, the neck glow begins to build as the glow appears, then vanishes when the monitor cuts out. I tested the voltage going into the monitor, 121V as expected, so that seems okay. No fuses down below near the power section appear blown. The game itself plays, the buttons work, sound works, and I can play blind. I haven’t pulled the monitor completely out yet, and I’m not familiar with Ms. Pacman so I’m not sure what I’d be looking for in this situation. It almost seems like there’s a regulation component (like a fuse or safety cap or something) that’s sensing an overload and shutting down. Thoughts? Here’s a link to a video showing the monitor coming on and kicking itself back off. 15-20 seconds into the video you’ll see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=o8nIRlOmo4U. Thank you in advance for any advice/help! Chris
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Chris, Wow, this is a crazy problem. It does seem like it could be some sort of shutdown issue.
From your KLOV thread, it looks like you have a Wells Gardner K4600 chassis and that your B+ voltage is 162.5 VDC. That seems a little high. I believe if the voltage is over 127 VDC you have a horizontal deflection issue. You might check the voltage at the metal case of TR601 to see if you’re getting the same measurement there. If you are, then you are probably having a problem with the V/H board or it’s connection to the main board. This chassis is notorious for having issues with cold and/or cracked solder joints. Definitely want to reflow the solder joints on the chassis especially around this card and the pins it connects to. I’ve seen some very weird issues with this monitor chassis when the V/H card is not making a good connection to the main board. Of course, you could have some issues with the parts on your V/H board as well. Try touching up the solder first before suspecting any parts on the V/H card.
Also, I noticed someone mentioned a cap kit in your KLOV thread and I would second that. Cap kits are a great place to start on repairs like this because 1.) the caps are probably pretty old and need replacing anyway and 2.) it forces you to reflow the solder on the caps which can solve connection issues.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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