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Arcade monitor
Question from Drew: Hello, I just purchased an arcade from a local thrift store here in Alaska and was hoping to troubleshoot the monitor to see if it is still functioning. I am new at this and had a few questions.
When I turn on the game there is a little snow in the upper left corner of the screen…then nothing happens. There is no sound, video, nada! I ordered a video card from Ultimarc so that I can hook up my computer to the monitor as a second diagnosis to see if I can get a picture. What I would like to know is if it is worth taking the chassis off and sending it in for a look over, or if you think this might be a tube issue, or something else.
Regardless of the problem, am I able to replace tubes, the chassis, etc. and get the thing back up and running? I have scoured the internet for DIY tips but I think it’s time to either send this in or consult the professionals.
Thank you for the assistance.
Drew
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Drew,
Based on your description, it sounds more like either a power supply or board issue than a monitor issue. The fact that you are getting no sound or video is the primary reason why we think this is the case. If it was just your monitor, you should still get sound when you coin up and try to play the game. Also, the fact that you are getting something on the screen (albeit for just a moment) might mean that your screen is functioning properly but not getting a video signal from the board which, again, leads us to our conclusion.
With that said, we recommending starting off this repair by making sure our power supply is putting out the correct voltage to the board. Check out our posts on Checking And Replacing A Power Supply and Checking A Classic Power Supply for more information. Instead of checking your voltage at the power supply, you might also try turning off the game, unplugging your board from the cabinet, turning the game back on and testing your voltage at the harness. In order to do this, you will need to look at the pinouts for your game so you can determine which pins are carrying the voltage from the power supply. These pinouts can be found in the manual for your game. If you are having a tough time finding the pinouts for your game, please let us know which game you have and we’ll try to help you find them. Of course, you will need to adjust your power supply if your voltage is too high or too low. This should ensure that you are getting the correct voltage to the board.
If you continue to have problems after checking/adjusting the voltage at the harness, you might check out our post on Inspecting An Arcade Board for some helpful tips on troubleshooting board issues. Other than that, you will probably need some additional equipment (such as an oscilloscope) and a lot of time to get the board working properly. At this point, you would probably be better off contacting one of the people under the Board (PCB) Repair & Component Sales heading on our resources page as these people specialize in board repair.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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