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1981 Spiders
Question from Larry: Hi! I have a 1981 Sigma Spiders game that freezes after about 30-45 minutes of use. I don’t know much about arcade games but I have checked the board and I’ve discovered that a specific section seems to be getting hotter than an identical part right next to it. The part is metal, four sections making a square shape that looks like it bolts on to the motherboard and appears to be manufactured by RCA. Could this be the problem area? Other than that, the connections seem good and I don’t see any real discoloration on the board. Any thoughts? It was a gift from my late grandmother who had it in her local restaurant so it has some sentimental value.
I enjoy your videos. They are very educational and interesting. So much so that I have been looking for other games to learn how to repair them.
Thanks for your time. Larry
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Larry,
Unfortunately, we are not very familiar with this game and there’s doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of information out there on it. With that said, we usually recommend checking the power supply any time we have freezing issues with a game. Through a bit of searching, we were able to find the manual for the game which has the pinouts. We recommend checking the voltages at the pins indicated by the pinouts to make sure they are all correct. Check out our posts on Checking A Classic Power Supply and Checking And Replacing A Power Supply for more information on this process.
In your original message, you mentioned that a part was getting hot. This could be caused by the part getting an excessive amount of voltage which is another reason it’s good to start with the power supply. Please let us know if the problem continues once you’ve checked and adjusted the voltages in your game.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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