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Machine crashing after a few minutes
Question from Jay: Hi, I have an arcade machine (3-sided cocktail) which has a game board with approx. 1052 games loaded on it. It is a friend’s machine and as I am in IT they thought I would know how to fix it. I also have my own but mine is a much simpler design than this one. Initially, the machine wouldn’t turn on so I thought it may be a screen issue but I plugged in a test LCD monitor and had the same issue. With the CRT screen disconnected it started up no problem. This led me to check the game board. While inspecting the game board I noticed the power wires were worn/frayed and were touching. Probably causing a short in the system. I have now fixed those wires but I am now having another issue. The problem I am having is when I am playing a game, the system either freezes or completely shuts off and sometimes even restarts. The game seems perfectly fine to start but after a few minutes they stop. I have tested a few of the games and the ones I have tested (5 tested) all have the same issue. The machine was blue screening previously to me fixing the wire so this is making me think it may be an issue with the hard drive? I felt the hard drive when I was inspecting the board and it was quite hot to the touch. Do you have any suggestions on what I should try? Do you require more information? Thank you for your assistance. Cheers, Jay
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: Jay,
From your description, it sounds like you are having board issue of some sort. It could be an issue with the hard drive, memory, processor overheating, etc. It’s really hard to know without having a good idea of the type of board that’s running in the game. Curious if this cocktail is using a 1052-in-1 board setup or a standard computer with emulators. You might send us a picture of the menu system along with one of the board itself so we can better help you diagnose the problem.
Of course, the fact that it was “blue screening” indicates to me that it’s probably using a computer to run the games. If this is the case, you pretty much need to try the same steps you would take to troubleshoot any computer that’s freezing up. You might run some diagnostic tests on the hard drive and memory to see if they are working properly. It might also be worth getting into the bios screen and monitoring the temperature of the system to see if there is a overheating problem. Of course, feel free to send us any additional information about the game and we’ll try to help you out further.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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