Question from Jason: Hello,

I recently watched your video on arcades playing blind, and decided to try to fix my Atari Tempest.  Long story short I purchased it at a garage sale several years ago for a great price.  The previous owner said it kinda worked after his buddy fixed a few things on it.  I didn’t really care I just liked the cabinet and for a while all I could do was mess with the test screen mode.  Low and behold after sitting in my apartment for a few years it all of a sudden decided to work after a friend requested I turn it on just so he could look at it.  The game played solid for a few years although the blue would occasionally kick off and on, which was usually remedied by just slapping the side of the cabinet.  Sad to say eventually some of my friends roughhousing near it gave the cabinet a good rocking while it was on, and it has been playing blind ever since.  After watching your video a buddy and I went through all the steps to see exactly what was going wrong with it.  The game plays for one, so not sure if it’s a board problem which you mentioned rarely is the culprit.  All the fuses at the base of the cabinet and on the video components test and appear good.  The yoke of the tube has the orange lights glowing in it.  I remember you speaking of the big Blue box that is usually actually black at the base of the cab is green on mine so not sure if its after market replacement or original for a 1981 model.  We tried to adjust the knobs for convergence, the four little grey wheels, as well as the knobs labeled screen and focus I believe, but with no avail.  My question would be if the energy is getting all the way to the yoke does that verify the monitor would not be blown form it taking the thump on the side from my buddies, and is there anything I did not mention that I should check, possibly a bad solder point or capacitor in particular.  Thanks for your time and the great videos, they greatly spurred my interest in fixing Tempest, as well as getting to work on the Rastan cabinet I just picked up after I drill the lock out, but that is another story…

Greatly appreciative of arcade knowledge,
Jason