Feedback Thread

[bgg]

Thanks for posting these repair logs. I've recently dug my old colecovision out of storage.  I powered it up and it worked, but had some issues.  Your repair logs helped me get the Coleco working again and I think it is running even better thanks to better memory and a new bios.  Thanks again for posting these repair logs.

[knagl]

This one is now in my son's room.

Lucky kid!  ...or is that how you're getting reimbursed for allowance money you hand out to him?   

[channelmaniac]

HAHAHAHA

No, he has the key to his crane game. He gets to pay me back $50 for the crane and the cost of the new locks I put in it.

I'm not charging him for the coin mechs or labor.

He's already paid me back $14 towards the $50. He's learning about debt, paying debt, and how to maximize his monetary income. He gets $3 a day for getting zero Xs on his behavior sheet. (He's HFA - High Functioning Autistic) so he's been EXTRA good in school to take that money and pay down on his crane.

It's his best behavior in a while.

RJ

[tjkeller]

He's already paid me back $14 towards the $50. He's learning about debt, paying debt, and how to maximize his monetary income. He gets $3 a day for getting zero Xs on his behavior sheet. (He's HFA - High Functioning Autistic) so he's been EXTRA good in school to take that money and pay down on his crane.

It's his best behavior in a while.

VERY NICE WORK RJ !!!

[channelmaniac]

VERY NICE WORK RJ !!!

Thanks!

The kid's smart as a whip, just not very good at interpersonal skills. He tends to think he's equals with people and still has to learn authority concepts.

He has his own savings account to save for a car, likes to buy & sell things with me at a local flea market for extra money, is learning how to haggle on price for things at flea markets, and can read jewelry hallmarks pretty well. One of the things I like to do is go to area thrift stores and buy the gold/silver items they have in their cheap jewelry section. I showed him how to read those and he's got a collection of gold/silver on his own.

He's a wheeler/dealer like me. hahahahaha!

Not bad for 10 years old, huh?

[tjkeller]

Not bad for 10 years old, huh?

Dayum!...I had the impression he was an older teenager.
Sounds like you've done an outstanding job working with him to get him to this point.
At this rate you'd better watch out, he'll take over the whole shebang by 16!...LOL
Some time soon he WILL be equals but at 10yrs old still a whole lot of lessons to be learned.
As far as learning authority concepts, its funny because I'm sure my District Managers and
Vice Presidents think the SAME ABOUT ME!!!   
<<<I've just got that problem where if it don't make sense (stupid), I tell them my thoughts about it >>>

Once again, GREAT WORK RJ....keep it up!

[stormrider]

channelmaniac, I like to read your repair notes here being that I have a few of the old classics
missile command,space invaders,nintendo multi game upright,and also a mame machine.
Right now between my slot projects I have a sit down pole positon 2 with some video problems more like double image on the screen
but I think if I reseat some of the proms it might clear up anyway I wonder if you ever might buy some of the cheap mother boards on ebay
and fix them for resell as these classic game boards fetch over $100 working as I read some of your fixes it must take alot of time to hunt down
these problems....rock on brother

[channelmaniac]

Thanks for the props!

You'll want to check the socketed chips first for corroded legs or poor connections. It sounds like one of the address lines isn't making good contact.

I have a partial Pole Position wiring harness here. I just need to buy some JAMMA fingerboards to adapt the harness to my testbed to start repairing Pole Position boards. I'm always willing to tackle new projects as long as I can get it hooked into my testbed.

I've been learning older Konami games (Track & Field and Hyper Sports) along with other rare games but I don't always have adapters. Right now I have adapters for Konami, Phoenix, Galaxian, Pac, Jr., & Ms. Pac Man, Nintendo (DK/Jr/3/Popeye), Galaga, and Sega System 16.

Buying broken and flipping repaired boards is something I've done with Pac, Galaga, Sega System 16, and Neo Geo boards. I haven't tried other classics yet. I need to put an order in with mikesarcade.com for some more JAMMA adapters like Dig Dug and Centipede.

RJ

[gibbous]

Any guide to what the LEDs mean on the board?  I'm trying to diagnose this n/w board I have.

[channelmaniac]

No, sorry.

[CaptainHappy]

Good Tips,

Been there, Done similar!

Nice "manicure" for a previously dead board! 

Thanks for sharing all of your tips! K+ 

CaptainHappy

[channelmaniac]

Thanks Cap'n!

When the guy sent me pictures I thought.... Yeah, I can fix that. I told him it wouldn't be pretty but it really turned out to be much better looking than I expected.

I thought it would be a perfect board to show off a neat repair technique and help others too.

[CaptainHappy]

Good Tips,

Been there, Done similar!

Nice "manicure" for a previously dead board! 

Thanks for sharing all of your tips! K+ 

CaptainHappy

Thanks Cap'n!

When the guy sent me pictures I thought.... Yeah, I can fix that. I told him it wouldn't be pretty but it really turned out to be much better looking than I expected.

I thought it would be a perfect board to show off a neat repair technique and help others too.

Am I losing it and posting in the wrong spot, or did the picture and tips disappear???

CH

[channelmaniac]

You're losing it.

I moved your post to the Feedback Thread.

[CaptainHappy]

You're losing it.

I moved your post to the Feedback Thread.

 

CH

[channelmaniac]

I recently repaired 3 C64 computer boards for a customer. Here's what he posted on his web site:

http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2009/09/05/arcadecomponentscom/

 

Thanks!

[Ron (r273)]

All of us already knew that you are the best! He was lucky to find you. Great job channelmaniac

We are lucky to have such a dedicated member among us.  Another K+

Ron

[a69mopar]

The feedback was well deserved. I'm sure we all agree with it and as said previously it's an honour to have such a skilled tecnician with us.  K+

Thanks,
Wayne

[tjkeller]

NICE work as usual channelmaniac!   
You continue to rock! 

[channelmaniac]

WOW!

Thanks for the kind words guys!

 

[slotsteve]

Lot,s of times errors can be clear by holding in 2 red buttoms behind coin box,    having a xl with a hard drive is a very good thing  .We had 50 on route we had in  nj   ,We  bought 1 in w/s nc auction  2007.5 force we love it and grand kids perfer that over the wiii game

[channelmaniac]

Thanks!

I see a harness in there but no buttons. I'm wondering if someone swiped them when they took the coin box.

[stayouttadabunker]

Of course, I'm wondering how you found out that particular 74LS14 component was "bad"?
Was it like burned/ melted , scorched,  blown up? 

[channelmaniac]

Well... on that particular game, the inputs to the gun weren't working right and the data line from the gun went right to the 74LS14 with no input protection against static electricity - no caps, no resistors, so the chip was the only path. It made sense to change out that chip first.

Raymond

[stayouttadabunker]

Thank you for the excellent reply on how you worked that out. 
It does make a lot of trouble shooting sense.