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Atari Space Riders Repair/Restoration.


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Ok, time for an update.

 

I've finally admitted to myself that I am in over my head with this one. No surprise to the old heads around here. As such I have shipped off the main and AUX boards to 'Johns Jukes' in British Columbia, Canada. It seems he is the only guy left on the face of the Earth who is still prepared to tackle these things. In any case his quote for repair was more than reasonable (the repair will probably cost less than the freight). He did say that it might take a while, so this project will probably be on hold for a few months. If worst comes to worst and he can't fix it for me, I'll be looking into retrofitting some late model computing power into this machine. At least I'll get to learn a lot about coding and homebrew pinballing... However, I do have confidence in this guy, I've read nothing but good things about his service and apparently he does have an Atari test-bench setup ready to go. As it is, I'm not going to invest anymore time into the cab restoration until I have functional electronics, so I'm on the look-out for a new project...

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I would, but the all look pretty good to me. There was a little light corrosion on a couple of pins, but nothing a quick wipe with alcohol didn't clean up straight away and I'm measuring basically zero resistance on them. The only thing left to check as far as I can see, is the PSU outputs. But from the operation of the machine, I'd have to assume that everything is fine on that front. I'll be sure to run the multi over it before I reinstall the boards though...
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Dammit, I was looking forward to you fixing yours and becoming the resident expert so that I could pick your brain to fix mine :o

I have a Middle Earth mpu stuck in reset and at the moment I can't get it to run Leon's test rom.

I guess that's what happens when two badly labelled plugs are swopped over.

Lots of stuffed signals on mine. :o

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Ugh. I guessing it's those pesky solenoid and play-field light connectors? I read somewhere that it blows about 15 ICs when that happens...

 

I assume you have worked your way though this part of Leon's process?

 

Test program does not start.

 

This means someting fundamental for the CPU or test rom is missing. The special sockets lose their pression and bad contacts can occur. Check with a ohm meter if the contact between the copper of the socket and the pin of the ic is ok. ( When one pin has a bad contact do not hesitate to replace the socket ( This was one of the faults i had on the Space riders board !)

 

REMOVE the test eprom , and power up without any IC in E0 or E00.

 

We check the minimum signals we need at the CPU IC..

 

Pin2, HALT, a pulsing signal ,measured with a volt meter 3 volts.The signal comes from trhe DMA cirquitry , if you mis the signal here go to the test wich describes this DMA cirquit.

 

Pin 3 clock signal about 2,5 volts .

 

Also check the external clock cirquitry ( page 38 ) The clock starts at the crystal and gate D10, follow the signal via C11, B10, B9, B11 and C9 and as last gates C10. The IC where the signal gets in and does not come out is bad.

 

Pin 5 VMA pulsing about 2 volts , an output signal of the CPU , if not there the CPU is bad BUT this signal can only occur IF there is a clock signal present OR if the halt signal ( pin2) is at 0 volt. So the clock and halt must be ok before we can judge the VMA signal.

 

Pin 8 .. 5 power

 

Pin 9 to 25 included . ( except pin 21 this is ground) These are the address lines, pulsing ,value between 1 to 2,5 volts. If one is missing bend upward the pin and check again ,is the signal present , then there is a short on that addres line, still missing the CPU IC is bad. Also check the buffers as the address signals A0 to A9 are buffered by D2, D4 and D3 these outputs to must give the signal.( use the schematic ).

 

Pin 26 to 33 included, these are the data signals. Value from 1 to 2,5 depending wich data line . The same way as the addres lines if one is missing bend upward, if the dat signal appears , there is a short on that line , if not the CPU ic is bad.

 

Pin 34 R/W signal .. 3 volts , an ouput signal from the CPU. Check afther previous signals are ok. If not present bend up pin and check again, like the address line ...

 

Pin 36 and 37 clock signals the same as pin 3.

 

Pin 40 reset .. 5 volt , pulsing as there is a regular reset by the watchdog cirquitry , but must come up to 5 in between resets at 0 by the watxch dog.

 

If all that is ok , leaves us with the selection of the test eprom on his pin 20. We need at signal there from about 2 volts volts... If not check selection cirquit use the schematic below , you need to find signals at al these gates.

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Yea, I have been working through that.

Changed all the strobe chips and all the solenoid driver chips, was working through the switch circuits just using the watchdog that runs with no EPROM in and all the F3 to 13 are dead too.

Anyway, after replacing the CPU and making sure the nmi signal was good on pin 6 it looks like it runs with Leon's rom, I can see pulsing signals at all outputs of the chips I have replaced.

RS components have the 74145s I need, so ordered them. Currently at 17 chips dead.

Have you seen anything that says which chips would normally be affected ?

My machine has been dead for at least 6 years :(

Lots of other stuff to do, wiring needs work and fuse boards are a bit 'confusing' however the manual is quite good.

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  • 3 months later...

Ok, It's been a while but I'd have a functional Space Riders MPU and AUX board in their way back to me.

 

I'm just quoting John's Email here, but apparently the issues were -

 

The 74LS14 at C9 (pin 13) was damaged (switch return) and was always LOW on output so the CPU read all switches as active, the second issue was the 74LS08 are C/D-8 which had pins 6 (D3B) and 8 (D1B) stuck low which knocked the data lines D3B and D1B out and accounted for bad scoring data and missing Solenoids as that affected the Data lines selecting on the 74LS157/9334s @ C19 & C17....

 

So there it is folks. Can't wait to get this all back together and start doing fun stuff like replacing rubbers, globes and making thing shiny again.

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Atari Space Riders Repair/Restoration.

 

@Dedrok

FYI Edy-boy

 

Thanks doofus.

 

Space Rider and Middle Earth burning smell is the power supply.

Need to work out the test bench.

But sys 80’s first.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, so I received the boards back from John and reinstalled them. And no dice. Still broken.

 

I'd say I was surprised, but I'm really not. Things are rarely that simple.

 

Now when I turn the machine on, all I'm getting is some weird output on the credit/score display.

 

IMG20190506182054.thumb.jpg.ee52c15d5f6a1b2ad242decfdb412198.jpg

 

On the upside, it doesn't seem as if the board is in constant reset anymore. I've sent an email off to Johns Jukes seeking advice so I guess it's a matter of wait and see for now.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Did you miss a pin when the cables were plugged in, It's easy to do.

 

 

Nah, I triple checked the cables.... They all look good.

 

 

Now for the good news. I now have a fully function Atari Space Riders MPU in my possession. After a lot of head scratching and cursing, not to mention some Email pong with John in BC, it turned out that my issues were caused by a dodgy connection in the 6-pin plug on the AUX board. I just gave it a slight wiggle and it all came to life. The score display is still wacky, the right kicker switches aren't working, half my globes are bung and all the rubbers are shot (naturally). And then there is all of the cosmetic stuff that needs fixing.

 

Just with that score display, it is functioning. As in it is counting the score properly but it has a bunch of dead segments. My hunch is that the problem must be in the display unit itself... Any ideas?

 

I gotta give a shout out to John @ Johns Jukes in British Columbia. The guy did what he said he was going to do, when he said he'd do it and for a good price. The shipping cost more than the repair itself. He was really quick to reply to my Emails and seemed determined to help me get things up and running when it looked like it was all going pear-shaped. I can't speak highly enough of him.

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Glad to hear. I think my boards are working but transformer dead.

Post a vid when it's all running.

Would love to revive the old Ataris.

Mine looks like it's destined to be a VPCab :(

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Yeah start with the ribbon cable, they are shocking in these games.

In fact start at all connectors seeing as that was the mpu issue at the end too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Glad to hear. I think my boards are working but transformer dead.

Post a vid when it's all running.

Would love to revive the old Ataris.

Mine looks like it's destined to be a VPCab :(

 

Forgive my ignorance here, I know I'm probably over simplifying things but wouldn't it be possible to remove the original PSU entirely and replace it with something that can supply the correct voltages and enough amps? I'll get a video up for ya once I have it all sorted.

 

Looking at this pix of yours seeing that all the displays sections are doing the same thing I'd be looking at the display driver i.c or even the ribbon cable and connectors.

https://www.aussiearcade.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=147582&d=1557131611&thumb=1

 

I'm thinking driver IC too, but I'll be sure to check that cable out.

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Glad to hear. I think my boards are working but transformer dead.

Post a vid when it's all running.

Would love to revive the old Ataris.

Mine looks like it's destined to be a VPCab :(

 

I found you another Transformer? Was it too expensive?

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After doing a little bit of poking around I think I've nailed down the issue with my score display.

 

1503749663_IMG201905281839061.jpg.95ceb95402aaf392f16cb697450c4e12.jpg

 

When I manipulate these contacts on the vacuum fluorescent display I get the missing segments coming to life along with the "Player" indicator lights that run down the right hand side of the score readouts. In this pic you can see that display is not correctly seated into the socket, but rectifying that didn't help matters. I removed the VFD and cleaned all of the contacts with contact cleaner and cotton-buds and still no improvement. But pushing on the individual pins brings the various missing segments to life. So still getting shitty connections there. At least I know what the issue is, the question is - How to fix.... I'm thinking a more serious cleaning followed by a slight 'tweak' of the pins....

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Thanks for the tip, I gave it a go before I pulled the VFD out again. Didn't make any difference in this case. In the end, I took the screen out again, bent the pins down slightly and then very carefully put the screen back in and was very happy to see this -

 

1111381274_IMG201905282104121.jpg.7245e051a5eab4fc0e0f0eac14826d25.jpg

 

There is a bit of crud under the red plastic, I'd really like to clean it but the plastic is stuck on the VFD pretty well. I'm a bit scared to mess with this thing anymore. It looks very fragile. On the other hand, if I don't clean it, it will bug me forever....

 

So now all that is left to fix from a functionality point of view is two switches on the playfield that aren't registering and one coin switch that isn't working....

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Quick update. I have a kit on the way from the US, which contains replacement globes, balls and rubbers. I still have that issue with the 3 switches that are not responding but at the moment I am considering the cosmetics.

 

1135168734_IMG201906011522031.jpg.8ded4bc522bdb38e49fc2081d7c9653f.jpg1789561970_IMG201906011522151.jpg.bd30e010f0c6012a88f567f00e0d1f1e.jpg1665740154_IMG201906011522471.jpg.02e73ecfd1544bb6096a28644aee3958.jpg

 

As you can see, the side rails, the legs and the lock bar are all heavily pitted with rust. I'm thinking that I'll just de-rust, etch prime and then paint. Probably with chrome paint. As for the cabinet, I'm still undecided. the easy route would be filling the chips and doing my best to colour match the paint, then touching up the areas that need attention along with a serious scrubbing of the whole cab. The hard option would be tracing the artwork, making stencils and attempting to redo the entire cab. What do you guys think?

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