Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle

General Chat => Technical Area => Topic started by: anunaki on November 24, 2013, 09:29:19 PM

Title: donkey kong not working[fixed]
Post by: anunaki on November 24, 2013, 09:29:19 PM
Hi,

I picked up my DK cabinet from Tyrems place. Today I connected the board and powered it up. It wasn't working :( :(

I hear the startup sound but the image is all messed up and way to small .

I measered the voltages on the board (edge connector) 5,03 V and 11.96V and checked the dipswitches.

I'm not really that technical unfortunately, but are there some easy to do checks I could perform?

Cheers, Patrick
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 25, 2013, 05:44:55 AM
Try contacting RobinHolland, maybe he can help you, he is a pcb wizzard  8)
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: Muerto on November 25, 2013, 06:12:43 AM
Try reseating all the roms, and the flat cables.... sometimes that helps...
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 25, 2013, 09:12:19 AM
I did some googling and I found I have to check the 5V on the IC's instead of the edge connector. It could be the voltage needs to be a little higher. There should be an adjustment pot inside the power supply.

So what I can do is:

- measure the voltage on the IC
- reseat ICs

Could The issue with the image being too small be fixed with the capkit?

Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 25, 2013, 09:36:15 AM
that could be, of if you are unlucky its the ceramic adjustment in the horizontal width coil that is broken..

you can try to adjust that to see if id does make any difference..

(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/HWC.png)

DON'T use a alanwrench in that thing ! us a TV adjustment tool (plastic)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuTlChCko4k

Let's first do the capkit, then adjust the B+ to 108 volts and then screw around with other pots

you say too small, question is, is it horizontally too small or vertically ?
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 25, 2013, 09:47:53 AM
The picture is not to clear I think, but if you look at it, you see the image is too small horizontally and vertically

Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: gyruss on November 25, 2013, 10:30:25 AM
Maybe this will help: http://www.brasington.org/arcade/tech/dk/

And congrats with your cabinet, would love to see some pictures.
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 25, 2013, 10:57:33 AM
tx

there will be some pics for sure, I'm a little short on time these days
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 26, 2013, 08:00:27 PM
I'm trying to reseat the EPROMs and the very 1st one I do leaves one leg behind in the socket :( :( :(. This never happened before to me and I'm really sad it happens with my DK board.

so now I'm pretty much lost in my attempts to see if it works, because I have no way to burn a new 2532 eprom

my batronix device can only read it

is there one of you guys able to get me a new 5A eprom

Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: level42 on November 26, 2013, 08:04:54 PM
Take an old resistor or cap and clip off one leg, solder it to the left over of the broken off pin. Clip off the leg so that it at the same level as the  other legs of the EPROM, now, at least, you can still read it........

....or just get the image from the internet :)

How do you remove chips ? FORGET every tool ever made for removing DIL chips. Use a small screwdriver and lift it up slowly and take turn on both sides of the chip.
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: anunaki on November 26, 2013, 08:07:46 PM
that's what I do, I use the screwdriver all the time

never had any problem doing this

about the image: My device cannot brun this kind of eprom so that;s the issue here. Can yours?
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: level42 on November 26, 2013, 08:10:03 PM
Don't worry, it's not your fault, I've had it happen one or two times too, sometimes you cannot prevent it from happening because these things are 30 years old.

I actually did get one of those chips back working again with the method I mentioned. You just have to "fumble" a lot to get all the pins in the socket back in nice order including the "replacement leg".
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: anunaki on November 26, 2013, 08:11:49 PM
I'll try to solder a new leg to it
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: Belike on November 26, 2013, 08:27:54 PM
My Old Friend teached me a trick for this, cut off a leg from a broken chip, put it to the socket first and insert the chip after that, now you will only have to drop a piece of solder between the 2 components. ;)
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: anunaki on November 26, 2013, 08:44:11 PM
tx

well, the IC is socketed again, and I reseated all the eproms and CPU

result: it still doesn't work, but I see stuff moving now instead of a frozen screen

I see there is a kind of stripe on the PCB, I need to find out if the lines are cut, this is kind of a bummer.

I figured it would be working right away, another board will cost me about 150 euros or so
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: Tyrem on November 26, 2013, 09:03:41 PM
tx

well, the IC is socketed again, and I reseated all the eproms and CPU

result: it still doesn't work, but I see stuff moving now instead of a frozen screen

I see there is a kind of stripe on the PCB, I need to find out if the lines are cut, this is kind of a bummer.

I figured it would be working right away, another board will cost me about 150 euros or so

talk to jochen about it. i am sure he can fix the board.
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: anunaki on November 26, 2013, 09:36:28 PM
I asked Robin, he lives very near to me, maybe he can help me. If not, I like every help I can get ofcoruse.

I checked the voltages on the ICs, those are 5,03V

I powered the DK a couple of times with these results

Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 27, 2013, 05:58:33 AM
you can see its running, first pic you see the DK screen (messed up, but its there)

second is looks like the highscore screen (again messed up, but its there

and at last there is the barrel screen, also messed up, but its there

so the cpu is fine, its running and doing its job.

what about sound, is there anything ? and does it make sence with above explanation ?

i think you have some sort of rom / ram problem, because both character and sprite data are present, but totally screwed up

or something in the area that muxes the sprite and character data

i think Robin is your best bet at this stage, close to you and full of knowledge.
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: level42 on November 27, 2013, 06:58:38 AM
How the hell do you recognize those screens ??  :shock:
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: anunaki on November 27, 2013, 09:08:29 AM
It's going to Robin
Title: Re: donkey kong not working [pleae help me]
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 27, 2013, 09:08:38 AM
How the hell do you recognize those screens ??  :shock:

i need to admit that you have to be a little creative to "see" it..

I imagine the attract screen running, thats what happens when powering up the game.

from there , i know that the attract screen does the following ;

1. display "donkey kong" title screen
2. display highscore screen
3. display a demo from the barrelscreen

put this together with some of the characters and sprites that you see, and you have this :

parts of the sprites that are used to build the word Donkey kong :

(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/compare1.jpg)


very vague stretched repeated pattern of this :

(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/compare2.jpg)


And i see parts of the griders:

(http://www.opdenkelder.com/pics/compare3.jpg)

now, i am not 100% sure that this is it, but it sure looks close to it IMHO.
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 27, 2013, 11:25:34 AM
It froze alle times but one, maybe it actually IS the CPU. It's pretty frustrating not knowing anything about this

I can replace it for a known good, before bringing it to Robin
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 27, 2013, 11:29:20 AM
please do, and let me know, i am curious  8)
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 27, 2013, 12:06:44 PM
what do you want to know, if putting another Z80 will fix it?
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 28, 2013, 11:09:10 AM
replaced the Z80, same result
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 28, 2013, 12:54:19 PM
i am not surprised, it looks like the CPU is working.

if the CPU is not working, you will not have anything on the screen AFAIK
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: level42 on November 28, 2013, 08:22:58 PM
Been trying to call Robin whole week....did you contact him by phone ?
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 28, 2013, 09:06:29 PM
I don't have his phone nr. He said I can bring the pcb so thats great. Now I am waiting for him to give me his address

It will be ok. Just some patience.
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: level42 on November 28, 2013, 09:31:46 PM
He's the master.

The only thing I can figure out of those screen shots is that your monitor needs C407 replaced.

At least. :D


P.S. Etienne.......don't drink and visit the forum at the same time, your fantasy is running with you  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 28, 2013, 09:34:53 PM
Yeah etienne will do the full cap kit

Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on November 29, 2013, 06:21:52 AM
Lets see what Robin's opinion is, i am curious if my analytic skills are what i hope them to be  ;D
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on November 29, 2013, 09:38:11 AM
it's going to Robin tonight so we'll soon find out.

he's kind of busy ATM, but he still wants to help me, that's really extar great :spaceace:
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: Robinholland on December 08, 2013, 10:07:28 AM
Your pcb is working again
Title: Re: donkey kong not working
Post by: anunaki on December 08, 2013, 10:50:45 AM
That's really great news Robin.. tx so much

can you send me a PM with all info ($$, parts, tel nr)

 :spaceace: :spaceace: :spaceace:
Title: Re: donkey kong not working[fixed]
Post by: Etienne MacGyver on December 08, 2013, 01:55:40 PM
Awesome Robin, you did it again   ;D


want to share the solution ?
Title: Re: donkey kong not working[fixed]
Post by: Q*ris on December 08, 2013, 07:16:41 PM
A real magician never explains his tricks  ;)
Title: Re: donkey kong not working[fixed]
Post by: anunaki on December 11, 2013, 10:42:36 AM
some EPROMs were broken, some in the wrong spot and the CPU didn't make very good contact with the board

Title: Re: donkey kong not working[fixed]
Post by: Laszo on December 11, 2013, 03:12:36 PM
some EPROMs were broken, some in the wrong spot and the CPU didn't make very good contact with the board


somebody tried reparing it before you  ;D ;D