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General Chat => Technical Area => Topic started by: vernimark on March 24, 2017, 12:31:22 PM

Title: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: vernimark on March 24, 2017, 12:31:22 PM: Just for your info.
I bought a Tempest PCB a couple of months ago on ebay us.

Initial conditions:
some 137004-001 missing,
3 not working PROMs on aux board
Vector prom on main board missing

So thanks to ebay and arcadechips I completed the board with missing parts, reprogramming the PROMs when needed...
Once it was completed I had this test screen (not in test the game reset).
In the beginning looking at all of those "0" aligned I thought to a problem related to the bus between program data and vector data
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: vernimark on March 24, 2017, 12:33:05 PM: Then I checked again all EPROMs and I found that one of them had to be replaced. Doing that the pattern during test didn't changed but the game started without any problem, even if the graphic was corrupted
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: vernimark on March 24, 2017, 12:34:32 PM: Getting older and older I have to tell you I need good glasses to do this job now and actually I think 10 years ago I could repair this board in 3 minutes and not in 3 nights.

Here is the picture of the problem
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: vernimark on March 24, 2017, 12:35:16 PM: Now the game works
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: Superully on March 24, 2017, 12:53:15 PM: Quote from: vernimark on March 24, 2017, 12:34:32 PM
Getting older and older I have to tell you I need good glasses to do this job now

same here - apart from the fact that i couldn't do what you are doing. but my eyesight is getting really bad when it comes to reading / seeing stuff that is close to your eyes. damn it, the human body is one big faulty design!!!
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: vernimark on March 24, 2017, 01:14:49 PM: absolutely true.
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: Luigi on March 24, 2017, 03:21:09 PM: Quote from: Superully on March 24, 2017, 12:53:15 PM
same here - apart from the fact that i couldn't do what you are doing. but my eyesight is getting really bad when it comes to reading / seeing stuff that is close to your eyes. damn it, the human body is one big faulty design!!!

I have the same problem. IMHO the human body isn't a faulty design at all. It's just not designed to last that long. In medieval time with 40 years you were an old man ;)
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: Superully on March 24, 2017, 06:22:27 PM: Quote from: Luigi on March 24, 2017, 03:21:09 PM
IMHO the human body isn't a faulty design at all.

you can't eat whatever you want whenever you want - nuff said!
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: Andreas_AUT on March 24, 2017, 08:42:18 PM: Congrats to that repair. How did you fix the broken traces, resoldered it or did it with wires?
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: vernimark on March 25, 2017, 01:13:22 AM: Traces were not broken but shorted, si I used a cutter to remove the undesidered contacts
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: Muerto on March 26, 2017, 06:23:25 PM: Great repair! - happen to have a Tempest myself, that stopped working after 4 hours on Friday :-\
Hopefully it's just "a fuse" :D
Title: Re: TEMPEST PCB all test digits aligned (solved)
Post by: vernimark on March 27, 2017, 11:41:38 AM: Tempest is a great game. My board stopped working a couple of years ago. I gave it to repair because in that period I hadn't a place where to repair boards but I think it still is on the repair queue. In the mean time I bought another one and repaired on my self :)