[Restauration] Crazy Kong fase 1

[Etienne MacGyver]

I am planning to restaurate my recently obtained zaccaria crazy kong.

Since time is limited, its going to take some time...
First i want to make sure it is technically 100%, that motivates the rest of the job so much more  

My machine is working, exept as you can see, there is something wrong with "Mr. Ape"  







I know some basic electronics, but repairing a PCB is a different story, so i decided to look for a replacement board.
Later i can see if there is anybody capable of repairing this board as a spare.. (robin maybe ??)

anyway, i found that Level42 had a original Falcon CK board, and we made a deal.
Yesterday after work i passed andre's place and picked up "Lucky Number 13"
The board was a little dirty after all those years.

there is a sticker that mentions "ok 02-12-81" , so at least we know that it was ok in 1981




do you see the spot where i tested the "alcoholcloth"  




Ok, lets pull the old board..




There is a different connector on my machine than there is on the board of Andre..
Later more on that....
Power supply area..






Monitor adjustment instructions..




Hantarex MTC 900 Monitor according to this piece of paper..




The two brothers; FCK-01 (blue) and FCK-00 (green)
According to Andre, the green are more rare    i think it's just the revision of the board




New (old) Board in place, Ready to fire it up !




hmm......  thats not what i want to see...




after checking the dipswitches (thank you Andre to respond my phonecall  ) i reboot...
Hmmm  a little more the way i like it, but not yet what i want..




At first i thought it was the dipswitch that i moved, but then i realised that i "moved" the board to do that, wich could mean that the connector is not making a good contact.
After some wiggeling with the connector, i had different results..








Lets compare the connectors...
I found out that the green connector that came with the board is smaller than the other, so i inspect the connectorside on the board
exactly what i was thinking! , they "cut" the board so that the green connector fits because it was too small for this board.
thats why it was so loose when i connected my connector, there was a difference of 1 mm wich causes the connector in my machine to shift and make strange contacts (if you understand what i mean to say)
So i tried to plug it in as carefully as possible and see that the connector makes the correct contact.




Almost there..
just the screen is mirrored now, and i see the cage from the attract screen..
Lets "Wiggle" again with the connector..




Victory !!!




Level 1 CHECK!


Level 2 CHECK!


Level 3 CHECK!





Hmm..  now i have the "how high can you try" through level 3..
and the machine stops responding..



I think its because the board is not fixated and the connector moved something..

Later i will modify the green connector to passthrough every pin straight and put this in between the board and the machine (including the adapter from my machine and test if that is the solution.

The green connector fits tight on the board after they cutted the board.. so maybe this is an option.
Ill post later the resuts..

[Laschek]

Have you tried reseating everything that's socketed on the blue board? Cleaned the connector on the PCB? Adjusted +5V (if possible)?

[Etienne MacGyver]

Have you tried reseating everything that's socketed on the blue board? Cleaned the connector on the PCB? Adjusted +5V (if possible)?

Yes sir..  also i swapped all the chips from the green to the blue and vice versa to eliminate a possible error, but the FCK00 board does not like the FCK01 chips and vice versa..  so there are more differences between them than just the color of the pcb

the voltages i have not checked yet since i did not bring my multimeter..

[Laschek]

Have you tried the second connector on the side of the PCB? Should be the same.

[Etienne MacGyver]

Nope, i did not know it was the same, Andre and i thought it was some kind of test connector..
Its worth a try ofcourse
but first i will try my adapter wich i will make tonight if i find some spare time 

[Laschek]

It should be the same, but check carefully and don't blame me if anything blows up.  
It might be possible that the second connector is reversed (solderside vs. parts side), but I'm not sure now, don't have a CK lying around at work unfortunately 

[Belike]

Nice cab you have there!

[Superully]

nice to finally see a restoration from your side of the fence, etienne! good luck with it, i will support you all the way

[Etienne MacGyver]

Thanx ully!

@ laschek, i will folow the traces or the connecors and verify if it is flipped, then i can test that too
but first i will make the connector that fits good as an adapter to check if my guess was right 

[level42]

Thanx ully!

@ laschek, i will folow the traces or the connecors and verify if it is flipped, then i can test that too
but first i will make the connector that fits good as an adapter to check if my guess was right 

Follow traces ? Why not "beep it through" with your DVM ?

[level42]

By the way it was phone when you got it running while we were on the phone, the sounds were very recognizable

[Etienne MacGyver]

Beeping is the way to go i guess  
but it does not hurt to look physicly to the board at first  

Youre right, you listen it working one time between the power cycles, after that, i started to fiddle with the connector and had the different results

anyway, ill try the modified connector option first, then beep the connectors and try the other connector if it does noet workout with the modified connector

after all , if its working the way it should with my "new connector" there is no need to find out if the 2 connectors are te same

also the location of the other connector on the board requires some modification on the cables, becaus they are not long enough to reach that point..



Or i can twist the board 90 degrees anticlock wise..
But thats not original!  
Well, my modified connector isnt either..

[Superully]

i'd simply turn around the board for testing purposes without fixing it. this should give you an idea whether the other connector is ok or not. if it works that way, you can think of a solution then

[Etienne MacGyver]

Ok, i went to my local electric part supplier because i wanted to get some shrink tube to modify the green connector.
While i was there measuring the size of the tube, i got the idea to ask if the maybe have a connector simular, and a piece of "edge connector"
in that way i dont need to desolder the green one and im sure its not oxidated inside

The man of the shop looked at me and says " jee, thats for sure 20 years ago that someone asks me for this"  

Anyway, he went to his "NOS" part of the store and came back with a piece of edge connector
the price is still in guilders (ovious for a 20 year old piece) so he needed to convert it in euro's  

Its bigger than the one i need, but with a saw i can make it any size i want.




Now, lets check the pinouts that i found on the internet.
there where some different pinouts for different Ckong boards so i decided to be sure and check with the connector that came with the board




after looking 6 pinouts and compared them with the connector i had, i found the one that matches




allright , lets check:
1. Solder station
2. Tin
3. Connectors
4. a bunch of wire
5. Pliers
6. shrinktube

It looks like i am ready to create a new connector  




18 pins on one side makes 36 wires..



Seems like my shrinktube is too small for this wire..  
Lets take 5 pieces of UTP and strip them down, 8 wires in utp x 5 = 40 wires, thats more than enough  




After stripping i prepared them by "pre-tinning" them and put the shrinktube in place





One side ready, just the edge connector to go..




Pre- tinned the wires and edge connector..




After soldering i verified the connector by "beeping" them through..




Then i headed to my mother where the machine is located

Installed the connector..  
damn same result..
I also measured the voltage on the connector that was 5,1 v without the board connected and 4,6 with the board connected, but i think thats fine since i got that result on both boards and one is fuctioning so i guess the power is good

also i tried the other connector on both boards, but same results..
I guess that there is something wrong with andre's board too , and i was just lucky to have one play (until level 3)
after that it never did that again.  

I putted back the working board (only the ape is missing sometimes) but at least i can play the game then
also i decided to leave my newly created connector because it releases the tention on the original connector wich was "bending" the board a little

so i did not make the connector for nothing  




I was a little dissapointed, but my son wasn't as you can tell on the smile on his face



So where to go now?
Is it an option to read all the roms and verify them? or do i need to find someone capable of fixing the boards ?
I do have another offer for a 3th board , only thats not located in holland yet...

[Superully]

damn, so much effort for (almost) nothing! thx for those tons of pics, always great to follow someone's steps closely!