Fludoodles

Hello all! Posted this in hardware, thought it might be better to have it under coin-ops: My Spy Hunter machine is stuck in reboot. Better description of the problem here --> http://atariage.com/forums/topic/227430-spy-hunter-arcade-reset-loop/

Hello all! I wasn't sure whether to put this under coin-ops or hardware, because it's related to both. Sorry if it's in the wrong section. I was wondering if someone here might be able to help me with this. I'm pretty sure it's a simple solution, I've encountered the problem before. I've just forgotten how to fix it Anyway, when I turn the machine on, the screen scrolls white block lines and letter "R's" repeatedly. Much like it would when resetting. However, it seems to do this endlessly. The music also plays on boot, but it isn't supposed to do this at boot, only when the game is actually playing. I looked into the machine and saw that the purple reset wire (which, in my machine, is divided into 3 ends : 2 for the actual reset and 1, I believe, for the music) was loose. When I had this problem before, I just tethered the 3 ends together, and it ran perfectly fine. When I tried to do that again, now the screen hangs with vertical lines and random interspersed garbage. When this happens, the reset buttons on the cheap squeak and main board-stack work. Except it boots back to the scrolling screen and makes the music play again. I'm going to assume, at moderate inspection, there are no other issues other than the purple reset wire. Nothing looks fried, nothing else seems to be disconnected. I'm wondering if anyone knows of another solution to the game being stuck in this loop. If there is another component that would be causing this problem, it'd be helpful to know. I don't think it's something drastically wrong with the machine, otherwise I don't think it would be at the point of functioning that it is Also, for reference, when none of the purple wire is attached, the screen scrolls like previously mentioned, the reset buttons don't work, and music does not play (which makes sense). I can try to get pictures if they're necessary, but I think this is a common problem with Spy Hunter machines, so I wasn't sure if they were. Thanks in advance!

I think they're past saving at this point, I'd just like to check one thing. I need an image of what the end of the connector looks like for the paddle controllers.

I don't really think the pots are the issue at this point, though I suppose they could be. I replaced one of them, and checked how well they worked before and after I had replaced it with Kaboom, and there didn't seem to be a difference in performance in the slightest. If anything, it should have worked a little bit better or a little bit worse.

My thought was that the pins weren't reaching as well. One idea was to get some kind of conductive material that would help the pins reach or something. I'm still stuck on why my other controllers seem fine on both the Flashback and the Vader, otherwise I'd think it was the ports on the system itself.

This has gotten really odd so I figure this is the best place to get some help. My Atari paddles were jittery at first, and I followed the instructions to clean them. After cleaning them, they were still jittery. I cleaned them again, and the issue persisted. To test if it was a broken pot, I modded a new one from Radio Shack onto one of the controllers, which also didn't change anything. I have a spare Flashback 4, so I tested the controllers on that. Both of the paddles played very smoothly, almost like new. And yet, when I plugged them into the actual system, they seemed broken. I noticed that the pins on the Flashback seemed smaller, so I tried to use the controllers with a serial port adapter with the same size pins, but it didn't work either. I get that I could just buy another pair, but the controllers aren't actually broken, so I don't think I should. Plus, I'm not sure buying another pair of paddle controllers would solve the problem. If it helps, the paddles are (2nd?) generation, the kind were the shaft of the pot is a lighter color. My 2600 is a Vader. Ideas? I'm pretty stuck at the moment