Battle Zone Pain in the @#*%

[Battle Zone Pain in the @#*%]

There is still a large amount of humming coming out of the speakers if this helps at all.

On the Electrohome G05 monitor often used in these games, the power for the CRT heater comes directly from a separate winding from the power supply transformer. It would stand to reason the Are you sure that the harness in the game is wired correctly for the monitor you are using?

 

Are you sure that the CRT filaments are OK or getting power? You should see 6.3v or thereabouts.

[Atari 2600 Pal - B&W picture]

Is the game from the U.K.? If it is, wasn't the RF modulator different for their "PAL" TVs. What happens if you run an AV mod and feed your TV from composite video?

[T-molding removal tips]

I use a Dremel tool with a silver cutting disc. Slice the stuff through the middle so that you cut the center of the slot with the disc. It will melt if you go too fast, so go slow and with the center "tab" gone, it will come really easy without nuking the cabinet on the way out. I've run into brittle stuff on Pacman where it chips apart, and this worked like a charm, without leaving plastic in the slot.

[Battle Zone Pain in the @#*%]

I have never taken the controls apart but by the sound of it you might have a break in the wire somehow it might be due to corrosion in a wire had that happen in my 1979 rx7 once opened up the wire and dust fell out! Maybe jump the wires from the PCB back to the switch in question and see if anything happens. Oh and when I look at the transistors I finally saw how they were offset I really had to look at them closely I never noticed before thanks for the tip.

 

I've had 3 battlezones and one red baron. All were basket cases when found, and not one has failed since being "de-atari'd". In every game to date, I had to change all the IC sockets on the AUX board. The sockets on the main board have for the most part been ok, except for the rom and CPU sockets on one game so far.

 

My current b'zone has been trouble free and played to death by my 8 year old for well over two years. The cheap crappy sockets used when the games were made will cause all kinds of nagging, irritating and stupid issues with these games.

 

To make the game bomb proof, its important to install a switching power supply in place of the Audio regulator board's supply. Install heavy gauge supply wires from the new supply to the boards' power test points in addition to the 5V and ground lines you will take from the AR board. There are a number of tutorials on the net regarding this task.

 

Also install a number of negative grounds from the monitor on the deflection board to the power supply negative ground and game boards. If these grounds go bad between the monitor and the game, they will kill the deflection board in the monitor.

 

As said earlier, its good practice to do a cap kit and transistors if the monitor is dead. Be sure to clean the connectors and fuse holder clips while you're at it. It's also not uncommon to see the bridge rectifier go bad (always blows fuses), so I replace these as well.

 

Now to fix the control issue:

 

Check if you have 5V on the line coming from the game on the switch to the common on the switch, and that the 5V goes to 0V when the switch closes. This is provided from a pull-up resistor on the aux board. The pull-up resistors in question are R39 to R44 on the aux board, and R47-52 are used to couple the lines to the POKEY Chip. This step will tell if you have connection to the board.

 

If you still don't have a working control line, with the game turned off, trace the control line that isnt working through the wiring and connectors in the cabinet using an ohm meter to the "control" side of 1K resistors (R47-52) on the aux board. Also check the continuity from the legs of the POKEY to these resistors, pins (10-15). Problems in the last step would indicate you have a bad socket (very common)

 

Hopefully, this will get your game going.

 

Remember kids, do this at your own risk and I can't be held responsible if you blow up yourself, your friends, or your game.

[Jack the Giantkiller]

Not right off my head. That Op Amp could be used for a number of things I guess. I would pull the board and trace the speaker pins from the finger board back and see where you end up.

 

 

First make sure that the game has its -5V and +12V supply rails, since the game will still play with only +5V. This is needed in order to make the sound happen. The audio on this game is a MB3712 (the ic located at E1). I have aslo seen these boards without a needed pot at VR1 for some reason.