What to do with my QIX machine?

[+pboland]

I'm having a hard time trying to decide on what to do about a non-working QIX machine. The reason it doesn't work is because the internal battery blow up all over the boards. It did this some time ago (before I got the machine). Needless to say, the acid from the battery has eaten up a lot of traces on the boards and some of the pins on roms and other chips.

 

My dilemma is, should I try to fix the machine and get it working as a QIX game (after all, these games seem to be getting harder and harder to find) or should I just use the cabinet to make a mame machine with. I can tell you that I'm not attached to the game, as I never really played it much in the day. But, I hate the idea of somebody out there might be wanting a QIX machine and is having a hard time finding one, while I just destroyed one.

 

I did take all of the electronics out of the machine, but I have kept everything for that just in case moment.

[keilbaca]

I'd love to have a Qix machine... I had a gutted cabinet, nothing with it, just the cab and control panel and stuff, and I turned it into MAME. It turned out really well.

 

I'd say fix it up, but then again I am a bit biased, I *love* qix.

 

Here's my old qix machine before it ended up disappearing.

 

 

It wasn't finished either, wanted a different monitor, and to make a black border for the monitor. The coin slots worked on it and everything.

Edited April 29, 2009 by keilbaca

[Ian Primus]

Fix it! Definitely. Any classic game, in it's original dedicated cabinet, is well worth fixing. Especially an awesome game like Qix. There are tons of old, converted cabinets out there you can Mame, or games that are already missing all their original parts.

 

Fix the board - unless the acid damage is extensive, it's usually very fixable. Desolder all affected parts, clean the board of corrosion (white vinegar), clean up any residual vinegar (alcohol), and replace damaged parts. ROMs can be replaced super-easy, thanks to MAME. Most chips are readily available. And often, you just need to replace the socket - the chip can be saved by cleaning off the corrosion.

 

If you want, post a picture of the board, and I can give you some pointers.

 

-Ian

[Blur2040]

Fix it! Definitely. Any classic game, in it's original dedicated cabinet, is well worth fixing. Especially an awesome game like Qix. There are tons of old, converted cabinets out there you can Mame, or games that are already missing all their original parts.

 

Fix the board - unless the acid damage is extensive, it's usually very fixable. Desolder all affected parts, clean the board of corrosion (white vinegar), clean up any residual vinegar (alcohol), and replace damaged parts. ROMs can be replaced super-easy, thanks to MAME. Most chips are readily available. And often, you just need to replace the socket - the chip can be saved by cleaning off the corrosion.

 

If you want, post a picture of the board, and I can give you some pointers.

 

-Ian

 

I'm going to second the "Fix the Board" approach. Or at the very least, make an attempt at finding a new board. Shouldn't be too hard.

 

A board with a little bit of battery leakage sounds pretty fun to me right now. Would be a hoot to hunt down all of those destroyed traces.

[+pboland]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I decided that I will try to save this game. This will be my first total restore attempt. If it goes well I will try to fully restore my other semi working machines. Which include BattleZone, Gorf, Asteroids (which doesn't work at all), Tempest, and Atari Football.

[Mark Wolfe]

why not do both? It is quite easy to have a working MAME system work in conjunction with a restored arcade board. With the throw of a switch you can enjoy the original game or fire up MAME and play other games with similar control features or more if you add more controls to the panel.