short Did my Jaguar Short Out?

[Dr.Crackers]

Hello all,

 

I'd like to begin by saying that I am by no means a negligent/careless owner. I was never rough with my Jag.

 

However, despite this, it stopped working a while back for reasons currently beyond me. The last few times I'd played it, it had serious controller issues; on Cybermorph, the T-Griffon wouldn't stop jetting forward and moving upward, while on Tempest 2K, I couldn't stop shooting. Not long after these incidents, my Jag failed entirely, and won't even power on.

 

All I know is that these consoles are very sensitive to electrical mishaps (shorts, overloads, etc.), and that something to do with the controller inputs failed/shorted out, and this somehow eventually led to total failure. Yet if that is the case, wouldn't that mean that one of my controllers is defective and causes shorts? I've no soldering skills, and even less of a clue on how to find the replacement parts necessary for this system, so the chances of me fixing this are slim. For the meantime, I've purchased a new Jag system (I shouldn't have to explain how expensive they've become), so I want to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

 

The main things I want to know are:

*What caused this?

*Is this (cheaply) fixable?

*What can prevent this?

 

Sorry about the long post, but as a long-time Atari fan, I just want to ensure the fun doesn't stop here. Please feel free to ask me anything you'd like to know.

[Zerosquare]

Jaguars aren't particularly delicate, they tend to be at least as reliable as other game consoles (JagCD notwithstanding). The only thing they really don't like is using a power supply with the wrong polarity.

 

I don't have an explanation for what happened to yours, it's not a problems I've seen or heard about before. It would be hard to tell what the problem is without taking it apart and doing some measurements.

[+madman]

Hi, car shop? My car was working, now it's not. Can you tell me what's wrong over the phone?

 

I'd find it hard to believe that a controller killed your system.

[Dr.Crackers]

Wow, okay.

 

Passive-aggressiveness aside...

I've read things in the past about how unplugging a Jag's controllers mid-use can be more damaging to a Jag than say, a Sega Genesis. I just wanted to know if damage from this is a fairly common issue, apparently it isn't. I think back to when I first got a Jag, and that I'd discovered that a controller with a missing pin was causing the video signal to fail. These systems are just a lot more finicky with their controller workings than other consoles I'm used to.

 

I just can't think of another reason I'd have controller issues one day, and a dead Jag the next.

[Gummy Bear]

Mine isn't finicky.

While trying to use a vga extension cable as a pad extender (which didn't work) I discovered that I was effectively shorting it out.

Jag didn't flinch. Pretty robust.

[+madman]

While trying to use a vga extension cable as a pad extender (which didn't work) I discovered that I was effectively shorting it out.

A VGA extension will not--oh never mind.

[Gummy Bear]

A VGA extension will not--oh never mind.

Thanks for stopping by. Always a pleasure.

[Schmudde]

However, despite this, it stopped working a while back for reasons currently beyond me. The last few times I'd played it, it had serious controller issues; on Cybermorph, the T-Griffon wouldn't stop jetting forward and moving upward, while on Tempest 2K, I couldn't stop shooting. Not long after these incidents, my Jag failed entirely, and won't even power on.

 

All I know is that these consoles are very sensitive to electrical mishaps (shorts, overloads, etc.), and that something to do with the controller inputs failed/shorted out, and this somehow eventually led to total failure. Yet if that is the case, wouldn't that mean that one of my controllers is defective and causes shorts? I've no soldering skills, and even less of a clue on how to find the replacement parts necessary for this system, so the chances of me fixing this are slim. For the meantime, I've purchased a new Jag system (I shouldn't have to explain how expensive they've become), so I want to ensure that this doesn't happen again.

 

I can't address your specific issues, but I want to share a similar story that might help constructive commenters toss around ideas.

 

I have a Jaguar that will not power on. It just froze in the middle of a game about 4 months ago and never turned back on. I recently took it to a gaming shop in Manhattan and they couldn't figure it out. I even sent them this known issue just in case it gave them something to look for.

 

(Worth noting that I did not use the wrong PSU, but I was looking for any lead possible)

 

Not sure if there are other common issues with the system or if we're seeing any uptick in failures. Unfortunately, taking it to an engineer that specializes in game systems gave me no further leads.

Edited June 2, 2018 by Schmudde

[+Stephen Moss]

I just can't think of another reason I'd have controller issues one day, and a dead Jag the next.

The problem probably lied elsewhere but was effecting controller reads, the controller inputs are pull down and so the system is essentially protected from any shorts (other than power supply) as the resistor would burn out if any significant current started to be drawn, plus the controller outputs are driven by a TTL logic IC which can only handle about 20mA on any output before it would start to dies which is not much considering you are using a 1 amp power unit.

 

 

I can't address your specific issues, but I want to share a similar story that might help constructive commenters toss around ideas.

 

I have a Jaguar that will not power on. It just froze in the middle of a game about 4 months ago and never turned back on. I recently took it to a gaming shop in Manhattan and they couldn't figure it out. I even sent them this known issue just in case it gave them something to look for.

 

(Worth noting that I did not use the wrong PSU, but I was looking for any lead possible)

 

Not sure if there are other common issues with the system or if we're seeing any uptick in failures. Unfortunately, taking it to an engineer that specializes in game systems gave me no further leads.

I would of thought they could have fixed it, if the power was ok the other primary areas to look would be the clock oscillator and reset pins as any of those not operating correctly could cause major problems, particularly if not getting to the BIOS chip although I would expect them to have checked those if they had a schematic/check for anything getting hot.

 

Difficult to fix a system that does nothing as you are limited in regard to what you can test, when you say it does not power on do you mean that the power LED does not come on or that it does but you get no signs of activity from the Jaguar? If the former then it has to be a power/power switch issue, if the latter and the clock was running you would at least expect the BIOS to run and get a RSOD if nothing else

[Schmudde]

I would of thought they could have fixed it, if the power was ok the other primary areas to look would be the clock oscillator and reset pins as any of those not operating correctly could cause major problems, particularly if not getting to the BIOS chip although I would expect them to have checked those if they had a schematic/check for anything getting hot.

 

Difficult to fix a system that does nothing as you are limited in regard to what you can test, when you say it does not power on do you mean that the power LED does not come on or that it does but you get no signs of activity from the Jaguar? If the former then it has to be a power/power switch issue, if the latter and the clock was running you would at least expect the BIOS to run and get a RSOD if nothing else

 

Thanks for troubleshooting this with me. No, the led does not light up. I think it might be a power switch issue as well. It "felt" a little flaky before all this happened. Like not as springy. If that were the case, am I correct to presume this could have caused a short anywhere in the system, or is there a specific place where something like this might be localized?

[+madman]

How would a faulty power switch cause a short at an arbitrary point in the system?

[Schmudde]

 

Thanks for troubleshooting this with me. No, the led does not light up. I think it might be a power switch issue as well. It "felt" a little flaky before all this happened. Like not as springy. If that were the case, am I correct to presume this could have caused a short anywhere in the system, or is there a specific place where something like this might be localized?

 

How would a faulty power switch cause a short at an arbitrary point in the system?

 

I'm confused by this response. I do not know enough about how the Jaguar is powered. Presumably, neither did the engineer who looked at it. I wish I could answer your question, but thus far the only thing I know is that this problem could be at anywhere along the path where the system is powered.

 

Stephen suggested the power switch might be the issue. This is actually a great lead. More conversation might reveal other common areas that I can further discuss with the engineer. If he ultimately sees a problem outside of the power switch itself, which is not behaving perfectly, I'll be able to answer your question.

[Zerosquare]

If whoever looked at it didn't even test something as obvious as the power switch, I'd question their competence.

[Schmudde]

If whoever looked at it didn't even test something as obvious as the power switch, I'd question their competence.

 

Me too.

 

Considering the guys at J&L Game in Manhattan fix hundreds of retro consoles, it's quite odd they don't know what the problem is with my Jaguar. But all this is immaterial to the original question.