Tech help :- Defender CPU board

[Alpha1]

[ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board

Hi,

Ok I got a free Defender yesterday (yay!) and upon inspection of it noticed it was complete bar all 24 4116 ram chips. The sockets were empty.

So as you do i put some 4116 rams in I had and turned the beast on..... and it worked perfectly!, So after playing it for about 3 hours I then thought I would use this working cab to troubleshoot a dead/faulty one I had.

Anyhow. to cut a long story short after testing all the boards from the faulty one in the good one, I found it was only the CPU board that had the problem. So I gunshotted all the rams on that aswell and went to test it.

And then that worked too )

But... After about 3 hours I came downstairs and to my horror, it was stuck in rug test and just kept resetting.

So,

What I wondered was, Anyone care to give me some quick pointers on a Defender CPU board? Anyone else had the 'stuck in rug test' problem and care to email me off list with a quick miracle fix

Off to search the net now for any info I can find but would appreciate any help I can get.

oll

 

[Macro]

RE: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
> Ok I got a free Defender yesterday

only one word springs to mind really - B*ST*RD!

ok, maybe 2 - add LUCKY to the sentence above

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[guddler]

RE: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
Oll,

Recheck the Ram's. I had the same problem with my joust before I
converted it to 4164s. Only difference was, mine said that it was a ram
error rather than just getting stuck on the rug. Then again, it was a
Joust, not a Defender, so who knows what the Defender would do? - Well,
Dave Langley probably )

All I'm saying is that 3 hours of constant use for mine was plenty
enough time to kill a 4116 )

Gudd.

> But... After about 3 hours I came downstairs and to my
> horror, it was stuck in rug test and just kept resetting.

 

[Alpha1]

Re: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
So I guess il be gun shotting all the ram again tonight

Whats a good way to test 4116 ram without testing them in a board?

Fluke pod or something I guess? or should I just be looking for 4164's

oll

 

[guddler]

RE: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
> So I guess il be gun shotting all the ram again tonight
>
> Whats a good way to test 4116 ram without testing them in a board?

Is the ram socketed??

If not, socket it rather than gunshotting it all again. Then it's just a
case of trial and error.

Actually thinking about it, doesn't the rom board have some kind of led
setup that tell's you what ram it is? Assuming it can get that far
obviously!

Guddler.

 

[d-type]

RE: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
From what I remember, the Defender RAM test routines are
useless, don't waste your time - the LEDs just seem to give
random patterns. It probably works OK if you have one dead
4116, but if you have more...

The other William boards, however have much better RAM
testing. I tested all my Defender RAMs on Dave Langley's
Robotron PCB set, really easily.

I'm sure you have other Williams PCBs kicking around, Oll ;-)

D-Type

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 12:11:44 +0100
>From: "Guddler" <martin@guddler.com>
>Subject: RE: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
>To: <ukvac@yahoogroups.com>
>
>> So I guess il be gun shotting all the ram again tonight
>>
>> Whats a good way to test 4116 ram without testing them in
a board?
>
>Is the ram socketed??
>
>If not, socket it rather than gunshotting it all again. Then
it's just a
>case of trial and error.
>
>Actually thinking about it, doesn't the rom board have some
kind of led
>setup that tell's you what ram it is? Assuming it can get
that far
>obviously!
>
>Guddler.
>
>
>

 

[Dave2084]

RE: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
At 12:46 pm 27 06 02, you wrote:
> From what I remember, the Defender RAM test routines are
>useless, don't waste your time - the LEDs just seem to give
>random patterns. It probably works OK if you have one dead
>4116, but if you have more...

I can back that up, don't even bother using the LEDs on a defender board
especially the earlier (single decoder) ones as a RAM fail in bank 2 will
not be spotted by the RAM test.

The best plan is to verify them one at a time in a known good Stargate or
later (Roby, Joust, Sinistar or Bubbles) boardset as the RAM test is fairly
good on these.

You can't really test them with anything else since they need the tripple
power supply to run them. You could use a fluke but it's quicker to test
them in working (later game) board than to use the fluke!

If you are really stuck and have no test equipment, the best bet is to
remove them all and add them one at a time till you get RAM errors, but for
this you need to know how the rug would build up on a working one!

No much help I know ....

For my 10p worth if you own a Williams cab the best bet is to run it on
4164 RAM. This only uses +5v and so eliminates the -5v and +12v regulated
part of the PSU so removing two points of failure from the game. They also
run **MUCH** cooler
http://www.robotron-2084.co.uk/techwilliams4164.html

If you do have problems with any Williams board, especially if it's running
the OEM PSU you should be checking the voltages AT THE RAM CHIPS to ensure
you have 0v, -5v, +12v and +5v. Be careful doing this though as if you
short the -5v to a data line you WILL blow one of your decoders!

FWIW a stuck-in-rug problem is more often caused by the ROM board than the CPU!

For more specific Williams tech help Email me off list.

Dave Langley
www.robotron-2084.co.uk

 

[andyrcole]

RE: [ukvac] Tech help :- Defender CPU board
Not that I could help anyway but.....

After getting 2 defenders for peanuts THEN getting a FREE defender, I think
you should jolly well sort out your own problems!!

Andy.