Tempest

[Jase]

Ok, so here's the history...

I bought this machine as one with what appeared to be a monitor fault. It played blind.

Then after a while it just stopped playing at all, and the spot killer would sometimes be on, sometimes not.

Since then I've installed an LV2000. Now if you power it up you get nothing on the screen, the spot killer is on, and a continuous low tone.

If you flip it into test mode, you get a higher pitched tone each time you hit the tilt switch.

From what I can make out, it seems the mathbox is fecked, is this correct?

And if so, where do I go from here? Please HELP!

I'm dying to get this working.

strognauted2013-02-03 21:53:35

 

[Equites]

You could start by testing voltages, and go from there.

 

[guddler]

If it were ONLY the mathbox then the machine would come up and in test mode it would display something that says so (sorry, off the top of my head I forget if it's M, or what).

Given the monitor didn't used to work, and you now have a blank screen, I'd say it still doesn't (sorry to state the obvious!), but if you're now getting a low tone on boot from the PCB when it's not in test mode then you now have further problems.

As Equites says, start by confirming that all of your voltages are good, measured on the PCB. So that's not just the +5v but all of them. Once you know that, then stick with the board in test mode and go back to working on that monitor until you get the monitor working and can see a picture from the test mode. Obviously to do that, you're going to need to know if the board is producing a good picture in the first place.

Are you getting a beep from any buttons other than tilt? Fire or start buttons for instance? If you are then I'd say it likely IS producing a good picture.

After checking all the voltages are good on the PCB then the first thing I would do is connect something else up to the PCB to verify it's producing a good picture. Either another spare monitor (a B/W vector will do if you have one - as long as it's a standard WG or Electrohome), or a scope if you don't have one. If you don't have either then you're pretty much going to have to pop that monitor onto a workbench and go over it blind using schematics and / or a troubleshooting guide.

guddler2013-02-04 00:45:34

 

[DanP]

Hitting the tilt switch is used to toggle through tests iirc. I'll have a look at my Tempest later and confirm although it may be different according to the rom version. Do you know what version roms you're running? It's always useful to look at the self test using MAME to see what it should look like. Some Atari games have a tone in test mode I think. It will change tone when you hit a button(s).

Dan

 

[Equites]

Hitting the tilt switch is used to toggle through tests iirc. I'll have a look at my Tempest later and confirm although it may be different according to the rom version. Do you know what version roms you're running? It's always useful to look at the self test using MAME to see what it should look like. Some Atari games have a tone in test mode I think. It will change tone when you hit a button(s).

Dan

Be aware though, that as Dan states, differing ROM revisions have differing test screens. I should know, caught me out.

 

[Jase]

Thanks for the advice peeps. I'll be giving it a look tonight. I've downloaded a couple of really good troubleshooting guides so hopefully I might get somewhere with this sometime soon!