Re: Battlezone question(s)

Mark Jenison

On Mon, 20 Dec 1999, tom mcclintock wrote:

> I've got two Battlezone questions for you guys. First, I picked up a
> "non-scope" version of Battlezone at the Mesquite auction, and it does
> not use the mirror 3/D effect display that the "normal" uprights use.
> The monitor displays straight on. Is there a dip switch setting to flip
> the video signal, or do I have a specific set of ROMs that does not
> display the game vectors in reverse?

Not a dipswitch setting; not likely a jumper setting. Most Atari games
either GND something to make it cocktail or inverse...or else separate
INV X or INV Y outputs are provided (look at the schematics, maybe).
Worst case is that the yoke wires are reversed :-).
 
> Second question touches on why it might not be working... ;)
>
> Got the Battlezone home, and it wasn't working properly (it was at the
> auction). The game would power up just fine, but it was not drawing all
> the vectors. I put the game into test mode, and turned it on, but
> checked out ok in the test mode. Then, with the game on, I put it into
> test mode, and an initial constant tone told me I had a bad RAM at J2
> (or so I think).
>
> RAM, ROM - its all the same, so I popped the boards out, cleaned and
> reseated all the removable chips on the CPU board and the mathbox. Now
> the game won't come up at all! Man I can't win... The lighted Start
> button stays lit, and all I can see on the screen is a very (very) small
> center dot. The CPU, mathbox and deflection boards each have a red lit
> LED (I'm assuming the deflection board LED is telling me I screwed
> something up!)

Other than double checking that the chips you re-inserted don't have
any legs folded over (happens all the time) and that they are facing
the correct direction, I would suggest resoldering all the header
pins which go between the cable that connects the main board to the
aux board; these pins typically have broken solder joints (similar
to what happens to Tempest boardsets). These connections often go
bad and cause all sorts of havoc.

You asked for advice, so here's some; next time a test tells you to try a
specific chip, just replace that chip for starters :-). There's a certain
amount of "regression" testing that you should do with vector boards (ie,
don't try and do too much at once or you won't be able to find your way
back, so to speak).

Mark Jenison
www.enteract.com/~jenison/mars
Received on Mon Dec 20 17:12:33 1999