Re: Battlezone repair question

Hey Jess,

Thanks for the reply. At one point in time, I knew that if the self test
passed, that no tones were generated, but I forgot that of course, when I
started debugging this board. :-)

>Verify Power Supplies
>Verify Reset Line
>Check Clock Lines
>Look for 'constant' data or address lines (this takes experience)

Do you mean stuck bits high or low? Or something else?

>Look for funny data buffers (LS245's)

Same question here, too.

>the Self test can run with only the RAM, the uppermost ROM (addresswise)
and
>functional hardware (vector etc). Try taking out all unnecessary CPU ROM in
case you have
>a shorted address or data line on one of them. AFAIK, the self test screen
will even come
>up find if you take off the AUX board (but you will have a mathbox error).

Makes we wonder if I should simply shotgun the whole CPU section and replace
everything from the CPU through the RAM and ROM. There's not that many
components there to worry about. I just hate pulling out so many chips
because there's always the chance of wrecking a trace on the board. I use a
desoldering station, but sometimes I've still managed to lift a trace when
Murphy is lurking.

You've given me some encouragement. Thanks!

Ok, one last question. I don't know about you guys, but I find it hard to
troubleshoot a game when it is installed in the cabinet. Certainly, that's
a great test bed, but it's way too cramped in there for me. Sometimes I've
bothered to wire up an entire test harness just to debug a game. Do you
find that you do the same, or are you using some technique that makes it
easy to do your testing in the cabinet?

Joel-

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Received on Wed Jan 12 14:19:59 2000