Question Of The Week

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Danielle who has a wavy line moving across the screen on her Multicade cabinet. Enjoy!

Question: Hi, I saw your videos on YouTube and I was hoping you could offer a suggestion. I have a Multicade and the screen has a wavy line moving horizontally across it. The game will still play but it is hard to do with the screen. Any Suggestions? There is only 1 person that repairs them here and they want like $600 to check it. I can send you a video if it will help. Thank you, Danielle

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Adam who is wondering if he can upgrade the ROM chips on his Street Fighter 2 arcade board to get more characters. Enjoy!

Question: I'm the same guy you called about the Street Fighter 2 World Warrior game. I just bought this Street Fighter 2 game in a Defender cabinet for $100. I was able to fix the vertical collapse with one of your awesome videos. Now I want to upgrade the ROMs because it would be nice to have a few more characters to play with. When I worked in an arcade in the 90's we would get the roms and replace them in the boards, but I can't remember if it worked for the original Street Fighter 2 game or not. By searching ebay for 'Street Fighter chip' I can find people selling them but I would rather not waste time and money on random purchases if it wont work at all. Here is one of the eBay listings: http://www.ebay.com/itm/street-fighter-2-champion-chip-lot-capcom-used-untested-arcade-game-parts-c1m-1-/151372875535?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item233e86c70f. Any help would be awesome. Thanks, Adam

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Anthony who is getting a lot of the color red on his Call Of The Wild arcade monitor. Enjoy!

Question: Guys, I have looked through your information on your website relating to monitor issues and fixes but I'm striking out. The monitor on this game is very red and washed out with colors. I am unable to find how to adjust the colors or figure out what is causing the issue. It doesn't seem to have any RGB adjustment pots anywhere or I am unable to find them. Can you help or point me in the right direction? I'm fairly proficient with my soldering skills so I'm not afraid of that or using a meter, so please get me any insight you can so I can get this fixed. I believe it's a Wells Gardner CRT. Thanks! Attached is a picture of what the monitor looks like. I know it's not a great picture, but it should give you an idea of what's going on.

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Scott who is having some problems with the joystick controls on an Arch Rivals cabinet he picked up in a storage auction. Enjoy!

Question: Hey there guys. I've been watching a few of your insightful videos and thought you could help me out a little with problem I'm having with my 1989 Arch Rivals arcade cabinet by Atari. The game has mostly original parts and is JAMMA as far as I can tell. I got this cabinet in a storage auction and was so excited when it turned on with working sound when I got it home as I hadn't gotten a chance to test it yet. The coin mechs seem to work and register credits on all 4 of the slots (yes 4 slots for a two player game). The monitor seems to everything lined up and colored correctly but there is a problem with my characters on-screen I am controlling. They like to dance around a bit as if they could move but never leave the corner. I've replaced buttons and one of the joysticks thinking that would solve my problem so far. Everything seems to be react when pressed/moved so I really just want to know how to proceed from here. Any help is greatly appreciated and I'm hoping to attach a short game play video in order to show you what I mean. Thanks in advance, Scott

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Salvador who is having some geometry issues with his flat CRT monitor. Enjoy!

Question: Hello! First of all, your site is great! Thanks for it! I have a problem with a flat monitor I was given recently. The geometry is not okay. It's stretched in the corners, as you can see in the pictures. I tried moving the 3rd set of convergence rings (the farthest to the neck) but it didn't help. Could you please let me know how to fix it? Best! Salvador

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Dave who has an In The Groove 2 (similar to Dance Dance Revolution) arcade cabinet and is experiencing a large amount of static buildup on his replacement CRT TV screen. Enjoy!

Question: I've been slowly restoring a dance machine (ITG 2) and it has a replacement 32" Samsung CRT TV as its monitor. It's been working great and the picture is fine; however, there is an unusual amounts of static building up on it; more than a normal CRT. It's to the point when I make contact with the glass bezel it shocks me for no more than 120v and it makes the screen flicker and interrupts the marquee speakers. I understand the build up ions and static charge and how when I touch it, it grounds and interrupts the electric field and can interrupt sound components. I was wondering if there is a way to minimize or remove the static charge and if I should be concerned. I've tested the outlets and they are grounded properly. I've watched most of not all the monitor videos (haven't performed any repairs myself yet) and I can't recall you guys ever addressing something like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Dave

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Mark who is experiencing some arcing issues with one of the Sharp monitors in his Nintendo Red Tent cabinet. Enjoy!

Question: Hello, I have been watching your videos on YouTube and I'm a big fan of all your work. I have a question about a Sharp 1801n monitor I have from a VS dual red tent system. The system came with one working monitor and one dead monitor. I recapped both monitors and replaced the flyback on the nonworking one as the flyback was cracked and leaking. I tested the HOT and it seems to be working fine but when I hooked everything back up to test the neck board started arcing on the upper portion. I reflowed the solder but it only got worse. What would you recommend I do from here? I was considering desoldering and resoldering all of the neck board joints just in case my reflow work may have not flushed all the joints completely but beyond that I'm at a loss and if it's any of the pieces on the neck board I don't even know where I can get replacements. Thank you for any help you can give, it is greatly appreciated. Mark

Welcome to the Arcade Repair Tips Question Of The Week. This week, we answer a question from Frank who is having some monitor issues with a bootleg Ms. Pac Man/Galaga arcade game. Enjoy!

Question: What a great web site. Lots of useful info and I hope you can help me with a repair problem. A friend of mine bought (in 2005) what seems to be a bootleg Ms. Pac Man/Galaga arcade game nearly identical to this one: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=120755.0. Same Weiya 2820HR chassis, same Panasonic tube A48KXR92X00. I can find no info about the tube. Re-branded maybe? The monitor went blind shortly after. The first thing I found was the HOT exploded. I found a chunk of it in the bottom of the cabinet. The Weiya 2820 specs 56 ohms on the vertical yoke and 2 ohms on the horizontal. I'm reading 3 ohms on the horizontal yoke. My question is: is that enough to fry the HOT after a short period of time? How should I proceed from here? Find a chassis more compatible with the tube, find a tube to suit the chassis, or just replace the HOT and see what happens next? Thank You for your time, Frank