I am currently restoring an atari star wars arcade machine, it is an original 1983 model with the vector monitor.

The machine has and will not be switched on until all power is tested and wiring checked.



First up is the power supply
Spent 4 hours on the power supply the other day when i finished work, here are the results, time well spent i think, i'm happy with it anyway

The main fuse holder was broken so i replaced it with another.

Also forgot to replace the F1 fuse sticker, damn, i will have to look for it in the morning.

If all the photos are a problem please let me know and i will keep them to a minimum.

Before



After



Before



After



I also, cleaned all the wiring.



Tested the power supply, not good.

Here are my readings, only light and fan connected so will be a little higher:





The fault on the 37v line could be the reason the monitor is not working, more investigation needed.



Having not had time to check the power supply again last night today i decided to restore the monitor (cosmetically). The monitor does not work or so i have been told but i have a problem with the power supply which could possibly be the cause.


I cleaned the circuit boards and tube when i got into work this morning.
I didn't want to leave the monitor down at work for too long which gave me an excuse to get it sorted tonight, so when i finished work i stripped the monitor to pieces and went ahead and cleaned it up.

I have misplaced the HV cage, it will either be in the garage here, in my car or the garage at work, that will be going black once i find it.








5 hours later and this is the result...















More soon

Great job you are doing Ste. I can see why you didn't hurl 240v at it straight away. The Smoke Genie would have appeared rapidly I suspect.

Good luck with the rest of the restoration. The pics are no problem. Keep 'em coming please.

Very nice, 30year old electrolytics do tend to dry up and go pop, typical American build it seems, the monitor was bought in, still a nice project to keep your brain working, after our Marine Radio museum was shut down at the fort, we have started a new project, well carrying on , amateur radio at the Lightship Planet, we are still looking home for our radio kit.

That is sooooo cool. The best welcome to WikiWirral's front page I've in ages.

Love it...wish I had your skills, I would love nothing better than to be able to restore pieces like that.
keep the pics coming

nice one ste comeing along now, love the pics

Amazing! My dream hobby! GL with the work!

I would like to find a Williams defender machine,,, any ideas?

I spent an awful lot of money on this machine as a kid and the follow up The Empire Strikes Back believe it was an upgrade for this machine.

Awesome hope you get this piece of gaming history working.

Added to my watched list .. nice job Ste

Thanks guys



Click Here

That was on ebay until yesterday so it may be sold, i can show you how to hack a tv to work in it if you buy it but be aware that these guys do not normally sell off working machines like that for £500 so i reckon the pcbs will be faulty.
They can turn it on for you so you can hear if its working, if they say they can't they are pulling a fast one, still cheap even if its not working.

Done a bit more on this today, restored the fan, restored the pcb anti interference cage and cleaned the wiring in the cab, monitor HV anti interference cage painted black and fitted, fitted monitor and connected all up (i have yet to tidy wiring properly).

Monitor with cage fitted





Fan before



Fan after





PCB cage before



PCB Cage after (painted the sliders green so they are easier to see)



Parts fitted



Cage and fan



Heres the marquee lit up





Turned machine on after putting it back together in test mode.

monitor tube neck lights up and there is a red LED on the right hand panel.

Machine is saying AVG Faulty RAM@...
3P (AVG) VECTOR RAM 2
4M (AVG) VECTOR RAM 4

There are 4 of these chips on the AVG board, then there are 4 main RAM chips but i am presuming they are ok as the machine only pointed those 2 out to be at fault.
(3P AND 4M Are the map numbers on the pcb, an easy way of finding the suspect chips).

It is possible it has circuit protection to cut the monitor out to avoid damage so i think i need to order a set of RAM chips (no point replacing 2 i may as well replace all 4).
Thats going to be a pain.

I haven't looked yet but it is possible they may be on sockets, if thats the case they may just need re seating.

Heres what i'm dealing with, there are 3 pcbs clamped together, these are what they look like, notice the slight corrosion on some of the chips...





More soon

Nice pics Ste, what do you use to clean the components up?

Cheers, i use TFR, a jetwash and a compressor.



You can't do that with the game pcbs though as the tracks are too small and parts are more delicate, you can however soak them in the bath with washing up liquid.

I would wait a while like a month or more or use a cool air blower around those chips, water can take ages to clear and soapy water even longer, it surprises people when you wash electronics, so long as you leave it to dry, the corrosion suggests the chips had no pre tinning and a fibre brush may help,get a magnifying glass and have a look at the chips and pins before unsoldering and replacing, make sure the capacitors across the 5v rails haven't shorted or gone resistive, time is a killer on electrolytes and capacitors and can give you some weird faults, I've been there and done that and can be asprin popping time, good luck, it looks a superb restoration.

Thanks dave, the above picture is for reference, i'm not soaking my game pcbs unless they get sent off for repair.

Finally working...

Wow!!!! is that E.T on the screen Ste ?