Pacman

Incorrect SYNC on Pacman

Screen filled with coloured lines, unstable, no sync (see above) – check clock signals from horizontal and vertical scan generators (74161’s at 2R,2S,3R,3S) – no signal feeding into pin 2 of horizontal generators. Follow trace back to 7474 at 3N, signal going in, nothing coming out – replace chip and screen display back to normal.

Game basically plays OK, but 4 characters on lower blue wall of maze were incorrect, even through ram tested out OK. Problem was more noticeable when screen flipped for player 2. Using the fluke I identified that the first of the bad characters was memory location $43BF. Writing to $4FBF then showed a character on screen, revealing that the memory select was wrong for these few positions. Checking the memory decode with the comparator showed a problem with pins 9 and 11. Replacing this chip solved the problem.

Similar Posts

  • Frogger (Sega)

    Missing Chip. This was a converted moon cresta board. The IC at 1.2S (shoehorned in sideways between rows 1 and 2 by the sprite ram) was missing. This was not featured on any schematics I had, so I traced the connections to see what it could be. It basically takes the output from the sprite…

  • Lady Bug

    Board ID 8016 : Falcon version ? Static graphics on screen, dead – pin 24 low on Z80, /WAIT signal. Trace signal on board to 74LS74 at E7. Signal incorrect for inputs. Replace with new one, board fixed.

  • Crazy Balloon

    No Sound. Signal at output of SN76477 pin 13, follow through to input of sound amp, then from output until we reach electrolytic capacitor used to decouple  connection to speaker. Signal going in, nothing coming out – replace capacitor sound back to normal. Only drawing a few pixels of player balloon sprite. Following the schematics,…

  • Missile Command

    The board originally failed to get into the game, instead resetting just after drawing the ‘MISSILE COMMAND’ logo. Test mode faired a little better, managing to report RAM OK, MAP OK and ROM OK before resetting. Ram and Rom checked out OK using the Fluke. Measuring various CPU signals revealed that the interrupt seemed very…

  • Mr Do!

    Blank screen, Blanking line to output colour proms always enabled. Trace back to 74161 in timing circuit – output stuck, input clock all look OK – replace chip and picture appears. Blue video only – The video lines are controlled by three transistors near the edge connector, checking these revealed that 2 were not giving…

  • Make Trax

    Boot up with garbage, quickly clears screen and then nothing. Used Fluke with Z80 pod – read rom OK, and write ram OK, but timeout reading any Ram location. Check fluke status and ‘wait’ always set. Check pin 24 of Z80– stuck low, trace back through 7H,7C,6C1 to 6B1 pin 2 – always low, although…