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Asteroids Deluxe from TNT


davyK

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Unpacked and up and running. It's heavy.

Slightly worried - the original palette was damaged and the shipper had put a red sticker on the packaging to accept and inspect.
However apart from a small bit of superficial damage at the bottom of the cabinet it looks fine (it actually could have been done by me wrestling with it.)
Powered it up and one is reminded about old 80's CRT - you have wait 30 secs or so for the tube to warm up!
The image wasn't steady to begin with - the brightness was flickering up and down a bit and the image size was changing slightly. That seems to have settled down - I'm putting it down to the cold (opening the coin door you could feel very cold air inside - it's probably been sitting in warehouse and containers for a month. I've put it into test mode and it's reporting all is OK.
It seems fine now - will keep an eye on it over the next few days. The display is gorgeous but what hits you is the sound - the bass of the thrust and explosions is simply marvellous - have had to turn the volume WAY down - but I can see me turning that up at parties.
What is slightly disconcerting is the noise the tube itself makes. There is a buzz though you don't notice it while playing but I'm going to mention it to the supplier anyhow.
The game itself is glorious to play - beautiful control and interia - they have it set to 2 lives so I need to tinker with dip switches etc.
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Can't wait to see it in action. :thumbsup:

 

Never start up a game that's been at extremely cold temperatures and ALWAYS let the game acclimate (with doors open) to the environment before turning it on. Screen issues were probably cold caps warming up and/or from condensation that formed on everything when you brought it into a warm area.

B&W Vector monitors does take a bit longer to warm up compared to a color raster. 30 seconds is about exactly right.

 

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Hi folks. Sorry for the lack of updates.

 

Pictures first:

 

It seems I can't embed JPGs for some reason?

 

Go here for the pictures :

http://www.davykelly.com/asteroidsdeluxe/sideart.jpg

http://www.davykelly.com/asteroidsdeluxe/livingroom.jpg

http://www.davykelly.com/asteroidsdeluxe/coindoor.jpg

http://www.davykelly.com/asteroidsdeluxe/marqueAndscreen.jpg

http://www.davykelly.com/asteroidsdeluxe/controlPanel.jpg

 

 

As you can see from these it looks great. Up close it isn't perfect - that's expected - but overall it is in great condition.

 

The tube noise is still there but it's not that bad and I have noticed it watching youtube videos of other asteroids cabinets so it's probably normal.

 

However things are not good at this point in time which is why I haven't been posting :(

 

The screen jitter I was experiencing had cleared up. It was playing just fine and then all of a sudden the following things happened:

 

1. At the start of a wave, all of the asteroids appear on top of each other and they always start from the same place (top right)

2. No sounds apart from thrust and explosions

 

Apart from these effects, the game works fine - movement, shields, collisions, killer satellites etc. Score & lives display, high score table, copyright notice. All fine apart from this.

 

If I put it into test mode I get the message "ERROR" bottom middle. According to the manual this is an audio chip failure.

 

So. TNT said to take the logic board out and make sure all the socketed ICs are in place. Tried that with no success.

 

It turns out Asteroids Dx uses the POKEY chip for sound. It also has a random number generator. That's probably being used to position Asteroids at the start of the wave.

 

TNT said to take the POKEY chip out and reseat it. Unfortunately that didn't work either.

 

I have a BallBlazer cart for my 7800 - it has a POKEY chip in it. It isn't a game I like so I opened the cart up and sure enough the chip is there with the same "C" number on it.

 

TNT reckon that should fix it. I need to get someone to unsolder the chip from the 7800 cart PCB and then I can replace it in the socket on the Asteroids Dx logic board. There's a PC/console repair shop close to me who should be able to unsolder the chip OK.

 

I'm really hoping this will sort things out for me.

 

I wish I had read the post earlier about acclimatising the cabinet - I did do that a bit but maybe I should have left it longer. And when I first got it indoors I powered it up for a minute or two just to make sure it was lighting up etc. I'm worried now I have damaged this by powering it up too soon.

 

Todd from TNT is responding to my emails and helping but at distance there is only so much he can do. I know this was always a risk but it's pretty disheartening.

Edited by davyK
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That's the fellow - I have one - out of a BallBlazer cart for Atari 7800 - has the same number.

 

I told TNT I was going to try it and they confirmed it should sort me out. Just picked it up from my local repair shop unsoldered from the PCB it was on.

 

I'll be trying it out this evening when I get home from work.

 

Nervous though - need to make sure I put it in the right way round - TNT have sent me guidance on that.

 

If it doesn't work I'll get onto TNT and see what my options are. I'd like to think TNT would send me one if I needed one. But hopefully I won't need it.

Edited by davyK
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It doesn't have the blue overlay. I'm not sure I'd like it as I think I prefer the white vectors. A matter of taste I suppose. Would be interesting to see it but with vector monitors you really need to see it - videos don't convey the image all that well.

 

Haven't broke 20K yet but I haven't really put in proper play time - more test running it than anything else... It's set at 2 lives as well - need to change to 3.

 

I'm powering it and running it for a couple of hours at a time and playing a few games just to make sure everything is OK.

 

I think it's the rev 2 ROM. The test screen has an extra digit which is probably to indicate easy or hard - not sure whether its in hard mode or not. Anyone know the difference?

Edited by davyK
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  • 3 weeks later...

Couple more pics of my cabinet in it's nominated location.

 

http://www.davykelly.com/asteroidsdeluxe/hall1small.jpg

http://www.davykelly.com/asteroidsdeluxe/hall2small.jpg

 

 

Not all good though. It has malfunctioned again...... :(

 

After some guidance from TNT using a multimeter we have realised the power supply is faulty (giving less that 5v to the game board - only giving it 3.9v). TNT fit a new one as part of their refurb but they say this can happen from time to time. So TNT are sending me a new power supply to fit which only requires the use of a screwdriver. There is a good chance this caused the problem with the POKEY chip too.

 

So - hoping it has done no more damage (the game was working fine and just failed when I powered it up a few days ago). And when I get my new power supply it is all systems go...

Edited by davyK
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Hopefully it is a thorough test of all output parameters and not just a voltage measurement with a DMM.

The board seems to have quite a few connections coming off it. There are 3 connector plugs connecting to it each with several cables - so I suspect it takes quite a few tests - it also has something to do with the sound/amplification too.

Edited by davyK
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I hope that fixes everything!

 

It sounds like they have pretty good customer service.

So far so good. They respond to emails well.

 

I've always said you can only judge a company's customer service by how well they deal with problems. That is when they really show their quality (or not!).

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