racketboy.com

so i have recently obtained an arcade cabinet for a mere hour of my time repairing some ones network and computer. bo be honest i still dont know what i did to make it all work right for them....

any ways....it does not power up at all what so ever when it is plugged in, i have a friend that personally knew the previous owners (not the person i obtained the cabinet from) and stated it WAS in a working condition at one point in time.

i have absolutely no knowledge on arcade cabinets at all what so ever....for crying out loud i didnt even know what a JAMMA was, which i kept seeing mentioned in other cab threads all over the internet until i seen it was a PCI like card that the buttons and joy stick seemed to be plugged into (a button interface interpreter for the game is what im assuming it is?).

Now im no slouch when it comes to PC components and/or console hardware modifications, tho i have fried my fair share of systems durring the learning process (best way to learn is hands on for me). So this should not be a major issue, i hope to learn the structure and functions and things of that nature for an arcade cabinet.

I have located the Preliminary owner/operator manual for the game that is supposedly in the cabinet which is gaplus/galiga3, which is located here:
Tiny URL Preview: http://preview.tinyurl.com/ahpdy3o
Tiny URL direct link: http://tinyurl.com/ahpdy3o
(i tiny URL'd it because the whole link does not want to copy paste as an entire link for some reason)

How ever as i am not familiar with arcade cabinets like AT ALL WHAT SO EVER or what any of the terms and such are for them, i was hoping you friendly folks here at racketboy who seem to have a wide array of experience in any thing retro video game related would be able to help me get this machine up and operational.

this is what i do know about the cabinet.....
its obviously not the original cabinet that the game should be in....as a matter of fact its in some kind of NEO-GEO cab that DOES NOT say MVS on it (i was reading else where and seen an image of an MVS cab this is not an MVS) all it says in the location of the buttons is Neo-Geo system SNK no MVS at all.

the alleged game that is in the cabinet is supposed to be either gaplus (from my readings there is an expansion card for gaplus that makes it say galaga 3?)

the game is COMPLETELY unresponsive lights and all when it is plugged in.

so would you guys be so kind as to help a noob in a completely different world of games make their new machine work properly?

is there some kind of wiki or something that can explain the different components of an arcade cabinet to me what they do their functions ect. ect. so i can familiarize myself with what exactly i am dealing with?

soo lost and do not know where to start exactly...all i know is the end result i want and that is to play what ever game (hoping gaplus) is in this cabinet

here is a photo of the cabinet i can/will post more images shortly once i take them as well as point out things i find suspicious about it....perhaps it may lead you guys to some conclusion as to what exactly is keeping me from playing it.

hi mate , its seems theres something wrong with the Power Supply Unit in the Cab or the Wiring to it.

My Sega Astro City had a problem where the Monitor would not power on but the Lights turned on , i got the Monitor Chassis repaired and now its up and running again.

Theres a couple of Pro forums you can hit for some help if no one here knows whats up.......


checkout

http://www.arcadeotaku.com/

and

http://shmups.system11.org/



chat soon

s8n

s8n wrote:http://www.arcadeotaku.com/

this site and their antispam question is frusterating the hell out of me it keeps asking one of the 2 following:

What is the Japanese term for a vertically orientated monitor or game?

and

How would you pronounce AO in the international phonetic alphabet?

neither of which i know the answer to and it keeps asking the same 2 questions

i did sign up at the shumps site tho perhaps they have some ideas

korn16ftl3 wrote:What is the Japanese term for a vertically orientated monitor or game?

"Tate", probably, or "tateshiyouji" (たてしようじ・縦使用時). Tate is pronounced as 'tah-teh.'

How would you pronounce AO in the international phonetic alphabet?

Ou- as in 'ouch', 'how', 'cow', etc.

To answer your question about Gaplus/Galaga 3, I'm a huge fan of that game.

Gaplus is the Namco-assigned name for it, they originally made it. However, when Bally/Midway licensed it, they originally kept the Gaplus name. Gaplus Flyer

Something happened, perhaps they wanted a more marketable name for the US market, something that we'd recognize, then they switched it over to Galaga 3.

That cab is something weird. I've never seen a Neo Geo control panel on a non Neo cabinet before.

If it isn't powering on, I would definitely check the power supply and the wiring related to it, as well as the actual plug condition.

If it helps, I also located a PDF of the Gaplus arcade manual, that would explain the inner workings of the machine. Download here

ExedExes wrote:That cab is something weird. I've never seen a Neo Geo control panel on a non Neo cabinet before.

It's a conversion. Unfortunately there are plenty of those floating around... (usually not vertically orientated cabs, though!)
That's a dynamo cab.

Like everyone said, if you're not getting any response when you flip the switch, then it's likely an issue with the power supply.

maybe this video can help you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idievP6zuyY

EllertMichael wrote:
It's a conversion. Unfortunately there are plenty of those floating around... (usually not vertically orientated cabs, though!)

im assuming this makes it something rather unique then?

That's a dynamo cab.

even if it was in a piss poor shape as possible i would have still snagged it up
always wanted to make a mame or own my own functional cab before.
just out of curiosity what makes it "dynamo" as you would say? Like i said im a noob with cabs and would love to know the do's and donts for purchasing one (if i so choose to again) in the future.

Like everyone said, if you're not getting any response when you flip the switch, then it's likely an issue with the power supply.

maybe this video can help you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idievP6zuyY

i have already seen a few discrepancy's from how he is describing the PSU should be hooked up VS the cab i have now..... i will post images here shortly after running errands, maybe its just a game specific pin out or something?

the PSU that is in this thing how ever is in fact the smaller one he shows in that video......but the AC cord runs to a few other components before it go's to the PSU.....like i said ill take some pics post them and comb threw the schematics of the board and such see if i can not spot any thing, as well as check every thing with a multi-meter

thanks once again for all your feed back and for pointing me in some direction other than me staring at this thing not knowing the first place to start with it it really is much appreciated.

Be careful the tube may still have high voltage even unplugged
Since the cab is already gutted to a conversion of sorts, the restore value is not here. That is okay since the decision will be easier to "destroy mod it" and get more use out of the cab. Maybe MAME it with an inexpensive desktop or mini tower inside? Throw in a large 4:3 CRT Monitor or even a 4:3 LCD Monitor to fill in the glass? There is only one speaker in the cab, easily replaced by a set of amplified speakers mounted at the inside top. Go nuts and use the existing controllers; mod the coin drop buttons to work as "coins" in the Mame Menu.

Think of all the two player and twinstick games you could add to it with the already installed NEO controllers.

Oh and please take a better pic to post in your OP with a decent camera. Does not have to be larger, just a sharper pic to admire the details.

Be careful the tube may still have high voltage even unplugged

+1 on this , you need to Discharge the Monitor check this link below...............


http://www.stickycarpet.com/pinx/md.html

CRTGAMER wrote:Be careful the tube may still have high voltage even unplugged

should i do this just trying to figure out the issue? at the moment i just want the one game in it to work im kind of excited to play it as i really do enjoy SHUMP games personally

Oh and please take a better pic to post in your OP with a decent camera. Does not have to be larger, just a sharper pic to admire the details.

ya i only have my crappy 3.1 megapixel phone camera to work with at the moment ill see what i can do about getting better and more clearer picture.....tho there is not much detail the cabinet seems pretty well beat to death LOL