Star Wars on a Pat9000

hi all.

I finally got round to making up a lead for my Pat9000 so i could plug it
into my Tektronix vector monitor...

I also borrowed a few program plugs from a friend so i could test the unit
out..

I started with starwars, the pcb that i had worked in the cabinet nearly
every time, but took 5-10 attempts each time to get it to boot up, most
annoying.. I was working on divider errors (not nice) and this problem with
not booting up just wouldn't go away.. i thoguht there was somehtign weird
going on, but i left it and went home, i'd tackle it the next day...

Anyhow, that night i went through some paperwork i picked up in the states
on my recent trip. In amongst it all was a bunch of Star Wars service
bulletins from atari... Plenty of stuff about mods to vector monitors and
all sorts of updates.. Not even remembering the problem i had on the
starwars pcb i started to read through, and blow me down what did i find...

"Main Printed-Circuit Board Component Changes :
C3 has been changed from 39pf to a 100pf capacitor. These changes are in the
12mhz clock circuit and will ensure that the oscillator will start on power
up. Some boards exhibited a power-up problem when tested on the PAT 9000
test fixture."

WOW! so i got to the workshop the next day and immediately changed the cap,
et voila! the damn thing boots everytime now!

I also recieved 2 more tested working pcbs in the post, both of which
refused to boot up at all on the pat. Sure enough, i changed the 39pf cap to
a 100pf and they both work perfectly now..

so anyway, if you use a pat9000 and have experienced the same problem, then
there's the solution! I was amazed what a coincidence it was that i found
the solution without even looking for it, especially as its such a weird
probem i would never have probably worked out how to rectify :)

enjoy

Andy Welburn
www.andys-arcade.com

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Received on Thu Aug 14 13:56:53 2003