Re: Quad pokey frustration, Major Havoc sound problems

On Fri, 2003-10-10 at 09:14, joemagiera wrote:
> I fixed one problem on my Major Havoc board (Gravitar conversion)
> only to plug it back in and presto - no sound. Every MH board
> I've seen has a Quad Pokey Eliminator. No matter how I test the
> pokeys, the MH self test says there's something wrong with that
> chip location. I get pokeys that pass all self tests in another
> Atari vector, pop them on the Eliminator, and it won't pass. The
> game will work (well it used to till tonight), but I'd like to
> see it totally clean in self test. I've never gotten a good self
> test using the eliminator. Has anyone else? How about a Quad
> Pokey chip? Is there such an animal? I know I've heard it
> talked about, but as I said, I've never seen one. Any other
> Atari boards use a quad pokey? Any one got one (or more) to sell
> or can point to a place that does sell them?

There is a Quad Pokey chip.... I have a MH board with one on it.

My MH board is not in a cab or anything now so I don't have a means
to do any selftest stuff to see how QPE vs QP compare self test wise.

I don't know of any other boards that used a Quad Pokey.... maybe
someone else can comment.

>
> Lastly, even with 4 known good pokeys on the Eliminator (still
> bad self test though), I get no sound. Everything else appears
> to be 100% working okay. Speaker is good. Speaker wiring checks
> out. Any ideas what to look for next? Any help/advice
> appreciated. Thanks,

If self test is indicating Pokey problems and you are not getting
any sound.... but you know the Pokeys are good... I'd check the
sockets (especially the one(s) where the QPE plugs in. I'd also
check with a magnafying glass all soldered pins on the QPE and the
mainboard socket where it plugs in. If all this checks out, then
I'd guess that it's something about they are connected to the bus.
Are there bus drivers or bus buffers specifically for the Pokey
(no schematics handy) ???

Also, on the whole connection thing of the QPE to the mainboard, are
you seeing the voltages at the Pokeys ? maybe there is a bad
connection, a toasted trace or something and they aren't getting power.

Good luck,

-- Curt

>
> Joe
> joemagiera@ameritech.net
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Received on Fri Oct 10 11:16:33 2003