Broken (?) Space Invaders cabinet

[Aksen]

Does any flg frequenter know much about vintage arcade machines? I have a cabinet that doesn't like to power on. If anyone is interested in helping, I'll post specifics.

[Silly]

I wouldn't mind offering advice. About all I know, though, is that most of them ran off of really old processors like the 6502 (Apple ][ proc). Post some specifics. Oh, and if you want to give up and unload it on someone, LMK...

[termdec]

Post some specs. I did a good amount of research on things like that when I was designing the MAME cabinet.

[FAngel]

Post the specs..

[Aksen]

Specifications of the machine, I don't know offhand. I have the manual inside the cabinet itself, in the garage.

The problem goes like this...
My uncle won it in a space invaders tournament in the 70s. He moved to New Zealand a while ago and left it at my grandmother's house.
Basically, it laid unused for a long periods of time, it was used maybe once a month or less. One time it was turned on, i tjust displayed garbage and played lots of the sound effects from the game in a garbled mess. Nobody wanted to fix it nor new how, so it just sat around completely untouched for about 4 or 5 years. Finally, I decided to see what I could do about it... but reall yI know nothing about hardcore electronics. I took it home, put it in the garage, and used a whole can of air blowing it out. Then I left it on for two days straight... and afterward it worked!!! For a week. Then it started displaying garbage again. All I really know to do is clean it and leave it on for a long time. If anyone lives in the area and wants to take a crack at it, they can.... I can offer you sandwiches and maybe like ten bucks. I can't sell the machine though, it's like an heirloom or something.

[Chronoglass]

and one hell of an heirloom to have layin around!

an all I got was some flag and a few knives

I feel cheated

[FAngel]

You probally need to have the monitor re-capped. I had a Asteroids Deluxe that had a simular problem. Would work ok, sometimes, then the video would go out. Had a local Arcade game shop re-capp the monitor, and it was like new.
I would call a arcade game supplier and talk to them.

[Aksen]

FAngel:
What does that entail and how much did it cost you?

[FAngel]

They basically pull out the monitor board, and replace all the capacitors on it. It was a few years ago, and if I remember right it was about a hundred bucks.
You also might want to look for any loose connections that you could solder back in place. It could just be a lose connection. Be careful working around the monitor though as it still has energy even if it is unplugged. So work on it on your own risk.

[FAngel]

Hey, post your problem over here as well:
http://www.klov.com/
almost everyone there is a expert arcade reapir tech.

[Aksen]

Oh wow, that looks great! Thanks for all the help, FAngel. The week when this cabinet was working, I swear I spent like four hours a day on it.

[FAngel]

Hey, no problem. Hope ya get it up and running. There nothing like playing an old original arcade game. Ahh, It's bringing back the memories of all the lost quarters.... Or the time when I "found" a whole case of tokens for the local aracade in the mall. I played for weeks...... :)