Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by CAPnCOM »

Hello everyone. I’m a Capcom arcade fanatic and I’ve got a Sega Astro City just sitting in my house in Tokyo, and I have tried numerous times to get it working, but always gave up in the end— it’s a mess of wires and I’m afraid of breaking something important since I don’t know what I’m doing... Now that I’m quarantined it stares me in the face everyday “Play me, Play me!” and I want to, I desperately want to but I need help! So I joined his forum... hope your great Japanese arcade knowledge can help me. I have some Japanese friends who said they may have some idea, but schedules never lined up and now we are all stuck in our homes when I need it working the most. Help me Arcade Otaku Forum, you’re my only hope!

I’ll get into the issues I am having step by step, but first, a little history on the cabinet, as it may (or may not) shed some light on some of these issues. If you don’t think the known history matters or could care less, please skip to the “issues” section below the history.

———————————
The History of my Sega Astro City

Many years ago, I was living in dorm-type situation just north of Tokyo, and my housemate had a friend who was the previous owner of this cab, but he was moving back to the US or something and sold it to my friend for 5,000 yen (about $50). He said it hadn’t been played in a while but was working, if I remember correctly. It didn’t have any game installed at that time; he had either sold it or was taking the game board back to the US with him to install in a new cab back home... At one point it was running Street Fighter Zero 2 (“Alpha 2” outside Japan), as it still has the game instruction card from that time. Not sure if that was the game he was running or if it was running that game prior to him acquiring it though.

Anyway, to get the thing in the door it had to be separated into 2 large pieces, the screen that is connected to the back and sides of the cab and the controls that are connected to the base. So that meant a lot of wires needed to be unplugged to separate the 2 pieces... eventually we got the thing in my housemate’s room and I helped him reassemble it but this was long after his friend had left, and we didn’t know what wires went where... but he didn’t have a game yet so there was no rush to figure it out. And then it just sat there.... for a couple of years, as he didn’t have money to buy the game he wanted (Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, apparently it was pretty expensive)

After about 2 years passed we both ended up moving out at the same time, he to a small apartment up several flights of stairs (with no elevator) and me to house in Tokyo with decent space (via moving truck), so he gave me his Astro City! That was December 2014, so he must have had it since at least 2012, I guess? So when I moved into my house, once again the cabinet was separated into the 2 pieces to get it in the door, and I got the two halves together but was once again at a loss with the wires.

So it’s just been sitting there... I have tried to figure out how to connect the wires many times, and it seems every time I explored the innards of the beast I found one more obvious connection, though at this point there are a few that remain unsolved. In any case, I knew it was all pointless if I didn’t have a game, and since there are so many I want I ended up buying a package of selectable games called “2019 Games Family” from a Taiwanese Company called Happy Manor in summer 2016 (the “2019” is the amount of games, not the year). It came with instructions on how to hook up the game board (is this what you call a “PCB”?) so I connected the board to a power supplier that came with it, and figured out how to connect the JAMMA harness. I worried about turning the thing on since many wires remained disconnected, so I took photos of all those wires and sent an inquiry to Happy Manor, who was unable to help. They instead got in touch with another customer of theirs in Japan, and told me he said I could call him. So I was on the phone with him and he told me to power it up first and see what happens... I plugged in everything and turned on the cab, but there was no power. He said “something must be wrong” and told me to get in touch with a specific person, “Sonny”, at Happy Manor. Instead the same person I had been talking to handled my inquiry, and said the power supplier must be the problem and I should try another one... but the power supplier was half of the product I bought from them!?! ...now I was just frustrated beyond belief and the cabinet just sat there for another almost 4 years I guess.... and now once again I have decided to try to get it running, because the arcades are closed until this pandemic passes and I’m experiencing arcade withdrawal! Help!
image.jpg
———————————

Issues with my Astro City

So the first and biggest issue is that I get no power. There are 2 plugs to plug in, the cabinet itself and the power supplier for the game board (“PCB”?) attached to the JAMMA harness. I will go into a bit of detail about these individually.

*Power to the Cab
The cabinet has two “ON/OFF” switches, the one on the back of the cab next to the power cord, and another inside on a kind of power box. If I turn both of these on, nothing happens. However, if I look inside the cab, I see no obvious connection from the back of the plug to anywhere else in the cab, so my guess is even if plugged in and turned on, something needs to be connected inside the cabinet to the back of the power cable, but there is nothing obvious that would connect here.
image.jpg
The back side of the cabinet power cord, inside the cab. There are no visible wires going out from this area to either the power box below, the monitor, controls, JAMMA, etc.

*Power to the Power Supplier -> Game Board
There is no obvious “ON/OFF” switch here, so I assumed that if I plug it in it gets power... but after plugging it in there is no movement in the power supplier (the fan doesn’t move, no sound etc.) and thus no movement in the game board (fan doesn’t move, no sound etc.)... the power supplier has options for 115v or 230v so I have it set to 115v. Japan is 100v but I assume 115v should be no problem as I have 110v guitar amplifiers that run fine in Japan.
C1A2BEB2-3EFE-4E70-8724-118F98E4F58F.jpeg
Although I am pretty sure there is no ON/OFF switch on the power supplier, the instruction manual reads as follows:
“SYSTEM OPERATION: 1. Switch on machine power and ATX Power Supplier (DO NOT press switch at bottom of main board. The system will start automatically in 3 seconds). After 90 seconds the game list will show on screen.”
...I couldn’t find a switch on the either power supplier or the main board, however.


This has gotten pretty long and I’m not even sure if anyone can help yet, so without going into detail about the other issues (wires that remain unconnected, etc.) I will stop here for now.

Any ideas?
Hope someone can help!!
All the best,
CAP’n COM AKA MUD
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by nem »

CAPnCOM wrote: May 5th, 2020, 10:28 amimage.jpg
The back side of the cabinet power cord, inside the cab. There are no visible wires going out from this area to either the power box below, the monitor, controls, JAMMA, etc.
There's your problem. The other end of the harness in the red circle (AC INPUT) should be connected to the outputs of the noise filter (marked with arrows):

astro_ac_wiring.jpg

Here's a pic of the harness:

astro_ac_wiring_2.jpg

Top one goes to AC INPUT (which you have connected), bottom ones go to the noise filter. You can leave the green wire (earth ground) disconnected for now, we'll figure that one out later.
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by CAPnCOM »

Thanks so much for your reply, nem!

OK, I was wondering where those pink and gray wires went. And I was pretty sure something would hook up to those prongs, the noise filter, as it seems to be called. The ground is already connected to a screw inside the cab. So of the 3 prongs on the noise filter, the pink and gray attach to the left and right sides, the center remains empty? Which side is the pink and which side is the gray?

So I suppose that solves the issue of getting power to the cabinet. Anyone have any ideas why the power supplier/game board get no power? Anyone familiar with this type of system?
9CF321AA-4683-4945-9BC0-13663DFA75C7.jpeg
Thanks for your help!!
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by nem »

CAPnCOM wrote: May 5th, 2020, 4:20 pmThe ground is already connected to a screw inside the cab.

Yes, but you should have an earth ground connection go to the back plate too. Your back plate is then earthed to your household earth.

So of the 3 prongs on the noise filter, the pink and gray attach to the left and right sides, the center remains empty? Which side is the pink and which side is the gray?

Center is empty. Technically, the Live side should go to the fuse, but honestly, it won't make a lick of difference, especially if you're using a two prong power cable (everytime you flip the connector you're swapping Live and Neutral). So it doesn't matter which side is pink and which side is gray.

As for the ATX power supply, there needs to be a pin grounded on the 20-pin connector for it to turn on. This could be done with a switch on the game board. There's no power switch on the game board?
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by CAPnCOM »

Thank you for your reply!

I have connected the gray and pink wires to the Noise Filter. Thank you for letting me know about this.
3C3002F2-2A13-4915-86C5-2863305504D2.jpeg
nem wrote: May 5th, 2020, 5:27 pmYes, but you should have an earth ground connection go to the back plate too. Your back plate is then earthed to your household earth.
I’m not sure what you mean by this... happy to figure it out later, but is it possible in Japan we don’t utilize this? (Since most plugs are 2 prong only) If necessary, what would my household earth be?

Regarding the ATX Power Supply issue, I have been searching for a power switch on both the Power Supply and the Main Board, but cannot for the life of me find one. The only switch on the ATX Power Supply is the 115/230v switch, while the Main Board appears to only have Dip switches and pots. Yet there are several computer video connections like VGA, component video, etc. The Power Supply also has several black/red/yellow wires coming out of it, and I have no idea what these are for. These are in addition to the 24-pin connector that obviously connects to the main board... well, the 20-pin connector is obvious, since there is only one way to plug it in, but the remaining 4 pins form a square, and can be inserted in 2 ways.... (see photos below)
8CA82D0F-DFB7-4E23-8B4D-CB65326D0C91.jpeg
The ATX Power Supply with many unknown black/yellow/red wires (also video outputs from main board in background)
477A7EE1-DABC-4027-9A3B-3498EA89F5BC.jpeg
The 4-pin connector. The shapes of the 4 inserts are the same, not opposite as I imagine they should be (square shape for male and female both on upper left and bottom right), so the connection is not obvious. However, if I rotate the male connector (on the left in photo) 90 degrees counter clockwise from the position shown, then the squares line up so it seems easiest to insert, but since there is one other way it can be inserted I don’t have confidence in this connection.
nem wrote: May 5th, 2020, 5:27 pm As for the ATX power supply, there needs to be a pin grounded on the 20-pin connector for it to turn on. This could be done with a switch on the game board. There's no power switch on the game board?
Hmmm, I have no idea which is the ground... all wires are red on the power supply side, but there is only one green wire on the game board side... could this be the ground? However, no, there is no obvious switch on the game board.

Yet, I did find in the manual a description of the parts on the main board, there is 5-wire connection of which one wire is labeled “GND” (while the other 4 wires are Buttons 5 & 6 for Players 1 & 2)... could this ground wire need to be grounded to turn it on, or since it is connected to the main board and not the 20-pin connector is it unrelated?

I apologize for the many questions, but thank you so much for your help!
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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CAPnCOM wrote: May 6th, 2020, 6:23 amI’m not sure what you mean by this... happy to figure it out later, but is it possible in Japan we don’t utilize this? (Since most plugs are 2 prong only) If necessary, what would my household earth be?
Depending on the building's age it's certainly possible. If you don't see an obvious earth ground connection, then don't worry about it.
The Power Supply also has several black/red/yellow wires coming out of it, and I have no idea what these are for.
It's a PC power supply. They're meant for different PC components (hard drives, GPUs, etc). You can just bunch them up and put a twist tie around them.
Hmmm, I have no idea which is the ground... all wires are red on the power supply side, but there is only one green wire on the game board side... could this be the ground? However, no, there is no obvious switch on the game board.
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to ... hout-a-PC/

This is how it's done. Unplug the PSU from the game board. Try the jumper trick and see if the PSU is actually working (= fan turns on). If it turns on, DO NOT hot swap the 20-pin connector to the game board. It's just a means of testing the PSU.
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by CAPnCOM »

Thank you nem!

I tested the PSU with that method on the 20-pin connector and it is indeed working (the fan started running). So that means there is an issue with the ground connection on the game board?

In my previous post I mentioned the 4-pin connector can actually be inserted in 2 different ways (as long as the square shapes line up on the female and male sides), is it possible that plugging this in the wrong way could have something to do with it?

Also I mentioned in my previous post a separate wire that comes out of the game board labeled “GND” which I haven’t connected. The image from the manual is below.
1A28C607-1EA9-4C1B-AFF8-BA8DD3535D29.jpeg
Could this be related, or likely not?
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by nem »

I think what's likely is that the PSU you have connected to it now is not one that was originally meant for it.

Anyway, you need to work out a way to have pin 16 (PS_ON) grounded. There's a multitude of ways to do this, some better than others. An easy way would be to remove of the sheathing on the wires that goes to pin 16 and a GND pin, wrap a small jumper cable around them and put tape over the connection. Basically what you need to do this what you did before, but do it with the connector connected to the game board AND make it permanent.

As for the 4-pin connector, the ones you're holding in your hand in the last photo, are not meant to connect to each other. You can tell by the shape of the connector. They're not matching. They might fit together, but they're not meant to.

EDIT: what do the dip switches do? There should be a part dedicated to them in the manual.
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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Thanks again for your response.

Well, both the game board and the power supply came as a package from the company I bought it from, so I just assumed they would be compatible...

The dip switches are apparently for menu options only.
Here is a link to the manual for my system:
http://www.vadership.com/wp-content/upl ... Manual.pdf

I also found a lot of great resources from https://retroactivearcade.ca/ which I didn’t know about until searching for “2019 in 1 Games Family”, as the Hong Kong company I bought the thing from in 2016, Happy Manor, seems not to exist anymore.
Retro Active Arcade had a lot of videos about this unit, and it seems there are new versions of this board, and the one I have now is considered “obsolete”. Anyway, it’s what I have, so if I can get it working, I want to. I found out that, as you stated, I don’t need the 4-pin connector to the PSU— I should only use the 20-pin. When I plugged it in before I had the 4-pin connected, so, could that have been a problem? Apparently on this double-deck board, the power supply is needed to power the bottom and the the top board gets power from the JAMMA... previously I didn’t have power to the cabinet, as you know, and thus no power to the JAMMA. Is it possible that the bottom wouldn’t accept power without the top board being powered up?

Sorry, I am completely new with this stuff. The simple question is, before going into surgery on the power supply, is it worth trying to power this up again, first turning on the newly connected cabinet and then the PSU with only 20-pin connector, or is it not going to make a difference?

RetroActive Arcade also has written in red bold all-caps that “AN ATX POWER SUPPLY OF AT LEAST 300W IS REQUIRED FOR THIS BOARD” — I can’t find a wattage on the ATX power supply they gave me so I wonder if it isn’t enough?
(link to the page for later version of my game board on RetroActive Arcade: https://retroactivearcade.ca/products/x ... ma-board-2 )

Thanks again for your help... I feel I’m getting closer and closer.
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by nem »

Yes, connect it normally before doing any modding. Power on the cab and see what happens.

It's absolutely possible you could have blown something connecting the 4-pin connector. Hopefully not though!
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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nem wrote: May 7th, 2020, 3:26 pm It's absolutely possible you could have blown something connecting the 4-pin connector. Hopefully not though!
Yeah I’m a bit worried about that... it seemed that they were supposed to be connected— wish I found the info they were not supposed to be a lot earlier. Anyway, I’ll give it a shot what happens...

One question first— again, I apologize for my lack of knowledge— there is the ON/OFF switch on the back of the cab and another on the power box inside the cab (with the AC input), do I turn both of these on and does the order matter? For example, flip both of those switches and then plug in the PSU/game board? Should I wait to get a response from the cab first?

Lastly, if the cab functions and the board does not, can I just turn the switches OFF without damaging anything? Even if the board does function, but there is some other problem (for example monitor connection is bad and I can’t see anything on the screen etc.), is if OK just to turn off/unplug this equipment or is there a proper way to “shut down”? Sorry for the dumb question but I want to make sure I don’t damage anything.
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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CAPnCOM wrote: May 7th, 2020, 4:04 pmOne question first— again, I apologize for my lack of knowledge— there is the ON/OFF switch on the back of the cab and another on the power box inside the cab (with the AC input), do I turn both of these on and does the order matter?
You have to have both turned on. They're wired in series. Order doesn't matter.
For example, flip both of those switches and then plug in the PSU/game board? Should I wait to get a response from the cab first?
That's fine, yes. There won't be much of a response from the cab before powering on the game board. The marquee will possibly light up and you will hear static from the monitor.
Lastly, if the cab functions and the board does not, can I just turn the switches OFF without damaging anything? Even if the board does function, but there is some other problem (for example monitor connection is bad and I can’t see anything on the screen etc.), is if OK just to turn off/unplug this equipment or is there a proper way to “shut down”? Sorry for the dumb question but I want to make sure I don’t damage anything.
You can just turn off everything.
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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Well, I’m happy to report that I got power to all units. First I turned on both switches on the cab, and nothing seemed to happen... so then I plugged in the ATX power supply and after a few seconds the light on the game board turned on and I noticed both fans were moving. The cabinet, however remained with a blank screen.

The only signs of life in the cab were that if I put my ear up to it there was a slight hum, and if I put my ear up to the speaker there was static, as though they were connected and getting power... so I think the best case scenario is that something is not connected to the monitor etc., as there are still a few unsolved connections, so that’s the next step (Worst case scenario is the monitor or something else is simply busted, hope not!)

So on to the next step... here are three of the unsolved connections... Hope someone can figure out what they are.
image.jpg
1. The one on the left has what looks like 15 little faces, but wires are only fed into 9 of the 15 compartments. Looks like the other end probably goes to the JAMMA, but it’s hard to tell.

2. The middle one has 10 male connections, and this is snaked with the JAMMA harness and thus situated in a position as if it should also connect to the game board, but I see no connection for this...
I have a feeling the other end goes up to the controls, because the wires are the exact same colors, terminating at another 10-pin male connector. Nothing is connected to the other side either. (See photo below)

3. The unsolved connection on the right side in the above photo Is the long one with 34 holes, but only 8 wires are fed into it. These can be traced back to the bottom rows of buttons for 1P and 2P (the 8 wires being 6 buttons and 2 grounds, I believe), so I believe this is what is referred to as a “kick harness”... even if I am correct about that I am not sure where to connect it. Referring to a photo of the Game board manual I posted before, there are wires coming out of the game board for Players 1 & 2 Buttons 5 & 6 so I suppose those might go into the appropriate color terminals, but then P1 and P2 Button 4 is still inactive, isn’t it? Anyway, if this isn’t related to my monitor issue, I can worry about this one later....

Below is the photo of where wire set #2 in the photo terminates.
image.jpg
So nothing is connected there, the 10-pin empty slot on the right, so I’m not sure what it’s for.

I should also note, that the connection on the left in this photo, a 4-pin connected, is one that I figured out myself, so I am not sure if it is correct, but inside the cab I found an unconnected 4-pin connector, and I noticed the wires were the same colors, so I thought it was correct... I’ll post a clearer photo of the two ends again below.
image.jpg
Th final unknown connection are two wires (gray and pink) that someone connected to the corresponding wires on the JAMMA harness. They are quite long, and upon checking the JAMMA layout they are 10L, “Sound (+)” and “Sound (-)”, which makes sense because another connection that I figured out were another set of gray and pink wires that went up toward the speakers. But maybe I don’t need to worry about this until I get to a point where there is no sound where it should be.. for now I suppose the next step is just seeing if anything is disconnected that needs to get the monitor working....

I should note that on the Retro Active Arcade site/ YouTube videos about my game board, it was mentioned that a connection to the VGA connector on the game board was necessary, but I have no way to connect this that I can tell... would make sense though since I have no video, perhaps?
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by thegreathopper »

No 3 is a Capcom CPS2 and CPS33 kick harness, come on you being a Capcom fan should know that. :awe:

It’s for the 3 kick buttons in Street fighter etc. It won’t affect if your cab is working or not.
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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thegreathopper wrote: May 9th, 2020, 10:38 am No 3 is a Capcom CPS2 and CPS33 kick harness, come on you being a Capcom fan should know that. :awe:

It’s for the 3 kick buttons in Street fighter etc. It won’t affect if your cab is working or not.
Well, as I wrote, I assumed it was for the kick buttons, so I guess I was right, then, wasn't I? But I still don't know how to connect it... But as it doesn't affect the issue of getting nothing on screen etc. I better worry about the other things first, thanks.

Anyone have ideas about #1 or #2 unsolved connections from my previous post, or in general what could be the problem?

Getting a bit closer each time, so I have hope I will get this running.... Many thanks in advance!!
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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CAPnCOM wrote: May 9th, 2020, 8:55 am1. The one on the left has what looks like 15 little faces, but wires are only fed into 9 of the 15 compartments. Looks like the other end probably goes to the JAMMA, but it’s hard to tell.
That should be connected to the monitor. The monitor connector is in a slightly cumbersome spot though. It's on the left hand side of the monitor frame when looking at the cab from the front. Use your phone or a mirror if you're trying to plug it in reaching through the service door opening. Alternatively, remove the monitor surround / bezel.

Anyway, it supplies both power and the video signal to the monitor. Best to start with that one ;)
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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CAPnCOM wrote: May 9th, 2020, 10:45 am
thegreathopper wrote: May 9th, 2020, 10:38 am No 3 is a Capcom CPS2 and CPS33 kick harness, come on you being a Capcom fan should know that. :awe:

It’s for the 3 kick buttons in Street fighter etc. It won’t affect if your cab is working or not.
Well, as I wrote, I assumed it was for the kick buttons, so I guess I was right, then, wasn't I? But I still don't know how to connect it... But as it doesn't affect the issue of getting nothing on screen etc. I better worry about the other things first, thanks.

Anyone have ideas about #1 or #2 unsolved connections from my previous post, or in general what could be the problem?

Getting a bit closer each time, so I have hope I will get this running.... Many thanks in advance!!
You connect the kick harness directly to a CApcom CPS board, unless you have one you just leave it hanging like in your picture.

Good luck getting this cab working, I have been working on mine the last couple of days and it’s great when you can play. :D
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

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Thanks so much for the replies!! Thanks to your help I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! It’s been over 5 years with this cab sitting in the corner of the room and not running!
nem wrote: May 9th, 2020, 11:01 am That should be connected to the monitor. The monitor connector is in a slightly cumbersome spot though. It's on the left hand side of the monitor frame when looking at the cab from the front. Use your phone or a mirror if you're trying to plug it in reaching through the service door opening. Alternatively, remove the monitor surround / bezel.

Anyway, it supplies both power and the video signal to the monitor. Best to start with that one ;)
I can’t believe I didn’t notice that connector before!! Yes it is in a cumbersome spot, but I thought searched the cab inside and out. Can’t believe I didn’t notice that. Well, thanks so much— it is now plugged in. Do you think I can give powering it up another shot then, without that #2 connector being attached to anything? I guess this next try could be the moment of truth...
thegreathopper wrote: May 9th, 2020, 1:10 pm You connect the kick harness directly to a CApcom CPS board, unless you have one you just leave it hanging like in your picture.

Good luck getting this cab working, I have been working on mine the last couple of days and it’s great when you can play. :D
I don’t have a Capcom CPS board, I have a “2019 in 1 Games Family” double decker board, and it has wire connections for buttons 5 & 6 for both players but nothing for button 4, so I’m not sure how that works... but I will cross that bridge later I guess. First I need to see if I can get power to the monitor. Very excited and a bit nervous!
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nem
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by nem »

CAPnCOM wrote: May 9th, 2020, 4:45 pmDo you think I can give powering it up another shot then, without that #2 connector being attached to anything?
Absolutely. The #2 connector is an auxiliary control panel connector. You could use it for buttons 5 & 6 if you wanted to.

As for button 4, that's already on the jamma harness. You might need to wire it to your control panel, but we'll cross that bridge later.

Plug it in!
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Re: Please Help Me Get My Astro City Working!

Post by CAPnCOM »

Welp, as I feared, there was no change. I thought that monitor connector may have been the solution to getting the magic on the screen, but I got nothin’. So I’m not sure where to go from here...

I should mention that the power box inside the cab doesn’t seem to make any sound, so maybe power isn’t even getting that far? I connected the pink and gray wires to the top of the noise filter on the left and right, is that enough? Perhaps the ground is an issue? Would the whole system not function if the ground to the backplate was not connected?

I’m not sure what other problem there could be, besides years of just sitting around and some parts are just dead and no longer working or something? I have no idea, but I also have no knowledge about these machines in the fist place, which is why I turn to all of you... I hope I haven’t come to a dead end. Any ideas??
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