Blast City woes - where to start?

[MoonshineGFT]

Hi folks, first-time candy cab owner here, and as my first thread here at AO, I feel like a disclaimer is necessary before I ask for your precious time and expertise.

I am an avid console gamer, and while I've a deep nostalgic love for arcade games, I've only recently made the jump from admirer to owner with my very own Blast City cabinet.

I do not, however, have any electrical knowledge whatsoever. Wiring diagrams are like ancient egyptian to me, but I am always willing to learn. At present though, I simply want to confirm whether or not my Blast City is in working order, and I have no idea where to start.

I purchased the cab from an arcade vendor in Japan where I live, and was told it was in confirmed operation and maintenance had been done on it. After receiving the cab and setting it up in the storehouse, I plugged in a multiboard (Pandora's Box 5s) and turned it on.

Marquee light comes on, a fan starts humming and the slight crackle of the CRT monitor can be heard. Putting my ear to the speakers I can hear a faint hum. The interior leds on the pcb are glowing through the plastic casing. Everything seems to be receiving power. Other than that, no picture, no sound.

I'd done quite a bit of research before that first failed attempt, so I had made sure that the harness wasn't connected backwards before I first plugged it in (key is in the right place). Since then I've been scouring forums for information, but with so little knowledge about cabs, and electronics in general, I am at a loss at where to begin.

Perhaps it was a bit naive of me to expect it to simply work like plugging a cartridge into a home console, but is there some simple step I am missing? Is it a bad board? Did this vendor sell me a dead cab? Am I using the wrong harness?

If you're willing to assist a clueless newbie, thanks for your help in advance, I really need it.

[cools]

Have you closed all the cab doors?

[yosai]

Other cabs have more than one power switch. Is there one underneath?

[SuperPang]

The door switch kills everything so it's not that.

Try another PCB if you can. Hopefully it's just the Pandora's Box.

[MoonshineGFT]

The door switch has a zip tie holding the button down.
Also, this cab has a power switch on the back, and under the control panel, and both were on.

As for the pcb, I'll have to buy another. I know the one I have seems to be an unoffical chinese knock-off, but I figured as long as it's getting power, I should be able to see or hear something on screen.

[SuperPang]

Not many Pandora's Box owners here to advise on how it should behave or what might be wrong. You should also read up on how to check the 5V from the power supply.

[MoonshineGFT]

You should also read up on how to check the 5V from the power supply.

Thanks, I'll look into it.
Would you recommend I use an original pcb to test it, and not a multi-game one? I got one because it was on the cheap, but I suppose arcade aficionados would say they prefer original pcbs. Are multi-game pcbs not very reliable, or is it because the emulation is poor?

[SuperPang]

The emulation is generally far poorer than a PC you could build yourself.

[mufunyo]

I would just pick up a known working JAMMA test PCB from a member here. For instance there is a £15 Super Volley board for sale here.

[nem]

He's in Japan. It's possible he can just walk down to a store and buy a PCB.

It's possible you might have the dip switches on your monitor set wrong. Pop up the control panel, below the monitor do you have buttons or dials to adjust the monitor? If you have dials, there's three dip switches on the upper right you have to set correctly.

Also, does the Pandora output video from the jamma edge (as opposed to VGA) or is that something that needs to be configured?

[MoonshineGFT]

So I finally got another pcb from a vendor in Japan, a Susume!! Mile Smile board, and tried it out. I get sound now, but no video. Any suggestions?

Under the control panel, there are only three buttons, no switches. How do you set them? I tried messing around with them, but to no avail.

As for the Pandora's Box, I have a VGA cable connected to it, but I believe it is supposed to output video without as well. I've tried without, no change.

[nem]

You have an autosyncing MS-2931 monitor, it's very nice.

The buttons operate an on screen display (OSD), however, you need a video signal for it work. You obviously don't have one. I would start checking connections at this point. If you don't have a multimeter, now's the time to get one!

[MoonshineGFT]

Well thats good to know!

In that case, I hope it's just a faulty connection, and not a problem with the montior itself.

I do have a multimeter. Where should I start checking?

[nem]

Check continuity between the video pins on the jamma connector and the 15 pin AMP input connector on the monitor.

Actually, reading through this thread I noticed that nobody has recommended to check for neck glow. Even though you have crackle from the monitor when turning it on, it doesn't mean it's staying on. So before doing anything check that the monitor is actually operational. Pop out the back cover, turn on your cab and check that you have a dim light in the neck of the CRT.

[MoonshineGFT]

Sorry, haven't had time to check with the multimeter yet, but I did check through the rear panel for any glow on the neck and found none. Is this bad news?

[nem]

Yeah, that's not good. Is it at least turning on? If it is, it means your chassis is shutting down for a reason or another.

If it isn't turning on at all, check that you're getting proper voltage at the input connector. Pinout is here:

https://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/images/4/49/Ms9pinout.png

[Spectrexcwk]

Pictures / video would probably be a good idea.