My wife doesn't appreciate my geekiness so I figured I'd share my cool (in my own mind anyway) solution to my Road Riot problem. At least people here can appreciate it!
Searched all over to find a solution to why the Road Riot board doesn't save it's settings but no one had the answer. Looked through the parts list (no schematics are available for this game) for some form of non-volatile RAM - couldn't find any. Did a search on a couple of odd chips I had and identified one as an EEPROM (remember I asked if anyone had some). Did a search and found that Atari had a habit of storing settings/high scores on EEPROMS on previous games so 1 + 1 = 2 !!!
Ordered the replacement chips on Ebay but couldn't wait (and kids couldn't wait either). So today I took the EEPROM out of the good board (with valid settings), read it on my programmer, doubled the file, reprogrammed on a 2732 EPROM and put that one in the 'bad' board. YAY!!! IT WORKS!!
Obviously the EPROM can't be erased or record any new info but at least the game works now and the kids can play head-2-head.. The controller settings on the board with the 2732 aren't perfect but good enough for now..
I'm kinda proud of myself on this one since this is my first vid troubleshooting experience.
Now I gotta replace both flybacks as they are both cracked and HV is low - therefore monitors are dim. GRAUWULF!!! MORE BUSINESS!!
Thunder Blade is still completely dead though
Mike
Currently owning: ============ MAME in Sega cab with 25" arcade monitor (Has a 12" Bazooka powered subwoofer in it) - Not for sale Williams Civic Center Shuffle Alley (Puck Bowler) (1973) - 350$ Seeburg LS1 "Spectra" Jukebox (1967) - 300$
Currently babysitting =============== Heavy Metal Meltdown SOLD - leaving soon
Previously owned ============= Hot Tip, Countdown, HS, WWF, TFTC, T2, RS, Pinbot, Laser War, LOTR, Flinstones, FH, DM, STTNG, Getaway, Silver Slugger, Laser Ball, Bad Cats, Batman Forever, Meteor, TZ, Galaxy, 6MDM, TSPP, MB.
Cool solution. It's good that you had two boardsets to work from, and it's not really a big deal to reprogram the 2732 when you need to. Did you get the cap kits for the monitors installed already?
Currently Owning: Vids- Road Blasters, Road Runner, Joust, Golden Tee 2005 Pins- Back to the Future, Theatre of Magic, Joker Poker, Grand Tour, Hyperball
Previously Owned: Vids- Far too many to list Pins- High Speedx2, The Shadow, Mystic.
Did the worse one first and it didn't help. I then compared neck PCB voltages while the monitors were on and the 'bad' one's HV was lower by about 50-70 volts so that explains the dim look. I inspected the flyback and noticed it was cracked (common). I then checked the 'good' monitor and it's flyback is also cracked but not as bad. I'll be PMing you
Mike
Currently owning: ============ MAME in Sega cab with 25" arcade monitor (Has a 12" Bazooka powered subwoofer in it) - Not for sale Williams Civic Center Shuffle Alley (Puck Bowler) (1973) - 350$ Seeburg LS1 "Spectra" Jukebox (1967) - 300$
Currently babysitting =============== Heavy Metal Meltdown SOLD - leaving soon
Previously owned ============= Hot Tip, Countdown, HS, WWF, TFTC, T2, RS, Pinbot, Laser War, LOTR, Flinstones, FH, DM, STTNG, Getaway, Silver Slugger, Laser Ball, Bad Cats, Batman Forever, Meteor, TZ, Galaxy, 6MDM, TSPP, MB.
MrMikeman
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