How to fix a dead arcade game #2 - Troubleshooting a Craigslist purchase - Pole Position II - Atari

[@sjntube]

Best arcade channel EVAR! Miss ya John. We need ya back!

[@johnathanpetty2806]

i absolutely 10000% agree we NEED John's arcade back

[@stevendegreef93]

9 minutes in, and a "repair guy" is commenting on a previous "bad" repair, whilst not knowing the difference between "in series" and "in parallel" himself? Omg, holden my breath while continuing ;-)

[@ericdefronzo8076]

bought one today a dedicated pole position 2 from craigslist excellent shape. Was the same blown fuse works great

[@RobertGuido]

John totally inspired me to go out and get my first Dead game and every game that I picked up have been dead games and I've been able to revive them at least in part

[@pinballdan]

John..Leave the 2 fuses like they have it cause 25 amps is too much for the one fuse holder and they always fail because of the high current! So just put a 10 amp slow blow in one holder and a 15 amp slow blow in the other..Might have a weak 25 amp bridge also will make it draw more current and should be changed out to a 35 amp bridge anyway! I have seen the connectors on the bridges get shot from the current and burn up also!Love me some test track!!!

[@pinballdan]

Yep...The one fuse holder with a 25 amp fuse is way too much current & they always burn up the fuse holder & replacing the bridge with a 35 amp one is a must also otherwise its just a matter of time before the 25 amp one fails from too much stress..Had too many PP's back in the days....

[@TortureBot]

Lol. You replied to yourself a year later... hehe.

[@onji]

John, I freakin love these craigslist pickups. You trying to solve the issue in real time with us is very cool. Thanks

[@konkeydong6494]

+onji Real time? 😂😂😂

[@ChezArcade]

Score! Man, I haven't had a dead game or cheap game in awhile. Wow, that's a lot better looking game than I thought it would look like too!

[@exhstbearing]

New subscriber. Love these how-to vids.

[@Johnsarcade]

+exhstbearing thanks!

[@redrocket763]

Pole Position I or II, doesn't matter, I could either watch someone play it or play it myself ALL DAY LONG! Greets from the UK BTW =)

[@ErikLachance]

i Think they relocate the speaker for more air flow (like a PC to suck air from the front) and check the audio amp circuit board look burn 9:28

[@pkretsch]

Dang, this reminds me of how I saw an After Burner II at the Ann Arbor Reuse Center a few months ago. Cabinet was in great condition but it wouldn't power on, so they were selling it for $150. I was sorely tempted, but my lack of electronics knowledge and space at home kept me from picking it up. Someone wound up buying it a few days later, so I hope they gave it a good home!

[@ChadLuciano]

Good rule of thumb before replacing a fuse is to determine whether it was a short, overload or over-voltage...fuses, breakers, overcurrent protection devices when open indicate a fault and faults in electrical can lead to fire, damages and death.

[@JoeCnNd]

MIght have blown with the previous owner fiddling with the edge connector.

[@Mamiya645]

My fave "it was just a fuse" was a guy in town buying a vintage synthesizer for €250, replacing the fuse, and that €250 purchase becoming a €2500 value fully working rarity in minty condition within minutes of opening it.

[@augustjosh77]

I loved that game as a kid .. was so hard though …

[@neojeets]

When I saw the vid was only around 25 minutes, I had a feeling something would go John's way right at the start. Nice pickup!

[@Chudhole]

Speaker mod was for vibration on your foot. It's smart. Maybe put a heavier one in. I would keep this game.

[@alicyjinx8923]

I grew up playing this and all kinds of other Namco games through Namco Museum on PS2. One of the first games I ever owned :)

[@drizzt186]

Wow Awesome video John! It's amazing that's all it took to fix it. The Suzuki track looks likes its the most challenging of all the tracks . Keep up the awesome work John

[@jonathannagle86]

Great Pickup. I find that PPII is much harder than PP1. Looks like your ARII and Power Supplies will provide great future Tech Videos. Your Restore videos inspired me on my first pickup last year, a pretty beat Pole Position, but I really enjoyed restoring it to like new condition. Keep up the great work!

[@stephenwarhurst6615]

Nice find easy fix hope the last owner don't see this he be kicking himself in the head

[@craiggilchrist4223]

+Stephen Warhurst lol i said the same, but i doubt someone with a picture of jimmy saville as his profile pic can be taken seriously. Disgusting.

[@thunderroad7289]

I wish you lived in my area. I have a golden tee that the screen stop working you can still hear the game play but no picture. The fuse is not blown and the tube is not glowing red orange on the end. No one around here wants to work on them. I would like to have every dollar I spent playing pole position and pole position 2 lol . I played those racing games at the arcade all the time like crazy lol

[@Tron1731]

did you see the burnt resistor on the sound board ? I did nice game fix it before it takes out more components.

[@rtunison7]

Mine had the same fuse blown, but it was caused by the bridge rectifier that was shorted

[@SunOfRa]

Can't stop watching your videos. Totally awesome dude. THANK YOU!

[@dannydodd4452]

Is there a follow up video replacing the “big blues?”

[@DGPG35]

If there is a hole cut into the box that the speaker is mounted to then somebody may have done it thinking it would add more bass to the audio (for vibration)..?

[@GavinHaubeltMedia]

Love your videos!! I just bought my first two non-working games and you are helping me try and figure them out! Please keep these troubleshooting ones coming. One of the games I bought is the sit-down version of Pole Position, came with two PCB's so I am hoping I can get one of them working, PS tested fine so going to reset all the IC's next, not sure what to do after. Thanks for the awesome videos!!

[@LudicInterface]

Huge score on that Wells-Gardner monitor John!

[@Bloodyguts75]

You lucky Devil! Grats on the snag.

[@c0pyimitati0n]

I love the look of the Computer Space game.

[@dinkyflix]

This might be the first documented "it's probably just a fuse" craigslist finds that was actually true. And holy fuck John, that picture on the monitor looks brand new! Great find. -jimbodeanny

[@mallcrawlrunner1032]

What happened to the video about the raspberry pie3.. I was half way through and now it's gone

[@nrdesign1991]

Would the game have issues with an inrush current limiter? This could prevent the 25A fuses from blowing all the time. 25A fuses are very beefy for a little game like this imho, having them blow all the time usually indicates that there's something seriously wrong with the unit or its design.

[@dannydodd4452]

Thanks for these videos! It’s my second one I watched today, hoping to get into this, these videos are unbelievably helpful

[@groundcoon800]

I've got a pole position and just fixed the board on the tube at the back of the screen. Now that the screen comes on I just get letters and some numbers. Do you know what that means?

[@chadrose9653]

Hey John, I'm working on a 1981 Galaga machine that wasn't putting out the 5v to the jamma card. I changed out the power supply but am still only getting a blue screen. Fuses all check out, too. Any thoughts?

[@MystiqEevee]

John you should take all the parts from your pole position and put them on the Craigslist pole position and keep it put it in the basement or you could always have pole position one and 2 :)

[@JoeCnNd]

I wonder if the fuse was for the fan mod?

[@Jasons_Arcade_PLUS]

Beautiful find John, a real gem 💎! (sorry I’m 4 years late to the party)

[@sparkyKestrel]

"Where's the game gonna go?" Unfortunately, I can forsee a certain Sega racing game leaving to be replaced by what is essentially the same game as one already in the basement, just with more tracks.

[@charlesn898]

Good find John! I could never get lucky like this...

[@Misuke..]

Got a Pole Position unit with no TV, whats your thoughts on replacing with a LCD TV?

[@dvv45]

Nice fix! Game looks great! Would love to own. You will have lots of fun with that game. Great video as always!!

[@ArcadeFreak-gw5rp]

what a steal great job John you got lucky on this one are you going to put it next to the pole position and have them side by side or if you get rid of one which one would you get rid of being the new one is in better condition then the one you already had

[@andrewwelborn5430]

I have a . Fruit bonus 96 when I first turn it on the screen will run for about 15 minutes then all of a sudden the board starts buzzing and the screen goes out what could that be

[@retroedsole5438]

What's a good place to order fuses from? I have a MsPac that was converted to a Nintendo VS with a SMB PCB, but the fuses seem to be suspect.

[@retroedsole5438]

Also, I believe the previous owner's tried to replace them with the wrong ones. Is there a place that I could find out which ones I would need to get?

[@Johnsarcade]

Check the manual. Arcadeshop.com

[@yearbabyweliveadzyadam1854]

Hi jone can you help me out i have arcade game and the powr box is not hook up can you help me get it going thanks

[@josephlalock8378]

happy to see robotron running

[@rlenk702]

Congratulations on the PP II pickup John! Yeah, these things are so heavy. I have one of these and the sound does not sound right.

[@firehawk6188]

Why do I never get that lucky! The PP2 I picked up has damned near every issue you can think of and I'm still chipping away at it.

[@residentevilumbrella2001]

"Just a fuse!" Sometimes a repair job is just that simple. Lucky you.

[@redpiper1]

I picked a pole position up yesterday with the intention of turning into a MAME cab. A beautiful cab I got for free! I plugged it in when I got home just for the hell of it and it did power on but all the monitor shows is a garbled mess. Any idea? Thanks and great video!

[@Johnsarcade]

Check power. There are two power supplies on bottom. Don't Mame that!!!!

[@redpiper1]

@@Johnsarcade lol yeah I'm thinking twice about it. The guy that gave it to me said it didn't work but it powered up to my surprise. No crash sound but the marquee lit and monitor came on. Just a garbled mess as I said. Dusty as all hell inside too. Thanks!

[@Arcadehollywood]

John, love PPII!!! I absolutely think you need to put this in your basement!!

[@peggynelson1030]

I want to learn how to repair arcade games myself but I need to know more about how things work and where i should start

[@cccokla]

They have relocated the speaker because it was probably too loud?

[@drifter848]

I was born in the 70s when I was in midleschool there was a 24 hr laundromat 1 house away I used to sneak out my window and play for hrs on the few arcade games they had poleposition being one I remember blowing all the high scores away I wish I knew how to post my scores back then I was poor so I learned how to make a small amount of change last the night and yes I was tired in school the next day lol I would play pole pos for hours on one quarter I lust don't remember if it was one or two so llong ago i rem picking tracks and beating them all so that makes it two?

[@ratman396]

I wonder if one of those filter caps just blew up the other night

[@superpacman73]

YOU ARE THE LUCKIEST PPII OWNER ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Taggstas_arcade]

Wow, so lucky John great result. I remember as a teen play PP2. 👍

[@ChezArcade]

Shoot where did the Rasberry video go lol! Wasn't done watching it!

[@jupreindeer]

Oh, man. That Computer Space just simply looks amazing in that spot. But, I swear...gonna need a change machine, now. EVERYONE is going to want a chance at playing that historic piece during your parties. Not a heavy duty changer, of course. Just one of those tiny, 'hangs on wall' rectangle deals that eat up a horizontal foot of space. ;P Low and behold. The legendary Pole P. *II*. With all those extra tracks. I'm typing this at the 2 minute point. So blindly typing this. Hope everything works out.

[@michaelhonold694]

John, I got a Pole Position 1 a few years ago for free from a guy who got it for the working boards. He did give me a set of boards with it, but they are in unknown condition (might even be PP2 boards, not sure). Anyway, I haven't messed with it yet because the power supply on the bottom is missing, although the AR2s are both there. I was thinking about just putting a switching power supply in it, but I heard you'd lose sound if you did that. Any advice? Thanks in advance.

[@manicminer4127]

The Computer Space looks sweet in the line up. Bet you can't wait to have a party and show it off.

[@konkeydong6494]

+Miner Willy It looks out of place and the light of the marquee shouldn't glow on the screen.

[@josephcarroll6356]

I got a ram 22 error on mine after moving it from another location.

[@ryanmorrell7796]

It's fun to see you struggle through PP2, while you're so good at PP1. Maybe at quick video Monday?

[@skunkybomont6061]

If you don't shed blood fixing an arcade, you're doing it wrong. BTW your basement is AMAZING. Have you messed around with MAME at all, or do you go only for original systems?

[@sparkyKestrel]

+Skunky Bomont He's got a MAME cab upstairs. He's done a few videos on it here.

[@ChezArcade]

Shit man just a fuse! The picture looks damn good too. Hahaha so jealous

[@bobbyjack8033]

Awesome! Love it when its a fuse, its nice, its real nice.... Congrats!

[@squaretops1]

Will you sell it and send to Ireland?

[@rusty1187]

great evil genius laugh @ 15:00!

[@10100rsn]

Hey, perhaps Ian can design you an Inrush current limiter mod to keep games like this from popping fuses. Could sell it on his site, too. Those large caps probably take a lot of current when the game is first turned on and that can stress the caps and the fuse. Some large caps may want to draw upwards of 20 amps on the line to charge (seen 40 amp spikes on a high power audio amp) and this is why it needs such a large fuse or a slow-blow fuse. An inrush current limiter would allow the caps to charge without destroying the fuses or stressing the caps. Modern switching power supplies have this built in but linear supplies with large caps can need these as well. ;)

[@ninjamaster3453]

awesome buy. beautiful cab. should've put *spoilers* on the topics covered, gave away the surprise fix. lol

[@turbografxkid]

nice get man. its mike from fun spot. 2 is the better game it has a turbo mode that adds so much to the game. game on man.

[@jamesw2560]

Great pickup

[@johnvictor9071]

Woot! Surprise episode!

[@kenny9648]

It was just the fuse! Could be the phrase for a new t-shirt :-) Great looking game. Have fun with it!

[@larrysweeney12large]

Hi John, are you getting another pinball machine to replace Whirlwind?

[@Johnsarcade]

+Tipsy Vin Diesel Yes. #SOON

[@stefanmlove]

I have a feeling something strange is coming to your neighborhood...

[@theSammyM333]

+Stefan Love But who you gonna call? And do they answer?

[@simplyshelby1192]

Hi John. great work on pole position 2 ☺ Would you not consider putting your extra games on site? You could put your extra games on location so younger people can be introduced to the games we grew up with. Fondest wishes and keep up the great work, all the way from Ireland.

[@DyingPancake]

Ha, that Computer Space looks so awkward in your lineup. Awesome none the less

[@RadicDotkey]

Moninor? What's that?

[@chadbauch7970]

Wow, what a lucky find. Good work.

[@UNCCShannon]

That is awesome, gotta love those finds.

[@rarecoolitems]

I believe I had more than one dedicated Pole Position IIs wish I stil had them :)

[@jamesrbrindle]

Wow, so some games really are just a fuse :) you should put it next to pole pos 1 when its done. I have both as well.

[@Scythe42]

Suggestion: get rid of the Track and Field for Pole Position II cheap. I need one :) Anyway, nice steal!

[@Shinnokxz]

this is the second video where ive seen this guy be around something thats wobbling around because its on uneven surface. the commando cabinet at the end and his damn table in the basement

[@gamerdude0]

Cabinet looks to be in excellent condition, score.

[@dklucas1]

The Atari 2600 version of this game is hard because you are using a joystick but it was a fun game to play

[@delsarcade]

Hey congrats on that awesome find!

[@Duke_Togo_G13]

John, Are you going to do a restore on that Gottleib Pin in the garage? I'm really curious because I was looking to buying an old pin.

[@Johnsarcade]

+Adem Iscariot Yes, I will finish that project. I want it working!

[@Duke_Togo_G13]

+John's Arcade Game Reviews & Tech Awesome!! I look forward to it!

[@joyouseffort1]

After watching a couple of your videos I found myself inspired, filled with enthusiasm and vigor knowing that I could be an arcade doctor too; I would bring back to life one of these joy making machines. Naturally, I found myself hunting on CL (using the law of attraction to pull the perfect arcade to me of course). And in a few days I found the perfect machine. She was sitting in someone's workshop dusty, sad and waiting for her perfect soul mate...now the beaut' sits in my workshop, still needing that TLC. haha I hoped it was a fuse or power converter or something like that but alas it isn't. I can't even trace the power out- it's like a wild maze behind that door. Any suggestions? Super cool video. Please make more, but ones that are harder, more involved :-) ~Saving one arcade game for a happier, more peaceful world!!~

[@ruict]

Just a fuse. I love it. jealous.

[@8-bitnation870]

Heck yeah, great find and easy fix.

[@quantumreflex]

*_Awesome Video dude_*

[@seabeevet7999]

You lucky S.O.B! Good find.

[@MrVinamp]

3:13 LOL

[@Johnsarcade]

+MrVinamp it is a very heavy game. :)

[@micasbolley1146]

+Johns Arcade Game Reviews & Tech put the game in your home upstairs by your centipede so you dont have to go down stairs

[@ArcadeDude44]

Congrats, John! What an awesome pickup, I love my PPII! I just wish the previous owner hadn't hacked the pedal and put a micro swtich in there? It fails to register, a lot of the time. :( You have to stomp on it to get it to read, sometimes...

[@MaxxLegend]

03:15 John making sweet sweet love with his new PolePosition2 cabinet.. :D

[@MystiqEevee]

Lol

[@EdwinNoorlander]

Nice score 👍🏻. But John, how many projects must you have? 😜 you need a bigger house. Maybe you find a new house with a broken fuse to 👍🏻👍🏻

[@blackbird1234100]

someone is offering to give me a free Robotron (I think 2048) they say the screen doesn't show anything but the game turns on. any ideas? I'm going to maybe get it next weekend