First off, thanks for your complements. We’re glad that you have learned something from our site and we hope that you continue to visit us for more posts in the future.

As for your questions, if the cabinet itself has the Nintendo logo on the outside, you’re probably dealing with a Sanyo 20ez monitor. The good news is that cap kits solve a variety of problems with these monitors. There is a flowchart (http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=111041) and some other good information on these monitors on the internet that will help you out. The bad news is that it’s a tough monitor chassis to remove. Once you have it removed, however, a cap kit should be pretty easy.

We have also featured your question on episode 22 of our Q&A podcast. Please listen to it for more of our thoughts on your question. Thank you for your question and keep us updated on your progress.

You would be correct. While caps can sometimes cause this issue, it’s is not very likely. That being said, it doesn’t look like the problem is in your board either. This issue is usually caused by a vertical IC chip on your monitor chassis going bad. These chips are usually mounted to a heat sink and can be tested with a standard multimeter. Your first step is to figure out what kind of monitor you have. You can check out the What’s My Monitor page on Bob Roberts site for help. Once you’ve done that you can figure out what IC chip you need to order.

We have also featured your question on episode 22 of our Q&A podcast. Please listen to it for more of our thoughts on your question. Thank you for your question and keep us updated on your progress.

It’s really hard to pinpoint just one cause as there are several factors that can contribute to problems such as no picture or power. As we’ve talked about extensively on our podcast, moving games can cause many issues such as these. Also, power supplies can go out and monitors can simply die over time.

Remember that arcade games and pinball machines were meant to be played. Leaving them in storage for an extended period is not what the manufacturers had in mind when they built them. As most classic arcade games are getting older (some more than 30 years old now), you’re going to find that more and more of them will start failing. Best thing to do would be to document what’s wrong with these machines to see if you can find a common failure point. Perhaps some insight can be gleamed by this type of documentation.

We have also feature your question on episode 22 of our Q&A podcast. Please listen to it for more of our thoughts on your question. Thank you for your question and good luck on your future repairs.

From your pictures, it looks like this Galaga either has some board or monitor sync issues. We don’t think that degaussing is going to help much in this particular case. You could try adjusting the monitor to see if you can make it better but the problem is probably more in either the chassis or the wiring. That being said, we’re leaning more towards a board issue. Since Galaga is a pretty popular game, there are several sites that can help you with your repair. The Galaga Repair Tips section on Arcadeshop.com is just one that might be of some help to you.

We have also featured your question on episode 22 of our Q&A podcast. Please listen to it for more of our thoughts on your question. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.

That is people keep telling me ” it worked great, I put it in the garage and now when I plug it in there is no picture”. I live in Canada and our winters are cold. Is there one common thing that causes this issue or is it just a fluke?

I have had over 10 people tell me the same exact thing. Some people are very upset about it because they know it was working when it went into the garage and now when they want to sell it it does not work.

It would really help me out diagnostically speaking if there was a common causative factor so I knew where to start looking, saving me a lot of time.

Thanks,

Kevin

Your monitor is definitely repairable. It could be that the monitor is not receiving a signal from the board. We would start by making sure that all of the connections between the board and monitor are good. Also, make sure that your board is getting power from the power supply. If all the connections look fine and the board is getting power then it’s probably a problem with your monitor chassis. If this is the case then you will need to do an entire rebuild on the monitor chassis to get it working. That being said, however, start with the board and wiring and go from there.

We have also featured your question on episode 21 of our Q&A podcast. Please listen to it for more of our thoughts on your question. Thank you for your question and please keep us updated on your repair.

I’m trying to help a friend troubleshoot his cocktail Arkanoid table. We replaced the PCB and the game was working great for a few weeks. Then one day in the middle of playing, the monitor appears to have lost sync. Here’s the best example I was able to capture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58947683@N05/5403037705/in/photostream/

I think I’ve identified the monitor as a Sanyo 20EZ. Everything I’ve read says it’s a 19″ monitor, but the viewable area of this monitor appears to only be 17″ on the diagonal. Other pics in the photostream show the monitor outside the cabinet. I don’t believe it’s the original cabinet for Arkanoid since the table has the Nintendo logo on the outside. Any chance you can tell me if I’ve got the monitor identified correctly?

I measured the vsync signal both coming off the PCB and on the connector that goes to the monitor chassis, and they both seem to be okay if maybe a little low (~4.5V). Do you have any suggestions on what else I should be looking at to fix the sync problem?

A cap kit seems like a shot in the dark. Any specific things I could look at? Perhaps, the it’s the video ROM?

Whats funny is when I lost the greens the first time I tried that too but with no results. I did go in first tonight and pressed all the plugs tight to the pins to make sure they were not loose. Perhaps that had something to do with it but I dont know.

Anyway it back to its old self again, and I appreciate the time you guys spend helping the average joes out who post here. Keep it up. Thanks, Shawn

We’re not real sure about the green plastic cap that you are describing. If you could send us a picture of it that would help us troubleshoot it further. With that said, it doesn’t sounds like this is the cause of your issue. This problem is typically caused by either problems with your HOT (Horizontal Output Transistor) or the polypropylene capacitors that control your horizontal width. We would recommend checking and perhaps replacing your HOT and installing new polypropylene caps. You should be able to get both of these items from Bob Roberts. Here’s a link to his post on Horizontal Width Kits for more information.

We have also featured your question on episode 21 of our Q&A podcast. Please listen to it for more of our thoughts on your question. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.