Taito F3 Motherboard not powering up *SOLVED*

[Stac2000]

I recently got a F3 mobo (with Puzzle Bobble 3 - advertised as working - seller had 100% feedback fyi) off Ebay and also just got a Retroelectronik supergun for testing (hope I can be quick on the draw when the new batch of HAS are ready - just missed out on the last one). I also just acquired an STV mobo and was testing that this morning and was able to get some games working so I know the basic setup I have works, at least for testing.

However, when I tried hooking up the supergun to the mobo with PB3 game installed I got nothing. Tried a few things to no avail. I also noticed that the small fan is not working either. I know the STV mobo has a power indicator light but could not find one on the F3.

I did not touch the small potentiometer on the mobo.

Anyone have any ideas I could try or should I just try contacting the seller?

Thanks in advance

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

Good. Never touch the Pot on an F3 motherboard. It is not meant as a user serviceable adjustment.

If your fan isn't spinning you could have a dead fan. But it could also mean a missing or very low voltage. Time to break out a multimeter and test your voltages. I can tell you that the F3 is power hungry and is one of the pcbs my ATX power supply will not boot.

 

[ekorz]

F3 has odd sync, what's your video/monitor situation? Are you going right into an LCD? (Can you hear anything?)

 

[Stac2000]

Ok, I did have an ATX power supply hooked up previously. Hoping that was the issue I then tried an arcade supply but no change. The processor in IC13 is warm to the touch including the large heat sink near the Jamma edge. Any suggestions?

 

[Stac2000]

F3 has odd sync, what's your video/monitor situation? Are you going right into an LCD? (Can you hear anything?)

I do not hear anything. For now I am going into a cheapo vga converter to an lcd. A temp solution which has given me video with the CPS2, STV and neo geo mv1fz.

 

[ShootTheCore]

Check the input voltage to the board with a multimeter. Adjust the voltage dial on your arcade power supply until you're reading 5.10V on the meter (unplug the power when making the adjustments). Most boards are happy in the 5.0-5.05V range but the F3 usually wants a little more.

 

[Stac2000]

Yes, that did the trick! - board powers up now.
The fan seem to be dead - is that critical to fix if I am only running the bard for short periods of time?

Thanks again to all

 

[ShootTheCore]

Glad you got it working. I deliberately disconnected my fan and haven't had any problems with 2 hour gaming sessions - I figure you don't need it unless you're leaving it running in a hot cab 24x7.

 

[udongein]

That fan is tiny and barely moves any air. Not to mention the sides of the motherboard are exposed to air so there is not much pressure for the fan to take a lot of heat out anyway. Maybe someone else would know more, but it's probably the least necessary fan I've seen as long as you aren't running it 24/7 and would like it running marginally cooler.