Gaelco Smashing Drive Hardware Problem

[Ranger]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a Gaelco Smashing Drive arcade main pcb from eBay. Unfortunately, the game doesn't start, there's no video output, only blinking LEDs. After reset or powering it up, one of the internal LEDs and the red LED on the back do flash for some time until the internal LED stays off and the red LED on the back stays on permanently. To illustrate this I uploaded Video 1.

If I make contact on the service button, both internal LEDs are flashing fast. I assume this is some kind of loader mode to transfer or receive firmware. This is shown in Video 2.

Video 1
Video 2

Does anybode have any ideas or suggestions what could be wrong and I this could be fixed? I'd appreciate any help with this!

Thanks!

 

[twistedsymphony]

This isn't a very widely understood or common hardware. (I think you're probably the first person I've ever seen post about it)

There's lots of common thing you can do to understand the baseline though.
1. check your voltage output from the power supply and ensure they're adjusted properly in range
2. hook up a known working game board to the monitor to ensure that it's functioning properly.

Once you've done that I would find a copy of the Service Manual and seeing if it identifies the function and meaning of those LEDs

 

[Ranger]

Thanks for your response! I measured the power supply voltages, tried another power supply as well as a high quality laboratory power supply. The voltages are fine and swapping the power suppplies didn't make any difference. Monitor works fine with anything else as well. I also tried different monitors and no monitor at all - no difference.

Manual is attached. It doesn't say anything about the LEDs though...

 

[twistedsymphony]

The benefit here is you've now narrowed it down to an issue with the Game PCB. The good news is that these PCBs seem to be reasonably priced if you ultimately need to just replace it.