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Sega Astro City - Complete dead monitor?

So, from my understanding these "ears" (highlighted in red) would be going behind the part of the frame that's highlighted in blue? And I also reverse the screws as well to tighten in the opposite direction. Is any of this correct?
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kazuma said:
So, from my understanding these "ears" (highlighted in red) would be going behind the part of the frame that's highlighted in blue? And I also reverse the screws as well to tighten in the opposite direction. Is any of this correct?
YvxJM8c.png
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Yes, and you can also use longer bolts and washers/spacers if you need to adjust it further.

I would still suggest trying a rejuv first, since it's free/beer cost to a local if you can borrow one.
 
Initially I was real excited to post this update, as @cruzlink2 had graciously sourced the exact type of tube I was looking for! I'm extremely grateful for this, and it actually worked perfectly after some tweaking during the initial setup process:

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Confusingly, it seems that a couple of days after testing this, I'm no longer able to get a clear picture after setting up the monitor in the cabinet. The following pics are what the image looked like after having the monitor powered on for a few hours:

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I'm not really sure how to proceed. I'm certain that the issue is not the tube, because it was literally showing a crisp image just a few days ago (likewise, it was demonstrated to be working fine before I even picked it up). Would it be reasonable to assume that the flyback may be failing? The entire chassis has already been recapped, and the flyback is one of the few components that haven't been replaced. The reason I'm suspecting it is because I've noted several times during this process that the focus knob on it didn't really seem to change anything at all.

In the meantime, I do have a neotec nt 2702 I could potentially use, anybody have experience with using something like that in a candy cab?
 
Check the focus connection inside the neck socket. It should be under a little flap thing. If the focus pot does absolutely nothing it may be a frayed connection inside there from handling or a corroded/loose focus pin inside the socket. I have had this happen a few times. Or yes possibly worst case the focus output from the flyback has failed but I would not expect that, these MS9 flybacks are pretty reliable.

What tube did you end up with btw?
 
I ended up with another Toshiba A68KJU96X, thankfully. Definitely gonna check the neck socket / focus pin, but for now I'll see if it gets any better for a little while; I was able to achieve a similar level of clarity once again, so the issue seems to be pretty inconsistent in terms of when and how it affects the picture. Worst case scenario, would this be an appropriate replacement for the socket on my neck board: https://www.arcadepartsandrepair.com/store/monitors/monitor-parts/cr23-crt-socket-mp1042/

I found it in this thread where OP had a corrosion-related issue on an MS8.
 
Just wanted to drop in and post a final bump to this thread to say that the focus wire inside the neckboard socket was corroded to hell. It was so bad, that the focus wire literally just snapped off when i opened it up. I ended up just replacing the socket entirely and re-terminating the focus wire. The picture looks consistently clear and bright now :)

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After recalibrating and adjusting things for a while, the only issues I've noted are some minor convergence issues in the corners and the fact that the screen image doesn't go 100% to the edges of the tube. Though, this is due to the fact that I'm using the yoke from an ms8 chassis paired with the ms9-29a. Despite this, the end result is pretty great and I think it paid off.

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As a total beginner to this, I'd like to say thanks to all the people who posted in this thread with advice and the vast amount of helpful resources available in the forums.
 
Lswanson1049 said:
Does that mean your earlier tube is potentially not on its last legs if your focus was out from the begining?
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I was thinking about this after I completed the repair, but it doesn't seem likely based on the behavior I noted with the original tube. As soon as I swapped, I was able to get a noticeably clear image at times despite it being inconsistent. Whereas with the original tube, I really wasn't able to get anything resembling a clear image at all (unless the picture was calibrated to be really dark, and even then... yuck). The video in the 2nd page of the thread also shows the focus wire issue as well; even when it was "in focus", it never really becomes quite clear enough. Maybe a rejuv could prolong it's life, but I kinda ended up with the impression that trying it would've been a waste of time.

Funny enough, a friend of mine managed to track down a photo of the cab in the arcade it came from (the mahjong game matches up with the tube's burn in, and the stains near the upper left edge of the control panel also are present). The pic from 2019 seems to show the tube still looking pretty clear, so I'm not sure what could've happened between 2019 and the end of 2024 (when I got the cab) that made it so bad.

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You should look around for someone with a CRT tube rejuvenator. With this device you can assess the state and life of the tube and optionally try to balance and recover some of its former glory if the culprit is cathode poisoning.
 
Both of the MS9s in my Daytona 2 needed the cutoffs pushed to get good black detail and they were a little blurry no matter what. Literally one 2-second pulse of auto restore on my CR70 immediately made them both massively brighter and sharper. Sometimes they just need to be reactivated. :) I've also found generally Toshiba tubes seem to respond extremely well to rejuvs.
 
trashedcabs said:
Both of the MS9s in my Daytona 2 needed the cutoffs pushed to get good black detail and they were a little blurry no matter what. Literally one 2-second pulse of auto restore on my CR70 immediately made them both massively brighter and sharper. Sometimes they just need to be reactivated. :) I've also found generally Toshiba tubes seem to respond extremely well to rejuvs.
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I agree 100%. Toshiba tubes usually respond extremely well to light clean & balance with a good rejuvenator. B&K 467 is my weapon of choice.
 
kazuma said:
Will try re-calibrating from scratch the next time I'm able to get it out of the cab. I have not adjusted the pots on the chassis yet, so I'm hoping this might make a major difference.


This is pretty demoralizing to hear, what makes you say that? The person I bought it from insisted that the tube itself was fine, but if this does turn out to be the case, I might just have to call it quits because there's absolutely no chance of me finding a replacement where I live; sincerely doubt I'd ever be able to source a replacement within a reasonable distance.
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Where are you located in NJ? I'm in the NYC area and I own a rejuvenator to test your tube guns.

Del
 
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