I'm pleased to announce that I've worked with @p0rchio to assume web hosting for JAMMArcade.net - the site will live on! I'll also taking over as "editor-in-chief", so if anyone wants to contribute retro console, computer or arcade repair write ups, hit me up!

I posted a detailed writeup about the Cave Guwange #arcade board I recently repaired. Ultimately, it only needed the solder on several parts redone, but it was an interesting adventure nevertheless. jammarcade.net/cave-guwange-…

So here’s something interesting. I played through the entire game & didn’t see any other problems. So I checked 3 YouTube videos & they all show the same corrupt transition-it’s only from title screen to the character select screen. Is the game *supposed* to transition this way?!

This Guwange board just keeps throwing curveballs. I reflowed the solder on the background tile ROMs and that fixed the problem with the addressing on the background of the Character Select screen. But there’s still something wrong with the screen transitions.

I was feeling pretty good about repairing this Guwange #arcade board that had lines through the sprites. After reflowing the 013 custom, line buffer RAM chips, and sprite ROMs, it was looking clean. But … there’s still an addressing issue with some background tiles! 😑

Playing some Mushihimesma Futari for a monthly high score competition. As the Gradius announcer likes to say “You need some practice!” 😅 #arcade #shmup

OMG! It came with a manual!!

Here’s another update on this faulty Namco System 2 board - this time with far too many details on diagnosing TTL logic parts and a bit of ROM hacking. shootthecore.tech/repair/nam…

Well, the CV1000 blitter was definitely measured extensively. buffis.com/research/cv1000-b…

More light reading for arcade repair fans! In-progress report on a Namco System 2 where 11 games run perfectly, but 3 hang at startup. Isolated the fault to the Video board, ruled out socketed chips, and spent way too much time chasing a GAL red herring! tinyurl.com/sat8hhf5

Repaired a Cave CV1000 #arcade board with faulty color amps, resulting in a dim picture with a yellow tinge. Thankfully, the amps are off-the-shelf parts, and one swap later, now the image is bright, colorful and tinge-free. Detailed write up at jammarcade.net/cave-cv1000-b…

Yuck-battery guts! Glad it didn’t spread to the board…

<sigh> It’s so aggravating when a microscopic leg randomly snaps off of a TSOP-48 SMD flash chip when soldering it to a board. Fortunately I have a spare handy but it takes hours to flash with my current NAND programmer. 😅

I fixed up an Arika Fighting Layer #arcade board running on Namco System 12 hardware this weekend. It started up with a scary FIRST POWER ON DATA ERROR message, but replacing the RTC chip sorted it out. Full writeup at jammarcade.net/fighting-laye…

Just in time for #marchintosh, this PowerBook 1400cs was just gifted to me. Featuring a 233 MHz PowerPC CPU, 64 MB RAM, 800 MB hard drive, Zip 100 drive, and 28.8k baud modem, this time capsule is in really nice shape! Now I need to figure out how to load some games onto it. 😎

A CPS3 #arcade cart came in for service after suiciding due to a dead battery. It wouldn’t work after flashing the Darksoft UltraBIOS. I noticed missing solder next to the clock crystal, so I addressed that and now the cart works great! I wish all repairs went this smoothly. 😁

I’m taking a short break from repairing #arcade boards to actually *play games* on them once in a while. Currently drilling Deathsmiles MBL, Dogyuun and Viewpoint for a monthly #shmup score competition.

I finally sorted out the remaining issues with the sound on this Golden Axe 2 Revenge of Death Adder #arcade board. Detailed writeup at jammarcade.net/golden-axe-ii…

I helped a friend calibrate his Sony KV-36FV16 CRT today. The greypoint range dialed in nicely except for a tiny blip in the 0-10% IRE that barely matters. The geometry is also surprisingly good for a flat screen Sony!