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Zaccaria Cat'n Mouse Maintenance 2022

02/06/2022 - Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show (2022)

Zaccaria games at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show Zaccaria games at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show
Cat'n Mouse graphics issues Cat'n Mouse graphics issues

During setup the game developed graphics issues and a spare main board was swapped in. The game then ran OK for the rest of the show and despite being a title no one had heard of, a lot of folks tried it out.

25/07/2022 - Game PCB #PA20201224 repair

Cat'n Mouse main PCB on the bench

On the bench the game exhibited the same issues as seen at the show - doubled up graphics. Testing with the Arduino ICT found no issues - ROM and RAM tested OK. Starting with the LS161 video counter outputs found:

The graphics issue changed when a scope probe touched IC 14D (LS161) pin 13 and I suspected IC 14D was bad.

Zaccaria Cat'n Mouse Zaccaria Cat'n Mouse

Replacing IC 14D, another Signetics 74LS161, fixed the game.

25/07/2022 - Game PCB V138273 evaluation

Cat'n Mouse main PCB with Arduino ICT

I discovered I had another Cat'n Mouse PCB set. I'd previously made a spare main PCB by converting a Lazarian main PCB but I had no spare sound PCB. Visual inspection found the sound PCB had a broken capacitor and the main PCB missing EPROM IC 5C, so it wasn't likely the game would run. Testing on the bench found no display that was quickly traced to missing output signals from IC 11C, the 2621 sync generator. The red socket it was in was also bad but had just enough contact that replacing the IC 11C restored the display.

Testing with the Arduino ICT found that all the ROMs except the missing IC 5C tested OK. RAM testing reported "E: 6E 1df7 20 a0" flagging IC 6E as bad and "E:13F 1800 90 40" flagging IC 13F as bad. There were also flickering characters that a "RAM Write All AD" and scope inspection traced to poor outputs from IC 13F. Overall the PCB didn't seem to be in too bad shape and it was set aside until a replacement EPROM was programmed.

06/12/2022 - Main PCB V138273/PA20221120 repair, part 1

Cat'n Mouse main PCB on the bench Cat'n Mouse main PCB on the bench Cat'n Mouse main PCB with Arduino ICT

The issues identified in the prior evaluation were first fixed:

The game still didn't boot but the Arduino ICT showed ROM, RAM, interrupts and inputs all working OK. Suspecting a bad 2650 CPU, I replaced it but the game still didn't boot. Poking around with a scope found the CPU address bus outputs running like a counter. Pin 34 'INTACK' appeared to be floating at ~1.8V. Checking IC 12B (LS00) found pin 11 a horrible mess, pin 12 an idle 1.1V and pin 13 a clock. I suspected either IC 12B was bad or the replacement 2650 was also bad. Cross checking with the original CPU confirmed that the replacement had a bad pin 34. Using a 3rd 2650 CPU the game booted but didn't enter attract mode, and appeared to have graphics issues.

Cat'n Mouse, bad graphics

Soak testing with the Arduino ICT flagged IC 13F (2114) with "E:13F 1816 60 40", "E:13F 18d8 30 10", "E:13F 18AB a0 80" on three runs, corresponding to stuck data bit pin 13 'B5'. Checking IC 13F address inputs with video only (no CPU access) found pin 17 'A7'/'DD7' idle high. Working back to IC 12E (LS157) pin 9 output was idle high with input pin 10 active. The rest of IC 12E outputs all looked OK and I suspected IC 12E was bad. Replacing IC 12E (LS157) fixed the graphics, and with the CPU installed the game booted and ran through attract mode without issue.

16/12/2022 - Main PCB V138273/PA20221120 repair, part 2

Cat'n Mouse graphics interference Cat'n Mouse graphics interference Cat'n Mouse graphics interference

After several hours soak testing on the bench the display began to show noise/interference bands across the picture. A simple finger touch test across all the video RAMs quickly identified a corresponding visual effect on IC 15F (2114) pins 7,8,9. The RAM IC 14F/15F are write only, so the Arduino ICT was used to write all low for inspection with a scope that showed IC 15F pins 11,13,14 floating and pin 12 floating with low pulses. IC 14F pins 11,12,13,14 were all low with floating pulses. I suspected IC 15F (2114) was bad and replacing it fixed the graphics interference but still left 3 red bars in the picture.

Looking carefully at the attract mode identified repeated bullets and I suspected there was a fault in the bullet circuit. Even with RAM Write All low, the 3 red bars were still displayed. Using the video probe, IC 14H (LS86) pin 13 & pin 11 showed the bars. IC 11I (LS157) pins 3 & 4 and IC 12I (LS85) pins 5 & 6 all showed bars, however the IC 12I inputs didn't show any bars. I suspected IC 12 I (LS85) was bad, and a quick piggyback caused the bullets to be mostly correct and only 1 bar to remain on screen. Replacing IC 12I (LS85) completely fixed the bullets and bars. The board ran for several more hours on the bench with no further issues and was declared fixed.

28/12/2022 - Sound PCB V138273/PA20221121 repair

Cat'n Mouse sound 1B11107 PCB Cat'n Mouse sound PCB repair

Visual inspection identified one large broken off capacitor that was replaced. First power on found:

Checking IC 1B (6802) with a scope found the clock pin 39 'XTAL1' running OK, pin 40 '~RST' inactive high and the data bus pins 26 to 33 all active. The address bus lines were all active but looked like a counter cycling through the memory space. R/W was idle high showing only read cycles. There were no known schematics for this PCB, however the Money Money sound PCB is very similar but with different physical layout and the addition of speech hardware so the schematics for that were used as a reference.

The address decoder IC 2B (LS156 but silk screened LS155) had outputs all high with low pulses consistent with the cycling address bus. There wasn't any obvious issue to account for the address cycling behaviour. Swapping out the 6802 CPU restored music with missing elements & background noise mush, confirming the original 6802 CPU was bad.

Mapping out the three audio output signals from the two AY-3-8910 during game play with a scope found:

Replacing IC I1 (AY-3-8910) restored all the music elements and game sounds.

Cat'n Mouse sound PCB cap kit - before Cat'n Mouse sound PCB cap kit - after

I'd already done a partial cap kit on the other sound PCB to improve the audio quality. A kit was similarly applied to this one that cleaned up a lot of the background audio noise and the board was declared fixed.

29/04/2023 - Hantarex MTC-900 chassis repair

Hantarex MTC-900 on the bench

Pre-show testing found the monitor blue drive intermittent. The chassis was removed and investigated on the bench with a multimeter. Starting with the video input pots found:

They were all reasonable and consistent. Moving to an in-circuit diode forward drop measurement of the first stage of the video input pre-amplifier found:
Since TR4 (BC237B) was the anomaly, it was removed and tested out of circuit using the back-to-back diode check, where both C to E and E to C read 0.4V (it should have been open). Transistor TR4 was replaced. Testing back in the cabinet confirmed the picture colours were correct and stable.

21/05/2023 - Fan and power problems

Cat'n'Mouse fan & 1B1126 regulation PCB

More pre-show testing found the fan was badly rattling and the vibration was causing some intermittent game PCB instability that was identified as poor connections on the 1B1126 regulation PCB. Both the fan and the regulation PCB were removed for repair.

Power connector socket pin repair

I'd previously discovered that the connector socket pins sometimes became loose over time and could be tightened by using a thin wire to pop them out and close the leaf pins. All the socket pins on both connectors were tightened this way.

22/05/2023 - 1B1126 regulation PCB repair

Zaccaria 1B1126 regulation PCB Zaccaria 1B1126 regulation PCB connector replacement

Both the AC input DC output connectors on the 1B1126 regulation PCB were replaced. After fitting back into the cabinet the game ran for several hours with no further power issues.

22/05/2023 - Fan replacement

Fan replacement Fan replacement

I'd already cleaned and greased the original fan as part of the original cabinet restoration, but it seemed this fan was too moisture damaged or worn out to be useable. An ADDA AA1282HB replacement fan assembly kit was constructed, fitted into the cabinet and tested OK.

Cat'n Mouse Maintenance 2023




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