Help Needed Please....Borked Sega Rally Machine!
Discussion
Calling all PH'ers!
PH towers have recently invested in a Sega Rally Machine for the office (A drunken eBay purchase by our very own Ben Lowden). However we have an issue where the second non-host machine keeps hanging/crashing mid race.
After ruling out the fault being down to our excellent driving, we removed the side panel to expose some pretty complicated circuitry, wiring and fans. After much head scratching it has quickly become apparent that it definitely needs the attention of someone who actually knows what they are doing.... So if anyone can recommend an expert/engineer in the London area that can come and take a look it would be much appreciated. We pay in Beer/PH Merchandise/eternal gratitude ....oh and some money if needs be!!
Please, please fix our machine soon otherwise we might have to resort to doing some work!!
PH towers have recently invested in a Sega Rally Machine for the office (A drunken eBay purchase by our very own Ben Lowden). However we have an issue where the second non-host machine keeps hanging/crashing mid race.
After ruling out the fault being down to our excellent driving, we removed the side panel to expose some pretty complicated circuitry, wiring and fans. After much head scratching it has quickly become apparent that it definitely needs the attention of someone who actually knows what they are doing.... So if anyone can recommend an expert/engineer in the London area that can come and take a look it would be much appreciated. We pay in Beer/PH Merchandise/eternal gratitude ....oh and some money if needs be!!
Please, please fix our machine soon otherwise we might have to resort to doing some work!!
This guy is a genius- used him for some usb drives for a BBC micro of all things!
http://www.retroclinic.com/
http://www.retroclinic.com/
An onsite repair would be £+++ not many people do this work anymore.
I repaired this kind of stuff for 25 years, although retired from it 10 years ago, but it would help if you could do a few tests yourself.
Get a multimeter, measure at the psu and again at the main game board and check that you have 3.3v and 5v, more than 5% over or under those figures and you'll have trouble.
Does it crash at the same point every time? That would point to the mainboard if so and a ram/rom fault.
Next step, swap a psu from left to right and see if the fault transfers across, it'll help you isolate the issue to either the psu or the mainboard.
Check all cooling fans, these games run hot, a dead fan will draw additional current and allow the electronics to cook.
There are 220v fans inside the cabinet, front and rear, plus many 12v fans inside the mainboard cage and obviously processor fans.
PSU's used to be plentiful on Ebay, but a quick search shows that's not the case these days, the mainboards have always been flakey and were pretty scarce even when I was repairing this kit.
I'm away now for a few days, but see if you can try these few basic tests to give yourself an idea of what component is faulty.
Edit - you say side panels? the brains are all in the base under the seat if it's a twin model (joined with a H bracket)
I repaired this kind of stuff for 25 years, although retired from it 10 years ago, but it would help if you could do a few tests yourself.
Get a multimeter, measure at the psu and again at the main game board and check that you have 3.3v and 5v, more than 5% over or under those figures and you'll have trouble.
Does it crash at the same point every time? That would point to the mainboard if so and a ram/rom fault.
Next step, swap a psu from left to right and see if the fault transfers across, it'll help you isolate the issue to either the psu or the mainboard.
Check all cooling fans, these games run hot, a dead fan will draw additional current and allow the electronics to cook.
There are 220v fans inside the cabinet, front and rear, plus many 12v fans inside the mainboard cage and obviously processor fans.
PSU's used to be plentiful on Ebay, but a quick search shows that's not the case these days, the mainboards have always been flakey and were pretty scarce even when I was repairing this kit.
I'm away now for a few days, but see if you can try these few basic tests to give yourself an idea of what component is faulty.
Edit - you say side panels? the brains are all in the base under the seat if it's a twin model (joined with a H bracket)
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 2nd August 13:41
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 2nd August 14:01
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