Howdy folks! I’ve been spending every free minute I’ve had working on the Vidiot board for my Baby Pac-Man. The last thing I was going to try was to change the 10.7386MHz crystal directly above the video processor chip in U16. The crystals I ordered came in. I put a new one in and it didn’t fix the problem. I was still getting only 8 flashes on the LED during bootup.

In desperation, I ordered new chips for U7 and U8 from Bob Roberts, which should be here tomorrow. I also ordered new RAM earlier today. I had changed about half the sockets on the board with new ones. I figured while I was waiting for parts, I’d keep changing the rest of the old sockets. I started with the socket for U12, which is the ROM that contains the programming for the video portion of the self test. That did nothing. I moved on to the socket for U11. When I pulled the plastic part of the socket off the board, I noticed that the pins were very corroded, even though the socket right next to it was fine. Popping a new socket in U11 fixed the problem, and I got 10 flashes at bootup. I can’t tell you how excited I am. I actually danced a jig, and I’m not Irish.

Here’s a video of it working. Keep in mind it’s hard to play while holding a camera in one hand. The cabinet is very tilted, so the pinball portion doesn’t play quite like it should.

Now, next on the list is to change the rest of the sockets for preventative measures. Then I’ll do a cap kit on the monitor and hope that my new cabinet gets here sometime this year.