Atari Repair

Note: This page is a work in progress. Please help get it to a completed state by adding any useful information to it.

For history of Atari see Atari Pinball.

1 Introduction

Atari, widely known for their extensive video game library, also produced pinball machines for a short time during the late 1970's. In many ways, Atari went against the norm in both their design and style of their machines. All of the produced Atari machines, other than the massive Hercules, were widebody designs. Early machines featured score displays mounted in the apron area, with circuit boards in the lower cabinet.

After Hercules, in 1979, Atari ended their involvement in pinball, instead opting to focus on the video game and home console markets. A couple of prototypes were made after 1979 but nothing was released.

2 Games

• 4x4 (widebody, prototype)
• Airborne Avenger (widebody)
• Hercules (oversized, Gen2)
• Middle Earth (widebody)
• Monza (cocktail, prototype)
• Neutron Star (prototype)
• Pipeline (never produced)
• Road Runner (widebody, prototype, Gen3)
• Space Riders (widebody)
• Superman (widebody, Gen2)
• The Atarians (widebody)
• Time 2000 (widebody)
• Triangle (never produced)

3 Design Variations and Atari quirks

Atari pinball system can be effectively divided into two distinct generations, which will be referred to as Gen1 and Gen2. The vast majority of machines produced were manufactured utilizing the Gen1 board set. Only Superman and Hercules utilized the Gen2 system. Road Runner, of which only two machines were made, utilized a Gen3 design that was never put into production.

The two styles are easily distinguished both in their layout and locations. Gen1 boards incorporate all of their components into a single large sized circuit board, which is mounted in the lower cabinet below the playfield. Gen2 boards were split into two separate boards located in the headbox, a CPU board and an I/O board, which are connected via a 40 pin cable.

Note that while using the same basic board, Gen1 boards are not drop-in interchangeable. Boards were assembled according to the machines they were going to be installed into, and not all components were installed on the board. You will need to inspect a donor board to see which solenoid circuits are actually installed, and you may need to install additional circuits in order to activate all solenoids.

Atari took a very different approach to their circuit designs than other manufacturers of the same era. Rather than use an 8x8 matrix design for switches and lamps, Atari machines have discrete connectors and wiring for each lamp and switch. This results in a large number of wiring connectors and wires, as each switch and each lamp generally has its own dedicated wire and connection. Though in some cases, multiple switches may be daisy chained together, if they perform the same actions, such as Switch 20 on Superman machines.

Another interesting feature is that the insert lamps do not turn on and off like other manufacturers. Instead of being normally turned "off", lamps are kept turned on, but in a very dim state. When a lamp would be turned "on", it's switched from dim to bright. This was done intentionally, in order to extend bulb life, by reducing the stresses incurred in the filament when switching on and off. However this also means that Atari machines are not compatible with LED lighting for the inserts, as they would always be turned on.

With Airborne Avenger and prior games, Atari introduced rotary solenoids, which were primarily used for flippers and hole kickers. Eventually, Atari switched over to standard plunger-style solenoid assemblies. Atari even offered kits to operators to convert rotary-style flippers to plunger-style flippers because failure rates were reported to be high.

3.1 Game-Specific Variations

3.1.1 Airborne Avenger

Airborne Avenger had a few different playfield artwork and design variations throughout its short production run. [1]

• One playfield style had backlit plastic rollovers in the flipper inlanes and outlanes.
• A second style had standard wireform switch armatures in the flipper inlanes and outlanes.
• A third style had the magnetic switches like those found on Atarians.
• Some playfields had "50" by the points switches, some did not.
• Various color variations between playfields.

3.1.2 Superman

It has been reported that there has been a case of an early production machine using pegs on the lockdown bar, rather than tabs. [2][3]

4 Technical Info

Some info regarding Atari pinball machines can be found at NUAtari.com.

4.1 Board Set

4.1.1 Generation 1

All the boards for Generation 1 games are in the cabinet body. The backbox only contains a string of bulbs.

Generation 1 boardset from a Space Riders

Generation 1 backbox from a Space Riders

4.1.1.1 Auxiliary Board

Atari Generation 1 Auxiliary Board from a Space Riders.

This board performs several functions. It acts as a power supply, it converts the digital audio signal from the MPU to analog to play on the speaker, it controls four lamp strobes, it controls the lockout coil on the coin door, and accepts input from the coin door switches and start button.

4.1.1.2 MPU

Atari Generation 1 MPU from a Space Riders.

Atari Generation 1 MPU fuse board from a Space Riders.

4.1.1.3 Transformer

Atari Generation 1 transformer from a Space Riders.

4.1.1.4 Displays

Atari Generation 1 displays under the apron of a Time 2000.

4.1.2 Generation 2

Generation 2 boardset in a Superman backbox

Generation 2 boardset in a Hercules backbox, with the displays

Generation 2 boardset in a Hercules backbox, with the displays removed

4.1.2.1 Power Module

The Atari power module.

4.1.2.2 MPU

The "Generation 2" MPU board

4.1.2.3 I/O Driver Board

The "Generation 2" I/O driver board.

A close-up of the pre-drive and driver transistors on the Atari I/O driver board.

4.1.2.4 Ground Backplane

Grounds tied together on the Atari "Generation 2" system.

Unlike most other manufacturers, Atari did not use a metal backbox panel to connect ground to all of it's boards. In the picture at left, Atari's method of tying the board grounds together with ground straps can be seen.

4.1.2.5 AC Solenoid Board (Hercules only)

Only on Hercules, an AC solenoid adapter board was installed to drive the pop bumpers, slingshot, and flipper solenoids. A total of 6 solenoids were driven by this board. This board was added because of the power requirements needed to drive the over-sized 115 VAC solenoids that were used in this game.

• 

  Upper Front
• 

  Lower Front
• 

  Upper Back
• 

  Lower Back

4.1.3 Generation 3

Generation 3 never went into production, and can only be found in the two Road Runner prototype games.

4.2 Coils

Superman coils (all are 50 volts DC):

• Atari # A007030-01 is used for the pop bumpers, slingshots, outhole, eject hole, and drop target reset. Approximate resistance is 6 ohms, and it has a 1N4001 diode soldered across the terminals. The coil has 1/4" quick connect terminals (no soldering needed). The coil sleeve is Atari # 006791-01. If an original A007030-01 coil cannot be located, a Bally AN-26-1200 coil can be substituted provided you observe the polarity of the diode on the coil.

• Atari # A020470-01 (25/790) is the flipper coil. Has two diodes installed. The high current pull-in winding is 4.5 ohms dc resistance. The total resistance of the pull-in and hold windings is approximately 150 ohms. The coil has 1/4" quick connect terminals, so no soldering is needed. Uses Atari coil sleeve # 006791-01.

Marco Specialties stocks the Atari coils.

Flipper coil diodes

Flipper assembly on Superman

Atari's own flipper assembly on a Superman pinball machine.

Pop bumper assembly

Eject hole assembly

Pop bumper assembly and eject hole assembly on a Superman pinball machine.

4.3 MPU

The Atari MPU is based on the 6800 microprocessor.

4.3.1 Generation 1

There was a total of 17 different variations of the Generation 1 MPU, largely dependent upon which game it was intended for. Later revision boards were longer than earlier revision boards to accommodate changes with ROM/PROM chips. Additionally, some "universal" boards exist (one short board revision and one long board revision), which are fully populated (unlike the game-specific boards) and can be placed in any game as long as the appropriate ROMs/PROMs are installed on the board.

MPU Revision	Game	Board Type	Game ROMs/PROMs	Notes
A006020-01	The Atarians	Short	Standard Proms (E1-E8)
A006020-02	Universal	Short	?
A006020-03	Time 2000	Short	Standard PROMs (E1-E8)
A006020-04	Airborne Avenger	Short	Standard PROMs (E1-E8)
A006020-05	The Atarians	Short	Standard PROMs (E1-E8)
A006020-06	Time 2000	Long	?
A006020-07	Time 2000	Long	Linear ROMs (E0-E00)
A006020-08	Airborne Avenger	Long	Linear PROMs (E1-E8)
A006020-09	Airborne Avenger	Long	Linear ROMs (E0-E00)
A006020-10	Time 2000	Long	?
A006020-11	Middle Earth	Long	Standard PROMs (E1-E8)
A006020-12	Universal	Long	Linear Proms (E1-E8)
A006020-13	n/a			This revision does not exist
A006020-14	Middle Earth	Long	German PROMs (E1-E8)
A006020-15	Middle Earth	Long	Linear ROMs (E0-E00)
A006020-16	Middle Earth	Long	Linear PROMs (E1-E8)
A006020-17	Space Rider	Long	Linear ROMs (E0-E00)
A006020-18	Space Rider	Long	Standard PROMs (E1-E8)

Generation 1 Linear ROMs at E0-E00 on a long board type

Generation 1 A006020-17 board

Generation 1 MPU board layout

4.3.1.1 Solenoid Transistors

Generation 1 MPU solenoid transistors; pictured is a Middle Earth MPU

The transistors that operate the solenoid are located on the MPU in sequential order going from Q1 to Q20. However, through-holes for what would be Q14 and Q18 are missing and do not exist on the MPU.

Notice that not all the transistors have been populated on the MPU. This is because not all games use the full bank of transistors/solenoids. For example, on Middle Earth, there are only 8 solenoids in the game, plus the play counter/meter (at Q20). So, only a total of 9 transistors are needed for the entire game. Other games have different numbers of transistors to operate the required solenoids in those respective games.

4.3.1.1.1 The Atarians

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	Q9	Q10
-	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
Q11	Q12	Q13		Q15	Q16	Q17		Q19	Q20
-	Y	-	-	Y	-	Y	-	Y	Y

• Q2: Left Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q3: Center Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q4: Right Hole Kicker
• Q5: Outhole Kicker
• Q6: Total Plays Counter Meter
• Q7: Atari
• Q8: Right Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q9: Left Gate
• Q10: Right Flipper
• Q12: Left Hole Kicker
• Q15: Left Slingshot
• Q17: Right Slingshot
• Q19: Right Gate
• Q20: Left Flipper

4.3.1.1.2 Time 2000

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	Q9	Q10
Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	-	-
Q11	Q12	Q13		Q15	Q16	Q17		Q19	Q20
Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	Y	-	-	-

• Q1: Upper Drop Target
• Q2: Left Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q3: Lower Drop Target
• Q4: Center Hole Kicker
• Q5: Outhole Kicker
• Q6: Right Center Flipper
• Q7: Right Hole Kicker
• Q8: Right Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q11: Right Flipper Outside
• Q12: Gate
• Q13: Left Center Flipper
• Q15: Left Slingshot
• Q16: Left Flipper Outside
• Q17: Right Slingshot

4.3.1.1.3 Airborne Avenger

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	Q9	Q10
Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	-	-
Q11	Q12	Q13		Q15	Q16	Q17		Q19	Q20
Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	Y	-	-	Y

• Q1: Lower Right Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q2: Upper Left Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q3: Extra Ball Meter
• Q4: Left Ball Eject
• Q5: Outhole Kicker
• Q6: Right Eject Pocket
• Q7: Right Ball Eject
• Q8: Upper Right Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q11: Right Flipper
• Q12: Gate
• Q13: Left Eject Pocket
• Q15: Left Slingshot
• Q16: Left Flipper
• Q17: Right Slingshot
• Q20: Total Plays Meter

4.3.1.1.4 Middle Earth

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	Q9	Q10
Y	Y	-	-	Y	-	-	-	-	-
Q11	Q12	Q13		Q15	Q16	Q17		Q19	Q20
Y	Y	-	-	Y	Y	Y	-	-	Y

• Q1: Outhole Kicker
• Q2: Left Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q5: Upper Drop Target
• Q11: Right Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q12: Flipper Control
• Q15: Right Slingshot
• Q16: Lower Drop Target
• Q17: Left Slingshot
• Q20: Total Plays Meter

4.3.1.1.5 Space Riders

Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q5	Q6	Q7	Q8	Q9	Q10
Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	Y
Q11	Q12	Q13		Q15	Q16	Q17		Q19	Q20
Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y	Y	-	Y	Y

• Q1: Outhole Kicker
• Q2: Left Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q3: Extra Ball Meter
• Q5: Left Drop Target
• Q6: Center Drop Target
• Q8: Left Outhole Kicker
• Q9: Time Counter Meter (optional)
• Q10: Replay Meter (optional)
• Q11: Right Thumper Bumper (Pop Bumper)
• Q12: Flipper Control
• Q13: Right Outhole Kicker
• Q15: Right Slingshot
• Q16: Right Drop Target
• Q17: Left Slingshot
• Q19: Special Counter Meter (optional)
• Q20: Total Plays Meter

4.3.2 Generation 2

Unlike the Generation 1 MPU boards, the Generation 2 MPU boards had batteries to retain scores and bookkeeping data.

Redrawn & Combined Generation 2 MPU Board Schematic

4.4 I/O Driver Board

4.4.1 Generation 2

Redrawn & Combined Generation 2 IO Board Schematic

4.5 Power Supply

4.5.2 Generation 2

Redrawn & Combined Generation 2 Power Supply & Transformer Wiring Diagram

4.6 Fuses

4.6.1 Generation 1

Generation 1 games have three banks of fuses; the primary fuse on the right-hand side of the cabinet, the power supply fuses near the transformer at the back of the cabinet, and a fuse board attached to the MPU for each individual solenoid. Some Space Riders games have an additional bank of fuses to protect the lamp driver transistors on the auxiliary board.

• 

  Generation 1 primary fuses with black cover removed, on the right side of the cabinet
• 

  Generation 1 power supply fuses near the transformer at the back of the cabinet
• 

  Generation 1 fuse board attached to the MPU from a Middle Earth

4.6.1.1 Primary Fuses

There are three fuses used here: one for line power, one for the backbox lights, and one for the service outlet.

4.6.1.2 Power Supply Fuses

The Atarians schematics have a different fuse numbering scheme than the schematics for all the other Generation 1 games that followed it. The Atarians schematics list the solenoid fuse as F1, however, in all other Generation 1 games, it is listed as F6. Double check your game wiring and schematics when working with the fuses. [4] It is unclear if the labeling difference was an error in the schematics, or if Atarians was actually labeled differently than all the other games.

For the solenoid fuse (F1 in Atarians, F6 in all others), there is a recommendation to replace the 15 amp slow-blow fuse with a 5 amp slow-blow fuse. [5]

4.6.1.3 Solenoid Fuses

Generation 1 fuse board from a Middle Earth. Notice that the fuse numbers are out of sequence

All the solenoid fuses are 2 Amp slow-blow fuses.

Not all games use all the fuse holder slots, since each game has a different number of solenoids and transistors on the MPU at different positions. The MPU transistor positions Q1-Q20 correspond to the fuse holder positions F1-F20. The transistors are in sequential order on the MPU (sans Q14 and Q18), but the fuses numbered on the fuse board are not.

4.6.1.4 Auxiliary Board Fuses

Service Bulletin about the additional fuses in Space Riders for the Auxiliary Board

4.6.2 Generation 2

On Superman:

• F1 Machine main power fuse, 5 amp slow blow, located on metal box on bottom of cabinet.
• F2 Service Outlet fuse, 2 amp slow blow, located on metal box on bottom of cabinet.
• F3 To BR1 & C1 (50 volts dc to coils), 15 amp slow blow, located in backbox.
• F4 To BR2 (+7 volts circuit), 15 amp slow blow, located in backbox.
• F5 To BR3 & C2 (+12 volts circuit), 7 amp slow blow, located in backbox.
• F6 For 6 volts AC general illumination circuit, 10 amp slow blow fuse.
• F7 Center tap of 6 volt circuit, 1 amp slow blow, located in backbox.

4.7 Switches

4.7.2 Generation 2

Chart for switch locations on Superman

5 Problems and Fixes

Official Atari Pinball Troubleshooting Guide

5.1 Generation 1

5.1.1 Displays

Generation 1 games had the high voltage displays mounted in the apron. When working on these games, either turn the machine off or use extreme caution, as it may be easy to receive a shock from these displays because of their mounting location.

5.1.2 Lamps

If a whole section of lamps do not light, the screws on one or more of the driver transistors on the power supply might be loose. When these screws are loose, the transistors do not make good contact with the traces on the board.

5.2 Generation 2

5.2.1 Power Driver Issues

Pertains to Atari Superman and Hercules pinball (Atari Gen2 Circuit Boards)

If all playfield coils except for the flippers do not work, the likely suspect would be the chip enable circuit that is based around the CDN4013 chip located at B4/5, and also utilizes the MPS-A06 transistors at Q65, Q66, Q81, Q106 and the SJU783 transitor at Q103.

Other than the chip-enable circuitry, the solenoid driver section on the Gen2 Atari driver board is a very simple circuit layout. A single MC14514B line decoder controls each of the individual solenoid circuits. Each solenoid circuit consists of only an MPS-A06 pre-driver transistor, which drives the SJE783 driver transistor.

There is some confusion regarding driver transistors, as the schematic lists the driver transistor to be an SJE783, while the board layout lists a 2N6041, but most boards used an RCA8203B. The SJE783 is essentially impossible to find any information about, and the RCA8203B has been unavailable for quite some time. While the 2N6041 is available, a cheaper and more robust alternative would be the TIP107. Note that this applies only to Superman and Hercules boards, earlier machines used different components.

The MPS-A06 is still a commonly available part through most large electronics houses.

5.2.2 MPU Issues

Pertains to Atari "Superman" pinball.

Clocking: Atari utilized a unique clocking system that utilized two independent clock channels - a main clock and an audio clock. To further complicate the issue, the main clock switches back and forth between two different speeds, depending on which portions of the boardset the CPU chip is accessing. When reading from the ROM chips, the main clock speed is generally seen as 1mhz. However, for most RAM and I/O circuits the main clock will slow to .67mhz due to the slower components being accessed. The audio clock runs at a fixed speed of 2mhz. (To be updated with clock testing procedures.)

Switch problems: many switches not recognized or operating one switch triggers several other switches. Replace chips H7 (74LS244), E6 (7407), and D6 (7407).

Battery holder corrosion: There is a 3 AA battery holder made of aluminum that will corrode over time causing loss of battery backed data like replay scores and bookkeeping. Drill out the four rivets and unsolder the two terminals to remove the old battery holder. A new, separate, 3 AA battery holder with wire leads can be mounted near the board. The wire leads will solder directly to the + and - terminals on the MPU board. You do not need to install an additional blocking diode, as there is already one in place on the circuit board.

EPROM /PROMs:

Gen2: For Generation 2 circuit boards, there are two independent sets of ROM sockets designed into the circuit board. Locations K/L7, M7 and J7 are designed to use 2716 EPROM chips, while E5 thru K5 are intended for 1k PROM chips. The original thinking was that three of the (at the time) more expensive 2k EPROMS would be used during development and early production of a title. When the software was finalized, it would be written to six of the 1k PROM chips, as they were cheaper to produce if done in large numbers.

As the PROM chips are difficult to both acquire and write to, most users will simply use the EPROM sockets. Many boards do not even have sockets installed for the PROMs, making it a moot point.

5.2.3 Power Supply Issues

Pertains to Atari "Superman" pinball:

All three bridge rectifiers are type MDA3501.

5.2.4 Displays

Superman games and following games/prototypes have the displays mounted in the head more like most other machines. They are high voltage, but less chance of receiving a shock because of the mounting location, unlike generation 1 games.

6 Parts Substitutions & Replacements

6.1 Flipper Assemblies

6.1.1 Rotary Solenoid

Rotary solenoids were used for flipper assemblies on early Atari games including Atarians and Airborne Avengers. For games after Airborne Avengers, Atari started using standard plunger-based assemblies. Atari also provided standard flipper assembly kits to operators to replace the older rotary solenoid flipper assemblies.

Rotary solenoids are made by Ledex

6.2 Aftermarket Boards

6.2.1 AC Solenoid board (Hercules only)

A pinside member claimed to be working on an AC solenoid replacement board [6][7] in 2014 for Hercules.

6.2.2 MPU

Hans at siegecraft.us previously discussed the possibility of a reproduction board [8], but could not justify producing it because of low demand and high cost since the board has a very large footprint [9].

7 Recommended Modifications

7.2 Generation 2

7.2.1 Power Supply

On Gen2 games, to prevent the solenoids from locking on and burning up, it is recommended to install in-line 2.5 Amp slow-blow fuses on pin 1 and pin 4 of connector J41. [10]

Power supply fuses

9 Repair Logs

9.1 Rotary Solenoid Repair

Rewinding a rotary solenoid

9.2 Feature lamps stay on during solenoid test

On a Space Riders, it was noted that some feature lamps remained on during a solenoid test. There appeared to be a PCB trace shorting two lamps together under one of the lamp matrix ICs.

10 Testers

10.1 Generation 1 System Testers

• Generation 1 PBS-1 Pinball Tester
• 

  Catalog photo with game-specific input/output overlay sheets

• 

  Front; with wiring
• 

  Rear
• 

  Control Panel

10.2 Generation 2 System Testers

• Generation 2 Pinball Tester
• 

  Front
• 

  Right Side
• 

  Inside
• 

  On a bench connected to boards
• 

  Right Side
• 

  Left Side
• 

  Lit LEDs

• Generation Pinball 2 Tester - Dealer Prototype
• 

  Front
• 

  Left Side
• 

  Right Side
• 

  Inside
• 

  Inside Door