Is there anyone here that knows anything about Arcade Games and Monitors?

I recently purchased an Arcade table that had a pretty nice 19" screen on it, but the screen was vertical. I decided to start my project by remounting the screen horizontally so I can play horizontal games. (I already have a vertical cab)

I took apart the cab, pulled out the monitor remounted it properly without any problems, plugged everything back in and...

Nothing

I turn it on and I get the CRT (audible) static power up noise, same when its shut off, but at no point is there even a flicker of a picture, not even video black. I have pulled the entire monitor apart remounted every ribbon checked every connection and I am at a loss. I'm pretty upset because the reason I bought his cab was because I liked the screen.

I've done research on the internet and everything that is a 'common cause' of what I'm talking about doesn't seem to be something that would be effected by picking up the monitor and rotating it 90 degrees.

I'm hoping its something that can be fixed and not like a 'busted my vacuum tube while trying to move it' sort of thing.

Does anyone have any ideas? This is my first arcade project and I don't want to be derailed on day one...

Thanks

I have no hands on experience with this kind of a project but it sounds like even though you think you plugged everything back in correctly you may not have or in the process you loosened a wire in a connecting plug.

The other thought is that the original cabinet may have had some kind of kill switch to keep someone from getting the shock of their life. In your new configuration that kill switch circuit may be open.

Carefully check the connection at the end of the CRT. Perhaps it is loose...

Remember there is high voltage in there (even when it has been off for a while), so do not touch anything with your bare hands.

If you can, I would seriously recommend swithing it to a LCD panel. Much less power use, and easier to mount and use.

Best place to talk about this is probably over at BYOAC's Monitor/Video (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17020771#post17020771) forum.

Good tips, including how not to light yourself up like a Christmas Tree when mucking around in the guts of a CRT.

yeah..those crt pack one hell of a punch..i have a crt in my arcade and im hoping it lasts so i dont have to screw around with it.

If you haven't checked out the news groups yet, they are a great resource, or at least they use to be when i was into this stuff. You may even find someonelocal to help.

http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.games.video.arcade/topics?lnk=srg

If this is an older monitor you could take a close look at the boards and see if any of the caps may have come lose, you may just have to reflow some soder, take a closer look at the boards for some bad traces, something may of come lose on the transfer. If it is a wells gardner I'm sure you can find some schematics online and find the power lines and make sure the traces are good. You could also check your cables and their connectors for continutity, old cables can get brittle, so you'd want to make sure they all work right and that their connectors don't have cracked solder on them.

Thanks for all the ideas, I'm still shooting blanks, I have been in contact with a repair tech and I'm thinking about just throwing in the towel and getting a Wells Gardner (If I can find one) repairing this one could cost pretty much the same as getting a new one.

The LCD route isn't a good option for me because its a cocktail table so the viewing angles are really really shallow, plus I'm not thrilled by the way old school games look on a LCD. I was hoping to have a cab that I could either use as a Mame cab or a Jamma cab, I don't know if you can do that with an LCD.

I'm not going to throw this one out, I'll keep researching and tinkering trying to get it to work, I really can't justify spending the money on a new monitor right now. I got a used crappy computer CRT off Craigslist for free that I'm going to try installing as a temporary fix until I can get the money to do a proper replacement.