Atomiswave VGA fixes (Now with instructions! Thanks MKL!!!)

[Fox1]

So what's the official word on getting the vga on the atomiswave to work on the monitors that don't see the signal fully? I know that the atomiswave is rgbs and I need to change it to rgbhv, how would I go about doing that? Also what would be a good vga amp to use? Appreciate it

[NGT]

Originally Posted by Fox1

So what's the official word on getting the vga on the atomiswave to work on the monitors that don't see the signal fully? I know that the atomiswave is rgbs and I need to change it to rgbhv, how would I go about doing that? Also what would be a good vga amp to use? Appreciate it

I'm going to try one of these, but I need an AW first, lol.

http://www.jammaboards.com/store/cga.../prod_291.html

[Fox1]

Originally Posted by NGT

I'm going to try one of these, but I need an AW first, lol.

http://www.jammaboards.com/store/cga.../prod_291.html

I guess I will try it too heh

[NGT]

Originally Posted by Fox1

I guess I will try it too heh

Since you are in the Bay, you are welcome to come up here and give it a shot before buying it. I haven't received the part yet, although it was said to be on it's way since Monday. Should be here soon and I'll get it working. I have a monitor (mitsubishi megaview pro 27) that the AW wouldn't sync to and a tv with VGA that the AW wouldn't even show a picture. I'd be willing to jimmy rig a supergun I have if I can dig it up and set it up in the living room, as well as run it on the cab next to the megaview and run the vga over to test the sync and signal strength of this thing. I'm going to try it anyways as soon as I sell a couple more games and pick up an AW for the 4th time, lol.

I wish I would have found this thing before I sold my 573 hardware

[Stand Watie]

Ask Samsho Sensi....

He was messing around with one of these upscanners...

But I don't know if he has an ATW board.

[Fox1]

Originally Posted by NGT

Since you are in the Bay, you are welcome to come up here and give it a shot before buying it. I haven't received the part yet, although it was said to be on it's way since Monday. Should be here soon and I'll get it working. I have a monitor (mitsubishi megaview pro 27) that the AW wouldn't sync to and a tv with VGA that the AW wouldn't even show a picture. I'd be willing to jimmy rig a supergun I have if I can dig it up and set it up in the living room, as well as run it on the cab next to the megaview and run the vga over to test the sync and signal strength of this thing. I'm going to try it anyways as soon as I sell a couple more games and pick up an AW for the 4th time, lol.

I wish I would have found this thing before I sold my 573 hardware

Would love to if I wasn't leaving for 10 days to North Carolina on Tuesday...freaking sister lol

[Fox1]

Btw on a sidenote, while consolizing a atomiswave...what power requirements does it have? IE what power supply should I get? Cause this 4A-5 Volt and 1A-12V power supply that I have may not be cutting it...it works for my consolized mvs though

[Xian Xi]

+5v@4A and +12v@1A should be more than enough.

[MKL]

Originally Posted by Fox1

So what's the official word on getting the vga on the atomiswave to work on the monitors that don't see the signal fully? I know that the atomiswave is rgbs and I need to change it to rgbhv, how would I go about doing that?

You need a sync separator IC that has H and V outputs like EL1883 (LM1881 lacks the H output) or EL4583. The EL1883 is much cheaper but only comes in a surface-mount package so it's more difficult to solder to a standard thru-hole perfboard. You could hack a JROK sync cleaner so it doesn't recombine the csync.

Originally Posted by Fox1

Also what would be a good vga amp to use? Appreciate it

You don't need one. The AW VGA port outputs 0.7vpp RGB levels which is what a VGA monitor expects.

I believe it's possible to run an AW motherboard with only 5V but it requires replacing the fan and doing some hack on the mobo.

[SamuraiShodownSensei]

Originally Posted by norton9478

Ask Samsho Sensi....

He was messing around with one of these upscanners...

But I don't know if he has an ATW board.

Don't have an atomiswave, but the converter works decently enough. It has it's hiccups, but for 50 bucks it's worth it.

[NGT]

Originally Posted by MKL

You don't need one. The AW VGA port outputs 0.7vpp RGB levels which is what a VGA monitor expects

So my monitor that wouldn't even show the picture, wouldn't show it at all, not because the signal wasn't strong enough, but the monitor possibly just doesn't show a signal without the right sync signal? I hooked up Winning Eleven 2003 and the signal showed up, but flipped like when I have a game set to the wrong resolution on an arcade monitor. The system only outputs vga, so I figured it was the sync issue again. Not doubting your info at all, just wondering if there's another factor that could have caused these two systems to work in different ways. Could just have been the monitor being picky or something.

[Fox1]

ah ok I fixed my power problem, just had to yell it at np lol

[MKL]

Fox1 PM'd me about my suggestion to use a JROK sync cleaner PCB to separate the AW CSYNC into HSYNC and VSYNC in the hope of getting a picture on his monitor through VGA. This can be done either with an internal mod to the AW motherboard or by building an external device that goes in between the VGA port of the AW motherboard and a standard VGA cable. I'm going to post instructions about the internal mod but since I don't currently have either an AW or a JROK sync cleaner everything will need to be double checked (by Fox1 or whomsoever wants to try this).

There's plenty of room in an AW mobo to install a tiny PCB like the JROK sync cleaner. I tentatively suggest to mount it near the VGA port, under the metal shielding, to keep the wires short and tidy.

Take a piece of plastic sheet and cut it to the size shown in the pic (don't forget the screw hole). The plastic piece must be thick enough to keep the bottom of the JROK PCB away from the amplifier pins (which could also be trimmed if need be):



The bigger IC (an EX-OR gate) as well as the thru-hole components (header, LEDs) on the JROK must be removed (or the shielding can't be put back on). The heat sink screw and the plastic piece should keep the JROK secure and stable enough:



Flip the AW board over and cut the CSYNC trace so that there's no more continuity between the Jamma sync pin (Jamma P) and pin 13 on the VGA port:



Solder wires (AWG 28 ribbon cable recommended) as shown, double-checking that everything is correct (gnd to gnd, 5V to 5V, etc.)



Should there be problems with mounting the JROK that way, put it somewhere on the bottom of the AW case.

[Fox1]

Thanks MKL appreciate it! I will try it later this afternoon

[Fox1]

Ok I just did it. I cut the trace and made sure there was no continuity between it and pin 13 of the vga. Connected everything to the corresponding pins on the front, however I still get no picture. The television sees the signal, but says invalid format and my other television sees the signal as well but nothing displays. On another note the monitor that worked with it before is also having problems. Before it displayed perfectly, however now it looks like its having problems as seen in these photos:


Also when its playing it sometimes looks shaky.

And here is the jrock (crappy ass picture lol):

[Xian Xi]

The pinout for the JROK Sync Cleaner is:

1. Ground
2. Sync Output
3. Sync Input
4. +5v

[Fox1]

Is there something I did wrong? I mean I did exactly according to the pic heh

[MKL]

Well, if you followed my instructions you should have used pin 5 (the rightmost one) for 5V as that's how I see it labelled in the only pic I have. Actually I did find it odd that the 5v pin wasn't on the header and now I learn from Xian Xi that it is pin 4 (labelled V). 4 and 5 might be connected together though.
Fact is I can't check your wiring in the pic you posted, can you post a better one? What I would really need is pics of both sides of the JROK, preferably without wires.
It makes no sense that the monitor that displayed a VGA picture fine with CSYNC doesn't do so with separate syncs. BTW, you set the DIP switch on the AW mobo to 31KHz did you?

edit: when I said that everything needed to be double checked that means with regards to 5v that you need to make sure there's continuity between jamma 3-4 and pin 8 of the EL1883.

[Fox1]

Sure I will take pics and all when I get back from north carolina in 1.5 weeks. Appreciate the help Mkl

[Fox1]

ok I kinda gave up on the sync cleaner and got some EL1883 chips, how would I go about connecting it to it?

[Xian Xi]

So after some messing around it turns out the sync signal was too strong so I told Fox1 to use a pot on the sync line and it fixed the sync problem.

[Fox1]

Originally Posted by Xian Xi

So after some messing around it turns out the sync signal was too strong so I told Fox1 to use a pot on the sync line and it fixed the sync problem.

Yea, that was for the scart problem though, the straight vga problem still exists >.< lol

[Xian Xi]

After some reading it looks like the atomiswave only works with a few TVs.

[Fox1]

Originally Posted by Xian Xi

After some reading it looks like the atomiswave only works with a few TVs.

Yea, which is why we are trying to get rid of the composite sync and dissecting it into H and V >.<

[Xian Xi]

I'll double check the sync cleaner when I get home. There has to be a spot on the PCB before the 2 are joined for final output.