12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890 Defender Basic Repair Suggestions --------------------------------- Yes, there is no ROM 5 in a Red Label Defender Machine... :) First, wiggle and clean all connectors, you'd be amazed how many games can be fixed this way. Simply ensure that all make a good connection and that there are no cold solder joints on the circuit board to the connector pins. Next, assuming that the connectors was not the problem, start with the power Supply. Are all 3 lights on? Don't trust them too much, they simply indicate whether there is any power in that section, not that its exactly +5v, +12v, etc. Get your hands on a scope, or at least a voltmeter and check out the outputs on the connector. If any are out of spec by more than a volt, something is likely amiss. There are 4 LED's on the Defender main CPU board, they should all flash twice in sequence if all is well. After the power supply, move on to the socketed IC's. Simply remove each one, clean the pins with light sandpaper if need be (most I've seen are quite corroded and required a little more than contact-renew). Then clean the socket itself with whatever is handy (Contact-Renew, TV Tuner Cleaner, etc) and replace the chip. After being moved and bounced around alot, its a fair bet that one or two IC's are ready to make a jump for it. If this still doesn't help, its time to get down and dirty. If the 'Rug test' comes up, then things are much easier, as the game will likely tell you which rom is toast (if its a rom). I've found its best to turn the game off and on quite a few times, with lots of time in-between, to see which roms are bad. Sometimes the game will change its mind and indicate a different rom is bad, its best in this case to change both or at least the one that shows up the most. I had a couple of roms in my machine that checksum'd ok, but didn't work well, so don't always trust the checksum as an indicator of a roms health.