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Sparkles or Stars Around Pac-Man and Ghosts
Repair Case Summary
This page documents a firsthand Sparkles or Stars Around Pac-Man and Ghosts repair case.
It is intended for technicians and collectors troubleshooting original Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man arcade PCB hardware.
- Date: 2017-04-07
- Board: Original Pac-Man PCB
- Category: Graphics / character ROMs
- Symptoms:
- Sparkles/stars visible during attract mode when Pac-Man and the ghosts appear.
- Sparkles/stars visible in the ghost pen/camp on the maze screen.
- Diagnostic observations / tests:
- Suspect 5E/5F devices were tried on another board and produced the same symptoms.
- Components / locations investigated: 5E, 5F
- Root cause: Bad devices/ROMs at 5E/5F.
- Repair: Replaced the bad 5E/5F devices with known-good parts.
- Result: The graphical sparkles/stars were eliminated.
- Search terms: Pac-Man sparkles; Pac-Man stars; ghost pen sparkles; attract mode graphics; 5E; 5F; character graphics
- Evidence: Physically verified repair / firsthand repair log
How to Use This Repair Record
This is a firsthand physical repair case. The same symptom on another Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man PCB can have a different electrical cause. Use the documented diagnostic observations and tests to guide troubleshooting rather than replacing a component solely because it repaired this board.
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