non lit colunm and no menu

[kronos943]

the fourth colunm from the left wont light up and it always starts in space invaders never in the menu. nor can i reset it to the menu. there was a small bit of copper showing on a track in the top right not sure if that is the issue. i check all of the resistors and even touched up the solder. the IC pins are not damaged or bent. if you can help please respond asap

[hotchk155]

Hey - sorry to hear you're having problems..

The columns on the display are direct driven, so a connection issue could be at matrix pin, the resistor, or at the microcontroller pin that controls that column. Please can you check all the solder joints on the LED matrix and the microcontroller socket. In the worst case the LED matrix could have a fault but lets rule out other possibilities first.

For the menu - I guess the fire button C works, right, so please can you check solder joints on button A and on the IC socket. Also please make sure that you are holding down buttons A and C together for at least 3 seconds to get to the menu

If you still can't get it working please can you email me a hi-res picture of the back of the board and also a picture of the display you are getting.

At worst you can send it back - if the issue is faulty parts I will send a replacement kit and refund your postage, otherwise if its an assembly problem I'll fix it but you'd need to pay the postage. Anyway, I'm hopeful it won't come to that. Most issues turn out to be incomplete solder joints - I've not had any faulty PCB issues and don't think the exposed track you mention is likely to be an issue unless the track is actually damaged.

Cheers
Jason

[hotchk155]

any luck?