Hi all,
I have an aging Wholehog 3 (2003) that is acting crazy. I bought it second hand and am trying to sort out some issues I'm coming across.
The main (and only) issue I've found is that there must be some loose connections or cracked solder joints somewhere.
Here's a description of the issue(s):
1). First bought it - left screen showing white (moving/flickering) horizontal lines. Opened the screen bezel up - screen magically works again.
2). Let it sit for a few weeks and go to boot it up and it's not finding front panel. Hung on boot-up HIII splash screen, screens go dark, blue LEDs on Choose keys flash (... ... ... ... ...)
3). Lift off front panel, press on some ribbon connectors and console boots up fine but everything seems "flickery". I find that most controls (left wheel, right wheel, and encoders (ESPECIALLY the encoders) cause the entire UI including the gooseneck light, buttons, and screens to flicker fairly dramatically whenever messed with. Jogging the left wheel even caused different series of buttons to light up and in different colors.
Really, just moving the front panel PCB seems to make things go haywire unless it is indirectly moving those wheels or something. I guess I'm just not sure if it's physical/mechanical movement causing the flickering, or if it's the input of information.
Can anyone tell me what to look for? I'm hoping to resell the console, but I'd hate to leave money on the table if it's something simple. Or on the other hand, maybe I need an entirely new front panel which is costly I'm sure. I am comfortable with a soldering iron if it turns out to be a cold/broken joint somewhere. The whole thing has me perplexed, really. I've always known how flakey electronics can be but this is insane.
Edit:
I went through and re-seated all ribbon cables and connectors. The board seems happy now, but I will give it some run time just to confirm.
