Skateball doesn't bootup or drops out after 1st drain

[swinks]

Hi guys

Have got my Skateball the other day and possibly just a transport vibration problem.

At first able to play a few games now in consistantly either doesn't boot up apart from general playfield lighting, or when you start a game and play the first ball and as soon as it goes into the ball catch aor drains the game drops out with all displays going blank, no sound and no flipper action. You also can not activate the start button - you have to switch off and hope that it boots.

With the last 10 starts not one game could bootup or get past the first ball.

I did check prior to starting all the plugs to the mpu boards etc were pushed in.

Any thoughts of what to start looking at?

[Strangeways]

Reseat connectors on MPU board with the power off. After you have done that, turn on the game and watch for the LED to flash 7 times. If it is "all good" the game should go into attract mode and you should be able to play it.

You can also gently sand the connectors on the MPU

This does not permanently fix this issue - it may happen again. Common connector issue.

Report back !

[swinks]

Thanks Nino

I will do it soon but we are packing and heading off to Sydney for 2 days, will try on Sunday morning and report your suggestions on Sunday. The problem started yesterday and then earlier this morning but will push my luck if I go down now as my wife's b'day tomorrow...

cheers

[swinks]

To add to that Nino

I did early this morning reseat all the plugs on the main board and got 7 led flashes and it worked on the first go but on the 2nd ball the game stopped. Then the problem of booting started, so Sunday I will do a light sand of connectors and check all wires are engaged into the plugs.

If any other suggestions, please let me know.

[Steve2010]

Jady,

Before sanding (or even reseating), I suggesting do as much as possible a check on the power train to/from the rectifier board, SD board, and MPU.  I think it will either come down to a faulty MPU (either faulty board component or loose chip connection) and/or bad connection of power in between the boards.

I strongly suspect you will find a power issue (and an intermittent one at that).  I would try testing immediately after a failure, and leave power on (ie. don't turn anything off).  Of course, you will need to be careful checking with the system live.  Test all of the test points on the boards.  Assuming it is a power train issue, and also that the power doesn't "correct itself" immediately after the failure (which may happen if the issue is an intermittent/touchy connector issue), you should be able to test the power trails through the various connectors.

Displays going blank.  Maybe a starting point.  If this happens again, test for the HV voltage on the display boards.  If the HV is not there, likely nothing to do with the MPU, but very likely the SD and/or rectifier.

If you need the schematis for Skateball, I have them, but you can also easily get them off the ipdb.  I had an issue like this with my Bally Freedom, game would play, then stop suddenly.  Ended up being a power train issue, and nothing to do with the MPU.  But it took a good couple of hours slowly but thoroughly going through the power train between rectifier, SD, and MPU to confirm.

[swinks]

Hi guys, am I on the right track....?

I removed the 4 plugs off the MPU board, every so slight sand with 1200 wet and dry (dry of course) along the pins, pushed all the wires into there plugs just to make sure nothing has worked loose.

Next removed the board and checked all the chips with a little push - all good, then re-assmebled everything.

Next checked all other plugs inside the backbox... all good

Tried a boot up test, only got 6 flashes on the MPU led then nothing with only the playfield lighting coming on.

Then thought, check all fuses, 1st the obvious on the power supply board (6 off), no problems then to the solenoid board where there is just 1 x Fuse 8 AG - 3/16 amp fuse. It had no wire in it that I could see and one end was loose and easily twisted off........ I hope to find one of these tomorrow but do you think this could be the problem?????????

any thoughts.

[dj10555]

6 flashes means the MPU is not receiving the 43v solenoid voltage. You can check the voltage is present by measuring it on the rectifier board. If you get 43volts here then the problem could be on either the rectifier board connectors or MPU J4 (in lower hand corner) connector. With a torch have a look at all the pins in J4 for any green corrosion and also look into the connector holes with a torch held behind the connector. It's difficult but you can sometimes see a connector which does not have enough tension to make full contact or has broken inside the connector housing.

The fuse on the solenoid board is for hv to the display. If the fuse is blown then the displays should not work.

[Strangeways]

In addition to Derek's comments - Check Fuse F4 on the rectifier board. This should be 5 Amp. No seventh flash may indicate this fuse has blown. TP5 should read 43VDC.

The 3/16 Amp fuse is only the High Voltage for the displays.

[swinks]

This might be a silly question but testing voltages on boards is new to me, and don't want blow anything. Do I put one lead on a earth strap and one lead on the pin?

[Strangeways]

This might be a silly question but testing voltages on boards is new to me, and don't want blow anything. Do I put one lead on a earth strap and one lead on the pin?

That will work. The black lead on an earth strap and the red is used to measure the voltages (set to DC) on the test points (other than TP4 which is AC).

[swinks]

Thanks Nino for the info, I will check out around lunch time when time allows.

You are right with the displays as they are not working with the fuse not engaged, will be hunting for that today at Jaycar.

cheers

[Steve2010]

The fuse is unlikely to be found at Jaycar (at least that is what I found last time I checked with them).

Here are a few links for where you can find them.

GPE - http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/search.asp?nobox=&scat=&stext=fuse&stype=&sprice=&pg=2.  Ed is a really good guy at GPE, and postage is most reasonable.  If you buy from overseas, may as well add other misc./spare electrical components at the same time.

Big Daddy - http://www.bigdaddy-enterprises.com/

[swinks]

Yes you are right Steve Jaycar don't have it but there is a amusement place called Highway Amusements near Jaycar that may have it.

Now for the results from tests.

> all fuses on the rectifier board are good (continuity check outside the holder) except for the 4amp (fuse 3) which has powder floating in it when you tip it.

> checked the test points:
>>TP1 - 5.9 VDC
>>TP2 - 223 VDC
>>TP3 - 13.7 VDC
>>TP4 - 6 VAC
>>TP5 - 43.4 VDC

> checked all plugs - yes very hard to see but fairly positive there is no green corrosion - On J4 (MPU) I thought maybe a way to check the plug is connecting to the board plug I half pushed the plug on and did a continuity test between the board pin and the back of the plug V - results all were good except positions 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 all shared continuity with each other ???? do not know if this should be.

> as for the flashes - it flashes once on flicking the on switch underneath, then about a 2 sec pause then 6 flashes. So maybe can someone can tell me if the 7 flashes start from turning on or after the flash and 2 sec pause.

So the machine still doesn't start into a game and apart from learning test points I am not much wiser. It did go once into the start up tune but the credit did not do anything. Any help would be much appreciated based on what I have discovered.

Cheers

[swinks]

Thanks Steve

No luck locally, rang a heap of places about the fuses. Manufacture stopped a few years ago so this will just be harder and harder to get. I went for Big Daddy, not cheap for fuses but hey I need them.

Could anyone offer anymore if to what is happening, as I am not a electronics whiz and am stuck. See last post for the tests I did.

[Strangeways]

The voltages look fine to me. It still sounds like a connector and most likely it will be on the Solenoid driver board. Can you remove the SD board and then check the solder side of the board for dry joints. You may need to reflow the connectors. Also, look around the relay mounted on this board.

You can also sand the connectors on the SD board and check the pins (as described earlier)

Another quick check would be the fuse under the playfield. If this has blown, the game will go into attract mode but not kick out the first ball.

The power on MPU flicker does not count as one of the seven flashes. There's the little flicker, one flash, a pause, then 6 flashes until the game boots and the led is dimly lit. The game should then go into attract mode.