Expert: Rodger Knutson - 4/14/2010

Question
QUESTION: Rodger,

I ended up getting the slot machine, but I think its more than a mechanical issue.  When I power it on the 71 error stays on even if I remove the entire reel assy.  Cannot make it go away no matter what.  Also and here is the interesting part, when the power comes on the machine lights semiflash the bell buzzes and the solenoids/magnets kick on/off constantly by themselves.  I am afriad it might be the mpu.  The only way I can make the machine not go haywire is removing the 9 pin (i believe) ribbon connector from the I/O board.  When I do this it goes to error 50 and becomes silent with all the lights on.  Any ideas?  I've been through the machine pretty throughly now, every thing has been reseated and inspected, got all my volts.  let me know.

thanks in advance,

Joe

ANSWER: Hi Joe,

This is not sounding good at all. I wondering, is this a e-1000, or a e-2000 machine? So, pushing the hopper reset button does nothing at all, is this correct? If this is correct I would remove the hopper board and see if anything is burnt or black on the back side of it. Also what ribben cable? Is this the one close to the top back of the MPU board mounted on the side?, and going to the IC board on the back of the machine? If so, you pull that off and then you say you get just the open door code of "50' and nothing is kicking on and off right? Also check the battery voltage and see if you have 3.6 volts. What is bothering me is the fact that pushing the hopper reset buttons, both reset or test does noting? I would check this hopper board first, then MPU battery voltage, pushing the hoper reset/test buttons should do something unless the hoper board is gone, then you can't do anything until this is fixed. Also let me know the model number, and/or a photo of the mpu board would be helpful to see if it is a e-1 or e-2 model.

Thanks
Rodger
Http://www.coinslots.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Rodger,

Im pretty sure that the machine is an e2000.  I have the service manual and all the broads point to it, plus some of them are labeled as such.  Here is the complete list of very specific problems in detail.  

When the ribbon cable from the MPU to the I/O board is unplugged I get an 50.0.000 code and the machine solenoids/lights do not cut on/off.  It is a 16 pin cable on the bottom right of the mpu board plugged into the bottom left of the i/o board.  w/ the ribbon unplugged the test button held down displays 500.0.01 and you can toggle the reset the code changes to 500.0.06.  

w/ the ribbon plugged in reel solenoid trips (though i have reel assy removed) bell rings and coin magnet fires/lights flicker tilt is lit and 71.000 is displayed.  you can toggle the reset and you get 71.0.06 the test button gives you 0.0.0.0.1.

w/ hopper assy out (which includes the hopper board) you get 71.0.00 lights flicker door magnet fires and bell rings, though no reel solenoid tripping.  Error code 71.0.00

I checked the hopper board and i got some burns in the line between q2 and q3 and a fried one by r20.  Also the cr13 led is never lit, is it supposed to be?

I all checked the battery voltage and it is a 4 volts.  which reminds me one thing the man mentioned to me is it likes to blow out lights, probably not good, said he went through a lot of them.

I can't figure this out, except possibly a bad mpu considering there is almost no change with the hopper removed or installed despite the burned/bad solder lines.  im going to try to send you some pics.

let me know what you think.  I know i can get a hopper board easy enough, its the mpu that scares me.  Plus I have the manual so if there is anything you think of as always i would love to hear from you.  I might not get back for a couple of days though, got a busy busy life, house, baby, demanding job etc.


thank you soooo much,

joe

this is odd it acts almost the same w/ the hopper assy out.

ANSWER: Have you removed the hopper board and inspected the back of the board for damage? also some hopper boards in early e-2000 machines use a e-1000 hopper board. can you maybe post a photo of the hoper board or do you know what it is? or maybe just the ASSY # of the board?
Rodger

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Rodger,

Ok i finally got to figuring this machine out a little bit last night.  I'm going to troubleshoot the error code 71 first.  I do have some damage to the hopper board.  i got some burns in the line between q2 and q3 and a fried one by r20.  I will get you the part number later, but im positive its an e2000 board, i looked at the book.  Last night I ran some test routines.  It appears my mpu is working fine.  Found some interesting things.  Test #4 the hopper runs its routine then at the end I get 59 displayed on the leds.  Also when I try running test #5 for the reel readers I get all zeros displayed.  I know there is supposed to be some values there, like 1c24 or something like that.  The book says i can move the reels and see the values change.  But the reels are locked in place unable to move, is that correct?  I unplug one the reel control board and get some 1552 number, which is strange.  here is the question i suppose, is the hopper board and the reel control board related some how, i mean is the burns in my hopper card the real cause of the 71 error?  just some thoughts.  any ideas?  also I plan on running some more routines w/ in the next couple of days.  Test #2 for reel coils and test #3 for the switches on the reel assy.

thanks,

Joe

Answer
Hi Joe,

Glad your taking some time to get to know the machine and how to understand it. I was asking a lot about the hopper board as that is how you reset the machine and also run tests. If the hopper board is bad, and the reset button will do nothing at all, you can't reset it to check or clear the 71 error code along with anything else. In the reel reader test you should be able to see the readings change as you turn the reels. to lock or release the reels by hand, reach under the mechanism and push each coil by hand to drop or lock the index arms, and pull the index arms back to lock them in released position by hand or vice a versa. History of how this machine got this way would really help a ton. Did anyone ever see it work or has someone switched boards trying to get it to work. Important note here! I once bought one not knowing anything about it, I went through everything and testing and replacing the bad parts but when I got it, it was missing the MPU board. I got another MPU, found the correct program and the machine would coin up, spin, stop and the reel reader lights would light up, but that is all it would do. I did a reel reader test 5 and found it could not read the reels. So I tried everything, new reel readers, new reader control board, I checked the wiring for the reel reader circuits, and everything was fine, but it still would not read the reel symbols! Well I was stumped. After about 6 months of driving myself crazy from time to time over this, I finally talked to someone who had an answer, the answer I was looking to find. I found out that on some older early "E" machines, it would do this if the MPU had the wrong P1-P2-P3 programs in it. I changed the p-1 Thu p-3 programs and "walla" it's eyes were open again, it could see again, and now it could read again and life was good again. I had in the past interchanges these programs without a problem, Intel this one machine came around. This is something that is possible in your case if you do not know, if this machine ever worked or not. Some other interesting information here, there are two different sets/types of reel readers, and each type of different sets, need the correct reel reader control boards for each set. One set are inferred readers, and the other set uses light bulbs. You can swap the different mechanisms with different readers for testing purposes because the readers and their proper reader control boards go with the mechanism and stay together. If you put the wrong reader boards together with the wrong reader control board you will blow them all out! So keep this in mind if your working on something that may have had the boards switched out and you have no history on. I am going to lead you to a different web site for technical help as your are good with this stuff, and also where knowledgeable people are there to help you as it will be much quicker for you to get answers on technical questions, then waiting for me here to answer your questions. I am also a member of this site and I'll see you there from time to time. The link to this site is: http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=forum I would recommend that you replace or repair that hopper board, as that could be all that is wrong with it. Sounds like your test circuit is still good in the hopper board but the reset circuit is dead and could very well be all your problems with this machine. If you need one, I should still have a couple around in my parts.

Sincerely

Rodger Knutson
http://www.coinslots.com