(Topic ID: 98285)

A Question, If You Have an Embryon with an Alltek MPU Board

By Heretic_9

9 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 16 posts
  • 8 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 9 years ago by mof
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

You

Linked Games

#1 9 years ago

Although properly set up to do so, mine does NOT award the (standard) secondary replay level, at 700 M. points. Everything else works as it should. Is this a known issue ? (I have sent emails to Alltek, but received no reply.) If it is a known issue, I won't bother trying to test another of these boards. While it would be nice to have this function work also, I don't regard it as a critical problem. And, at this point, any original Bally boards out there are going to be refurbs . . . .

#2 9 years ago

Alltek's seem to have little quirks here and there in many of the classic Bally games. I know there is a bug in how medusa's drop targets stop resetting correctly at a certain point. I believe due to copyright issues they are not running exact copies of the original ROMS.

#3 9 years ago

Clear/check the level 3 replay audit. If you have junk value audit there and it can mess up earlier replay values.

#4 9 years ago
Quoted from barakandl:

Clear/check the level 3 replay audit. If you have junk value audit there and it can mess up earlier replay values.

Thanks, I will look into that.

On a marginally related note, you really have to wonder about so many of those eBay listings. For example

ebay.com link: Original Factory Artwork for Bally 039 s 1982 EMBRYON Pinball Machine

which -- surprise, surprise -- did not sell. I'm a HUGE fan of Embryon, but that sort of price for this seems ridiculous to me.

#5 9 years ago
Quoted from barakandl:

Clear/check the level 3 replay audit. If you have junk value audit there and it can mess up earlier replay values.

Interesting...
What would a "junk value" look like?
-mof

#6 9 years ago

if you had a 6 digit display showing 49xx9x where x = a blank digit spot. That is junk data. Or a score of 454545 is junk. There is no way for the 1's digit to have anything but a zero.

Basically the RAM gets scrambled when there is no battery connected. The display only shows 0-9, but in hex there can be a higher number (the blank spots). That can confuse the game when it is checking replay values.

#7 9 years ago

I just tested my Embryon (with an Alltek). It scored both replays and the 3 replays on the rollover just fine, so I agree with above, scrambled junk in the settings. I'd clear it completely and reset it.

#8 9 years ago
Quoted from Heretic_9:

Thanks, I will look into that.
On a marginally related note, you really have to wonder about so many of those eBay listings. For example
ebay.com link » Original Factory Artwork For Bally 039 S 1982 Embryon Pinball Machine
which -- surprise, surprise -- did not sell. I'm a HUGE fan of Embryon, but that sort of price for this seems ridiculous to me.

That guy has been listing that for a couple of years...... total BS

#9 9 years ago
Quoted from Xenon75:

I believe due to copyright issues they are not running exact copies of the original ROMS.

First time hearing this, is this true? What is the copyright issue, exactly?

#10 9 years ago
Quoted from barakandl:

Basically the RAM gets scrambled when there is no battery connected.

This title -- presumably like other early SS -- does not have a backup battery. Unless you are referring to something (PROM chip ?) on the board itself that I'm not familiar with.

#11 9 years ago
Quoted from dasvis:

That guy has been listing that for a couple of years...... total BS

A potential buyer for such an item at such a price would have to meet three criteria: tremendous fan of the Embryon pin (o.k., I'm there, so far . . .); tremendous fan of the artwork (not a given, nor does it necessarily follow from Point #1; very deep pockets and that sum is considered trivial for such a purchase. The chance of meeting all three criteria is probably close to Zero.

#12 9 years ago
Quoted from Heretic_9:

This title -- presumably like other early SS -- does not have a backup battery. Unless you are referring to something (PROM chip ?) on the board itself that I'm not familiar with.

Ugh? what??

There is for sure a static ram that for sure can get junk audits in it. The altek probably has a ram that doesn't need a battery, you can still get junk audits. Software crash from low logic voltage, boom... audits scrambled.

It burns my ass when someone asks a question, i give a good response, and they fight back about it.

#13 9 years ago

Total misread on your part. Not arguing, just inquiring. Relative newbie here, when it comes to pin ownership. Just trying to get better educated about these things -- that's all. Of my few tables, only one is later than the late 1980s, and that's the only one where I could see or identify a battery. I want to learn the things that I need to know.

#14 9 years ago
Quoted from Heretic_9:

Total misread on your part. Not arguing, just inquiring. Relative newbie here, when it comes to pin ownership. Just trying to get better educated about these things -- that's all. Of my few tables, only one is later than the late 1980s, and that's the only one where I could see or identify a battery. I want to learn the things that I need to know.

This is the location of the manual for the Alltek:

http://www.allteksystems.com/pdfs/Complete_Manual_Ver_F.pdf

(Look up the memory clear feature).

The board uses different memory locations for different games. Sometimes when you switch the board moving it from one game to another you end up with garbage in the memory locations the game uses. Clearing the board usually clears them.

The thing about doing that is that all the settings go back to default. So things like background sounds may no longer be enabled. The older games like Embryon had both dip switch settings, and soft settings. I think Embryon also has different soft settings for two different types of sounds, and which targets activate them or not. Those settings will be found in the Embryon manual.

#15 9 years ago
Quoted from Heretic_9:

I'm a HUGE fan of Embryon, but that sort of price for this seems ridiculous to me.

Total BS or not, I guess this is where supply and demand kicks in. I'd be happy to buy it, but it's a bit too far away to pick up when you live in Europe. I've talked to the seller but he adamantly refuses to ship it.

#16 9 years ago
Quoted from DaveH:

This is the location of the manual for the Alltek:
http://www.allteksystems.com/pdfs/Complete_Manual_Ver_F.pdf
(Look up the memory clear feature).
The board uses different memory locations for different games. Sometimes when you switch the board moving it from one game to another you end up with garbage in the memory locations the game uses. Clearing the board usually clears them.
The thing about doing that is that all the settings go back to default. So things like background sounds may no longer be enabled. The older games like Embryon had both dip switch settings, and soft settings. I think Embryon also has different soft settings for two different types of sounds, and which targets activate them or not. Those settings will be found in the Embryon manual.

Thanks for posting this, I had no idea about this.
-mof

Promoted items from the Pinside Marketplace
$ 5.95
Playfield - Protection
The Pinball Scientist
Protection
$ 22.95
Eproms
Pinballrom
Eproms
$ 119.95
Boards
Allteksystems
Boards
$ 10.00
$ 7.50
Playfield - Plastics
UpKick Pinball
Plastics
From: $ 2.99
$ 25.00
Playfield - Protection
UpKick Pinball
Protection
$ 199.95
$ 1,099.00
Flipper Parts
Mircoplayfields
Flipper parts

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/a-question-if-you-have-an-embryon-with-an-alltek-mpu-board and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.