Right, no need for the original daughterboard to be present.. the PIGGY DEUX will work either way. Just need to make sure you have good connections on the MPU as Chris mentioned.

I don't think I ever mentioned this but these are now available on the website @ http://www.pinitech.com/products/gottlieb_piggydeux.php & of course eBay as some people have already found (had a few sales over there last month). Price is slightly higher on eBay due to fees over there.

Hopefully it's helped fix some issues for the handful of people that have bought one recently. Thanks for the support!

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http://www.pinitech.com - "Pinball Inspired Technology"
Kits, upgrades and test equipment for pinball machines

Yep, in that sense the PIGGY DEUX is additionally a handy diagnostic tool which can be used to either quickly identify issues with the original daughterboard (on machines that are immediately locking up after booting or resetting often) -- or that could be left in a machine longer term if the resets are occurring less frequently and eventually evidence would support solder joints if the resets no longer occur. Nice thing is it's easily removed so if it wasn't your issue, you have the board for the next "patient"

Something else to mention is if the actual "RESET BOARD" is connected in your game -- a wiring issue (mainly IRQ signals not getting to the board) or failing caps on the RESET BOARD may cause intermittent resets. That board can be disconnected to rule it out as it's not needed for the game to function and is generally what you will hear people tell you to do on System 80B games.

The diode and resistor are part of the normal reset board connections, found on the reset board harness (soldered to the board that typically plugs into TC1). Those components are maintained on the PIGGY DEUX. The diode is needed as part of the reset circuit in how the reset board actually initiates a reset. The pull-up is something Gottlieb added to one of the signal lines. Additional components are replacing the 7404.

Yep, can't hurt. Worst case it eliminates the daughter board's solder joints as being the issue. Best case, the machine boots right up.

Haven't had the chance to get a massive amount of these assembled ahead of time, but just curious if it's something that some people would be interested in bulk discounts on on quantities of 2-3x or more. Maybe for the repair guys to keep a few in-stock in their repair bag o' tricks? Just curious where to go with offering any bulk discounts one eBay/website versus just keeping a single price.

I had a chance to build up a few dozen of these since the last post & have added quantity discounts to the website.

http://www.pinitech.com/products/gottlieb_piggydeux.php

Please consider this as an option if you're not too sure of your abilities to remove the daughter board on your System 80B board and/or don't have the proper tools and technique for the task. The PIGGY DEUX is plug-and-play and completely reversible, no permanent modifications.. no soldering.. you don't even have to remove the MPU from the game. A quick search of this forum will show you how easy it is to pull pads/traces on the System 80B MPU boards while attempting to remove the daughter board if you have never done it before. This alternative solution is thus offered as a non-invasive way to fix an issue that really just amounts to cracked solder joints at an EPROM socket that's a bit tricky for then novice to repair.

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http://www.pinitech.com - "Pinball Inspired Technology"
Kits, upgrades and test equipment for pinball machines

Comments like that are great to hear! I've sold a few handful since the beta testing was going on, but haven't had much feefback come in from those. No news is good news, but hearing that it's fixing people's problems is even better Thanks for letting me know!

I actually don't see why not.. would just need the code for U2/U3 in the right place on the 2764. And U2/U3 chips would need to either be removed or disabled -- not sure if there's a clever way to disable them without having to remove them from the board (if soldered). I'll have to play around with that some.

Great to hear that! Sounded like it would do the trick. Glad it made it an easy fix, exactly what it's intended for. Thx for the follow-up!

Anyone try the PIGGY DEUX with Sys80/Sys80A games? Burning a 2764 with U2/U3 code in the correct address locations? I've been asked by several people now and I don't see any reason it wouldn't work aside from having to remove the original chips or disable them if they're soldered to the board.

Also of note is on the earlier System 80/80A games D16 display signal is being monitored by the RESET BOARD. On System 80B games they get a duplicate IRQ signal sent there instead. So on earlier 80/80A games you'd need to wire D16 to pin #3 of the RESET BOARD (via the harness) if you're keeping the RESET BOARD connected.

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http://www.pinitech.com - "Pinball Inspired Technology"
Kits, upgrades and test equipment for pinball machines

See my train of thought was, if it's working -- why not leave it connected? I've understood the thought about "home use environment" and it not being as necessary if grounding mods are done. But are grounding mods & CPU lockups really related at all? I'm not a purist about leaving it connected, just looking at it like it's not bad as a fail-safe if the CPU locks up.

Which brings to question, what might cause a CPU lock-up on a Sys80 under normal operation -- failing eprom, failing power supply, dip on the 5v line?

Been OOS on these for a while this year. Ran out of header pins building out some other products and haven't had a chance to get back to assembling the next dozen or two.

I've had a couple of people contact me recently asking about availability. Plenty of pcbs, just need to build out a new batch. So it's time to take a quick poll. Anyone else been waiting for these to come back in-stock? Helps to know if I can sell a solid handful out of a new batch.

Ok after throwing up the waitlists again on the website I've had this board requested a few more times.

I'll get another dozen or so made up over the next 1-2 weeks & will then notify the few people that expressed interest & should then be available via shopping cart again. Sorry for anyone that's been patiently waiting for one!

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http://www.pinitech.com - "Pinball Inspired Technology"
NVRAM, kits, upgrades and test equipment for pinball machines

Okay Got another 10x of these under way! SMD parts on them & just need to get the through-hole parts soldered and test. Should be able to start shipping them out as soon as mid-week next week.

Anyone that wants to jump in on this batch, sign up on the waitlist over @ http://www.pinitech.com/products/gottlieb_piggydeux.php

I'll be contacting the people that have been waiting patiently to hear back from me first, then new sign-ups, then any remaining will be listed on the website / eBay.

Available again on the website.

http://www.pinitech.com/products/gottlieb_piggydeux.php

Limited quantities built out right now, so they may not last long. These take longer to assemble than I remembered I'll try to keep availability on these but they may go out-of-stock for a few weeks at times.

Cool! I hope it solves you problem! Let me know once you get the board how it works out =)

Excalibur's a neat game. Doesn't seem to come up for sale too often. I had one for a bit 4-5 years ago. Can't keep 'em all!

Heads up, got a few of the PIGGY DEUX back in-stock again. A few went to folks that signed up on the waitlist already.

Don't expect the remaining to last long and I'm out of the first run of PCBs. Won't be until April/May till I get more in.

https://www.pinitech.com/products/gottlieb_piggydeux.php

piggydeux.jpg

More of these in-stock again. Limited to about 10x on the shopping cart at the moment, since there was a handful of customers that had emailed & I want to make sure they get a chance at one.

https://www.pinitech.com/products/gottlieb_piggydeux.php

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http://www.pinitech.com - "Pinball Inspired Technology"
NVRAM, kits, upgrades and test equipment for pinball machines

Caveman's a Gottlieb System 80A. The PIGGY DEUX is meant for System 80B MPUs (later revision) that used an additional daughter board at the U2/U3 locations -- which is known to have solder joints go bad and cause issues with games booting.

Sounds like your game/MPU will need some work. Unfortunately with coils firing like that it could be a variety of things, from corrosion on the MPU, to bad eproms, to ground mods, bad transistors or connections at the driver board, etc. You'll either need to go through some of the repair info out there for similar issues of coils locking on or send the board out for repair (if you're not comfortable working through it yourself).

It's always great to hear when this board helps a game boot solidly!