I bought a LW3 from a guy in my neighborhood (Allen) that sent Todd the mpu to repair. So the seller Allen does a 3 way email with Todd telling him that I bought the game and can repair the board myself. Todd then says all he's done is hook up to test it but was not going to start repairing it at 75$ an hour because Allen might as well buy a new board. So I asked Todd to send the board back on my dime. He then changes his story to say he's done this and that to the board. Blah blah, ultimately he kept the board and I bought a new mpu from him for $327.
Why would he not just tell the guy straight up, buy a new board? Its not hard to check the status of the board while its still in a clients machine, We do it all the time here on Pinside for free. How hard is it to walk a person through looking at the 3 LEDs on a Data East.
He changed his story so many times on our email exchange it was impossible to follow.

Heres the exchange. Sorry its backwards, start from the bottom.

Todd- Also understand I’ll now have to reinstall this board and test, wont’ charge for that.

Pete- Can you make it 75$ credit for a new board? And what board is it? Rottendog Data East Replacement MPU004 pinball cpu, part numbers: 520-5003-02, 520-5003-03, 520-5003-04. Shop ksarcade.net for all your pinball electronics and parts. If its this board send me an invoice for a new board

Todd- I had already taken some steps to test it, installing it in my game and verifying it does not boot, that there is likely a PIA problem. I also took the steps to test the eprom which showed blank, and burned and installed a new one as the LEDs indicating bad PIA can be a false lead. The point with Allen in testing was to see if it was something simple, and if not to use the eprom if it was good, and the 6802 if it was good to transfer over to a new MPU. And I would give a $50 credit for this bad board.I can still go that route if you want, or I can send this board back. Cost is $75 for my time, plus the eprom ($10) and shipping $19. The board needs either a NVRAM and battery pack removed ($20 if you want it, the new board has NVRAM) or the corrosion cleaned up and old battery holder removed and replaced
If you want the new board I can still go that route.. let me know and I will send an invoice either way.

Pete- What's the fee?
I believe Allen was under the impression you are repairing it? Why would you test it if its "supposed to be a sale for a new board"
What am I missing here?
Allen, did you send it in for repair, or replacement?
Something got lost in translation.

Todd- No, I was out of town plus it’s still installed in the game. I will have to charge a fee for testing, all along this was supposed to be a sale for a new board and I was not told to not test it/that the game was sold. I hope to get to it soon.

Pete-I was wondering if you had a chance to drop the board in the mail? I forgot next week I have time off for the holidays and would love to dive into the LW3 rebuild.
Let me know how much i owe you for shipping.

Todd-All I’ve done is hook it up and test it to boot, wasn’t going to start adding on $75 of hourly fees when a new MPU is a better route. You’d be better off with a new MPU IMHO, but let me know.

Pete- This is Pete the buyer of Allens LW3.
I am going to assume you have done the "leon's test" roms. I have some snap sockets and a few PIA chips laying around. So I might as well try to salvage the board. I might even have a old Robocop and Simpsons scrap board to scavenge other parts from. Those DE boards kinda suck and I often wonder about 10 hours into repairing them why I just did not buy a new one.
Can you send me the bill including the return shipping to
Thanks for Pete "the proud new owner of a LW3 project" Tomaszek

Todd responding to the old owner of the LW3, Allen.

Todd-Sorry just talked to you Saturday. I'm not sure you read I had a heart
attack. I also had a "relapse that scared everyone one, but it wasn't
another heart attack. I'm not overweight, don't smoke, fairly active. Bad
diet of good food. And being in the hospital for 2+ days doing nothing kill
meI
Ican do the swap & testing in exchange for the old board. It has some
battery damage, and it's (in my opinion) not worth paying someone to fix.

Allen-
Should be ok but I sold the machine to someone who knows a lot about machines
He know of you too
Apparently ur the best
So my apologies if I was rude
His name is Pete and I ll forward the email to him

Todd-Board does not boot in my working Time Machine. Proper 5V and PIA light is
on, but they stay on, the PIA light should go out and another LED called
blanking should start flashing. Testing 6821s (the PIA chips) is easy as I
have a tester, but Data east soldered them in, and there are six of them.
The game ROM and processor are socketed at the factory, and they can be
moved over to a new board if they are good, which they probably are. New MPU is around $300.
Let me know where you want to go from here.

I forgot the final email that he would give me a 75$ credit for the old board and then charge me 75$ for the "work" he's done.
So once I received the new board, all the original issues with the game are still there. NO SOUND. So he sold this guy a new powers supply and a new mpu, for a sound issue? Is that because the sound board is non existent?.
The fact that he gave me such a hard time about returning the MPU makes me wonder if anything was wrong with it. Allen the seller of the game had no knowledge on pin repair and could easily been taken advantage of. I on the other hand know DE games well, and know how to do board work. Putting a mpu in a machine and looking at 3 leds seems like a scam. The seller Allen could have done the same in his home. Which I believe he did. And the psh back on returning the board was odd to say the least.

I love that he then bashes Ks Arcades, which is his direct competition. Why? Because I asked if the mpu was the same one they sell? For christ sake the mpu is built by rottendog not BD or Ks.

On Friday, November 22, 2019, 10:21:06 AM PST, Pinball Orders <[email protected]> wrote:

That’s the board, but I don’t recommend K’s for many reasons.

I’ll give $75, still need credit for my time and I’ll send you an invoice.

Todd

I have bought from him online and on ebay with no issue. But I know what I am buying. This guy Allen went to him for repair. If the mpu was not worth his time repairing it, why have someone send it in to begin with. And to charge that kind of money just to plug it in and look at 3 LEDs on the board is nuts.
I love the part in the email when her says he has to charge for swapping the roms and the processor from the old board? The processor?

Todd. I must apologize. The events leading up to what happened I had no clue about. He clearly left out a whole lot of the story. I am sorry.
He never said anything about the dmd. Only the sound. His lies lead me to believe what I believed. And for that I am sorry. I removed the post 2 days ago just because I did not want to get into it on pinside.
The reason it just came up a month latter was because I finally got around to looking at the machine.