(Topic ID: 178700)

CFTBL - DMD and Flippers Dead

By RandyV

7 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

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  • 16 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 7 years ago by RandyV
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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#1 7 years ago

Of all the games I have owned through the years, CFTBL has been the biggest, ongoing technical headache for me. Every time I think I have the game stabilized, something new always seems to go wrong with this game.

So here's the latest issue I need some help with: I'm having a great game tonight when suddenly the DMD goes blank and both flippers die. The game DOES NOT reset. The bowl popper randomly fires a few times as if a ball was there (not machine gunning, but firing every few seconds as if a ball were present) and the game keeps running.

The ball in play drains because I can't flip and the game ends normally (it was ball three). I can hear the game asking me to enter my initials, which I can't do because the flippers are dead and the DMD is blank.

There was no drama when the failure occurred,, meaning there were no big bangs from the backbox as if something shorted, no smoke, no odd or burning smells or other unusual things.

A couple of notes:

First, the game has a ColorDMD installed.

Second, about a year ago I had the power driver board completely gone through and rebuilt by John W because of resets. My baseline assumption is the power board is solid.

Third, I checked all of the fuses (out of line) both on the power driver board and the DMD board and they are all good.

Fourth, the game boots and will start just fine (albeit, with no flippers). When I do start a game, I get the same random bowl solenoid firing that occurred when the game initially failed. Here's a video of the game boot up and game start with the bowl popper firing and the DMD dark:

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AuNvMH5MAYNOj_sFqjFTCMuCnoFRuQ

Lastly, the ColorDMD appears to have no power.

The guide says for a blank DMD to check HV power from the DMD board -- but the ColorDMD isn't powered from the DMD board. So I'm not sure the DMD board is the culprit here. The LED on the DMD board is lit -- so the board is getting power.

I'm looking for suggestions on where to start diagnosing this. What's odd to me is the flippers and the DMD are both completely dead and the only thing really in common with those two things (IMHO) would be the power driver board or perhaps the CPU board.

It feels like something else has failed on the power driver board.

Any thoughts from the experts out there?

Thanks Pinside...

#3 7 years ago

Thanks LLoyd.

1.0 @ TP1 12VU
12.1 @ TP3 12VR

I checked the others as well and I'm getting 83V on the 50V test point. Not sure if that's normal.

Seems there is a problem on the 12V rail that TP1 shows ...

#6 7 years ago

Right on. Will recheck that fuse and report back.

#7 7 years ago

Well dang it -- F116 was blown. I missed checking that one when I looked at the others (it was hiding behind some other wires).

I replaced the fuse and it didn't blow when I booted the game, so I'll go play test it now. Given what you said about BR5 I wonder if it gets weak once it heats up.

Also, I am reading 16V at TP1 now. Is that in spec? I know some of these voltages can vary a bit.

Thanks Lloyd - I owe you one.

#12 7 years ago

I have the older LCD version of the ColorDMD. This was part of the reason I had John rework the power driver board last year. I was getting all kinds of resets after adding the ColorDMD to the machine and frankly, the board hadn't been freshened up since it was new.

I just played multiple games back to back to back with no problems. Maybe the fuse was just weak and was done. LLoyd -- THANK YOU again for your quick reply.

Next thing now is to fix the snack bar ball guide on the left side between the left ramp and the snack bar standups. One of the tabs broke off my stainless piece and nobody offers a replacement. A few weeks ago I had my daughter draw up model of the part in SolidWorks and a friend of hers 3D printed a new one, but that one just broke tonight too. They're beefing up their design as I type this. The stuff kids have access to these days is incredible.

Thanks again LLoyd!

#14 7 years ago

I'll check the brightness and contrast values tomorrow night and report back on the 12V reading. I never changed them so they should be at whatever factory defaults ColorDMD shipped them with. I'll adjust them down and see of that changes the draw.

#16 7 years ago

My ColorDMD is set to Contrast of 5 and Brightness of 4. I hooked up my meter and lowering the value of both settings had no material affect on the voltage. I am reading a pretty constant 16V at TP1. Game is down again due to the broken ball guide but I should be back up and running here once the kids print my replacement part.

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