(Topic ID: 176335)

Data East DMD Controller Display Board Issues

By phillymadison

7 years ago


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  • Latest reply 4 years ago by Jpjunior
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#1 7 years ago

Hi all in short I have a Data East controller display board for a WWFRR that isn't working anymore and I was wondering what are the common components that fail on these that should be checked/changed?

First the board started to fail slowly taking longer and longer to display images on the DMD when I would boot up th machine. Now it doesn't come on at all but everything else works fine.
The pin itself still plays correctly. The ribbon cables and DMD itself are good (I switched them out with my TSPP) so it's definitely the controller board cause I switched that and it didn't work in TSPP but TSPP's worked in RR.

Below are pics of the board. It doesn't look like it had any previous work done.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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#2 7 years ago

I'm trying to think of a symptom that would resemble outgassing and the only thing I can think of would be a power-related thing. Bad filter caps on the HV section.

When you put the DMD & controller into the other game, I'm assuming you didn't take the RR's PSU along with it. EPROMs also need to match games on the DMD controller for it to boot. Did you swap the EPROM out of the RR DMD controller for TSPP's Display EPROM when you tested that board?

My guess is that your DMD controller is fine, and you've got bad HV filter caps on your PSU in RR, possibly dead power transistors at this point as well. You'd need to test the HV section with a meter to confirm. I'd put money on it though.

#3 7 years ago

At first I thought it was out gassing too and I was just gonna replace the DMD when it died.

I have a color DMD in TSPP I took the control board off it. Took TSPP rom out, put the RR display rom in it then installed the the control board in RR. This made my RR work perfectly with instant display boot up.

For testing I put RR's control board in TSPP with TSPP's display rom installed and TSPP's screen stayed blank.

With these test I really think it's control board cause it's the only thing that when I change it in either pin it fixes the DMD in the pin that has TSPP control board in it.

#4 7 years ago
Quoted from phillymadison:

At first I thought it was out gassing too and I was just gonna replace the DMD when it died.
I have a color DMD in TSPP I took the control board off it. Took TSPP rom out, put the RR display rom in it then installed the the control board in RR. This made my RR work perfectly with instant display boot up.
For testing I put RR's control board in TSPP with TSPP's display rom installed and TSPP's screen stayed blank.
With these test I really think it's control board cause it's the only thing that when I change it in either pin it fixes the DMD in the pin that has TSPP control board in it.

Yep, looks like you did everything you could to rule that board out. They just usually don't fail, so I had to ask.

So I guess I lost the bet. I honestly don't know what would cause that symptom without being PSU related. There aren't really any parts on the DMD control board that would cause a delayed death like that, unless something is heat expansion related and it is just dry solder causing the issues.

#5 7 years ago

On another note, the +5v connectors on these display boards are prone to issues. That might be a good place to start looking.

#6 7 years ago

Yea I was thinking about maybe reflowing the +5 connection. I just wanted to see if there was any other things I could try before I start desoldering and soldering stuff. There's that 1 cap on there. I'm wondering if that failed would that cause the board to fail like that. Either way I appreciate the help thanks.

#7 7 years ago

I have a board with the exact same symptoms prior to failing. Keep in mind this was like 3 years ago...

I was never able to figure out what happened to the board. Swapped in new processor, new capacitor, new roms, new RAM with no success. I gave up and just bought a rottendog controller board to resolve the problem. I think it was $89.

You need to confirm +5 on the PCB (past the two pin connector) at an IC or two, in order to confirm that the voltage is getting to the IC's. I still have my board, marked as BAD but no longer can test it since I don't own any DE DMD machines any longer.

I found the THREAD where I asked for help here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tftc-help-destern-whitestar-dmd-display-controller-boardrottendog-dps004

#8 7 years ago

I'm prepared to buy a new board if I have to. Looks like they're about $140ish now. But I'm not in a rush so I'll keep this thread alive try some suggestions and go from there. Thanks

#9 7 years ago
Quoted from phillymadison:

I'm prepared to buy a new board if I have to. Looks like they're about $140ish now. But I'm not in a rush so I'll keep this thread alive try some suggestions and go from there. Thanks

You'll probably need to do some low level investigating to solve this one, but as always, start with the power supply to the board. Being able to A/B it in another game certainly makes things easier to debug! You can't do harm by reflowing the +5v connector. Although the pads in the picture look okay...

#10 7 years ago

So it appears I put the display Rom in the wrong spot. Originally I was upgrading the roms when the DMD completely stopped coming on. I really thought the old rom was in the 1 spot. But with the rom in the zero spot it works perfectly.

The Original DMD screen that would slowly come on was changed in the beginning of this when I thought that was the orginal problem. For fun I might check the old screen to be sure that it was a combination of out gassing and me putting the rom in the wrong spot.

2 years later
#11 4 years ago

phillymadison Im having an issue with my WWF RR display where there is a delay on the DMD. The wrestlers don’t always display on the DMD when selected in the game, although the music changes to their theme each time.

Also, “freeze” doesn’t usually show

2 months later
#12 4 years ago

Can I get input on Royal Rumble error code- Command b5 and audit 15? An old thread had a generic answer about playing with ribbons/cables fixing it, but no detail. Does this require a pro to fix?

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