My color dmd freezes from time to time on my WWFRR. I think it’s the dmd controller board. I’be tried reflowing the solder but didn’t help. I usually just have to reseat the 5v connection and it goes back to working

Any tips? Would a new rottendog dmd controller be plug and play?

Thanks. I’ll get a new set of ribbon cables first to try to rule that out

It’s a weird issue. Sometimes it takes a jiggle or a few times of unplugging and re-plugging the 5v connector. Then when put the panel back in the backbox the screen sometimes craps out again. Must be due to something moving the wires. So I redo the same steps.

There is a few kinks in the large ribbon cable and sometimes if I press/squeeze on the kink the dmd starts working. Not sure if by pressing the kink I inadvertently cause movement to the 5v connector at the same time.

So cheapest first is the ribbon cable. Then I’ll try reflowing the 5v again (I don’t have a lot of experience doing this but doesn’t seem to be difficult). Then if that fails I’ll probably get a new board. The issue happens about 1 out of 5 times I turn the game on to play. Not usually at start up but maybe the shaker causes the issue. Once I get the dmd going it doesn’t usually happen again in the same day.

Thanks I appreciate your help

2 of my 3 DE games started experiencing power issues within a day of each other. UGH! My Star Wars was rapidly turning on and off for about a second - could be related to the power switch I recently installed. Star Trek is something entirely different. I turned it on, got a garbled display and buzzing from the speaker, then started smelling something burning. I turned it off immediately. This is definitely not my expertise, so frustrating to be sure. Working on anything electrical always gives me the jeebs.

This is what I did to get my Simpsons working good. CN1, CN6, CN17 new headers and connectors. Fuse holders on PS, new caps on PS and Sound. Fixed one transistor for pop bumper. So far, so good.

Hook just put out a puff of smoke when turned on from back box. The big board has a huge vertical black streak running up the board and the Stock DMD is blank when turned on. I am in over my head. Does anyone even make replacement boards for Data East machines?

Can you post pictures? It may not be as bad as you think.

Hi all,

I have a Data East flipper board (520-5070-00) that I am told is working. The board looks good to me but I do not have a machine to test it. It looks as if new fuse clips were soldered in. Any suggestion on what this board is worth as is? I would like to sell it.

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In case it helps...I paid $75 for one that was tested and working/guaranteed last Summer. Looked to be in better shape than this one.

So...maybe $50?

One thing on your side is that the rottendog replacements for this board have notorious issues, so it is probably worth it for someone to buy this and use/test it.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/rottendog-flp023-data-east-flipper-board-issue

Non-working or it might work: $20.00.

Working: $50-$75

There were 3 flipper boards. The 1st one needed some changes that were made on the 2nd one. They will interchange.

The 3rd one is designed for DE pins with 3 flippers.

2 flipper board.

To be honest, no more than $25 for a mystery board.

I have had zero issue with the Rottendog board. Still have a 3 flipper board in my repair queue but RD boards cheap enough have not bothered trying to repair it.

Awesome. Thanks everyone!

I replaced the 26 pin cable and so far so good. Pic below of the old one. Hopefully this was an easy fix

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Will do. Question: I heated up the solder for the two header pins once before to the point it liquified. Is that all there is to it or was there more I should have done?

Ok thanks for clarifying. Any idea what tool I need to repin the connector? Can I use same connector or should I get a new one? Thanks for the help

Does anyone have a power switch they recommend for my DESW? Mine is currently attached with quick disconnects, but it seems sketchy to me. What's a good one I can solder in?

https://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=dpst+on+off

I believe they came stock with a black powder coated (or something like that) version of this. It's been a bit since I've opened up my power box but I seem to remember mine looking like this.

Thanks! Does anybody have any photos of how the wires are soldered to the lugs? I'm not great at soldering but want to see how they're attached before I try it myself.

That's the plan. I just want to see exactly where the solder joints are supposed to be made. I'm not exactly an electrician haha.

I don't want to sound trite, but if you have a solder iron, just practice with some scrap wire. Solder 2 pieces of wire together. And then do it again. and again....

There are several youtube videos that can show you the way. Understanding what "tinning" means and learning how to tin is 80%-90% of your challenge.

Well my new ribbon cable did not fix my dmd issue. I am trying to figure out what size 5v IDC connector I have on the DMD controller board. I see I can purchase .156 or .100. Anyone know what size I need?

I’d buy both but I also need the tool and those are a bit more costly.

It looks like this is a 3 position connector even though only two pins are used

.156 connector. 3 position with a lock in the center position.

Thank you sir

Question about the mini spotlight in the game. Should it be aimed at the large alien ship or pointing down towards the alien that opens up?

Game?

Sorry! I thought I posted this in the Independence Day thread. My mistake. I guess it could sort of fit since it has a lot of Data East parts on it.

After moving my Last Action Hero I'm having trouble tracking down what could be causing my DMD to "flicker" (see YouTube video below). What I have tried so far...

replaced capacitors on power supply board
repinned power supply connector (CN1)
replaced 26 pin ribbon connector
reflowed soder on suspect joints

Before taking a chance on a color DMD I wanted to see if I could get the original back in working shape. Any help or advice would be appreciated!

I have a nice working data east small DMD from my TMNT I’m selling.

Just upgraded to a new color DMD

Pm me if interested

Asking $150 for the DMD

#batman - ColorDMD gameplay example.

Hey all - in another forum, a user asked for an example of what the ColorDMD looks like during gameplay, thought I'd crosspost here in case it helps anyone else.

Thanks very much for that John! I found a kijiji source to get going for $300 CAD total so I think Im going ahead with that upgrade! Looks amazing wish me luck!

Heyyy fellow batman owners - I am not looking to short marcos out of any money or anything, but my game is just missing the 'skill shot' decals and they cant be bought individually...

Does anybody happen to have a personal scan, or could take a nice picture of these decals for me?!

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If i was in an arcade in 92, saw someone play this, and had very little idea what pinball is about, the sound would suck me right in. Good job DE

Apologies if this has been answered before, although I didn't see it anywhere....

So many options out there now for new playfields, hard tops, and overlays, but why no love for Data East? Just wondering if there's any reason you don't see DE playfield replacements.

I'm fixing up a beat-up Simpsons with a very terrible playfield. I'd even settle for an overlay at this point.

Has anyone put a different set of playfield support brackets on? My LW3 ones are getting pretty rough and loose.
If so, which ones?

I may have a set along with some other LW3 parts from a machine that was left outside. Cabinet was wasted but playfield and other parts like the brackets can be salvaged.

I figured I would use this thread instead of creating a separate thread, to post a repair log. I'm working on a Hook right now, and it had a curious sound board problem. This is the 5050 sound board with the BSMT2000 chip.

You'd get the "hook Hook Hook" start up call out, and you'd get the I hate I hate I hate Peter Pan call out in attract, but when it started advertising "Lethal Weapon 3" in attract, the music would stick, you'd end up with the beginning of the music then a long sine tone would just stay on forever. If you turn it off and back on, it does the exact same thing.

if you go into test mode, the voice rom 1, voice rom 2 would work, the sine test for left/right/both speakers would work... but as soon as you tried Music 1 the music would play for 5 seconds then lock on. If you instead tried to play Music 2, nothing would happen, but the sound would be dead from them on. Music 3, would lock on... Music 4 would do nothing but the sound would be dead. As soon as you played any music, the sound would either lock on or be gone until you reset the game.

If you started a game, you'd instantly have no sound because it would be trying to play music! There's very little info out there about these boards, but the two V roms are just as they are labeled, the call outs. The U7 rom is the music, but also has the software to run the sound board... the sound board will run without the two voice roms but will not run without U7. It will not run without the 6809, and it will not run without the BSMT2000 chip.

Ultimately what fixed it was a new 6264 ram, now all the music works great. If you run into problems where the music hangs or crashes, change the ram!

Hope this helps resurrect some of these sound boards!

A lot of times companies get a bad name because Techs had trouble doing repairs back in the day for whatever reason so they get a bad rap. Since the Data East games are similar in design to the System 11 stuff it's kind of strange to me why people would have a problem with the system, it works very similar and can be repaired. It just has it's quirks. You can say the same thing about the Gottlieb System 3 stuff, gets a bad rap it doesn't deserve.

Anyone have an extra twist in bulb holder? B/W ones are too small and I can't find anywhere that sells them. Thank you!

Just bought 20 from Marco for my Jokerz. Fit great.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/077-5000-00