(Topic ID: 90759)

Gottlieb Countdown

By conserx

9 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 34 posts
  • 11 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 9 years ago by newmantjn
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

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sys1_cpu.jpg
20140514_134925.jpg
a1-j7.jpg
a1-j6.jpg
A1J6_A1J7.jpg

#1 9 years ago

Wondering if anyone can post a closeup pic of the CPU connectors A1-J6 & A1-J7 from a Countdown machine?
I recently re-pinned those two connectors & I'm certain I have it wired wrong.

#2 9 years ago

Here's the pinout for A1-J6 & A1-J7 from Joker Poker. I would imagine it's standard across System 1 games.
A1J6_A1J7.jpgA1J6_A1J7.jpg

#3 9 years ago

Thanks for the pinout. Seems the wire coloring is different on countdown?
Here's a couple of pics of A1-J6 & J7 that I rewired, Can anyone confirm if this is correct?
a1-j6.jpga1-j6.jpg
a1-j7.jpga1-j7.jpg

#4 9 years ago

I just checked the schematic for Countdown and the colours are different to those I posted from JP (why they changed I don't know!). Do you have the schematic - pretty easy to figure out the colours.

#5 9 years ago

As far as wire colors being different. I have seen this several times on machines and my guess would be while building machines they ran out of certain wire color wire so that just used something different they had in stock. When you stop and think about it with a half of a mile of wire in every machine and all the different colors it is kind of surprising it didn't happen more.

One that I always think is funny is the harnesses on early SS machines that have 95% plastic wire and a couple cloth wires mixed in. You know they did that just to use up old wire!

Can you imagion how many rolls of wire a company had to have in stock to build harnesses for several thousand machines each year!

#6 9 years ago

Does this pic help?

20140514_134925.jpg20140514_134925.jpg
#7 9 years ago

Thanks for the help so far guys.

I don't have a manual or schematic for the game, No digital copy freely avail either of course.
Just been using Clay's system 1 repair guide.

Checking my wiring against OTTOgd's I have A1-J6 correct, A1-J7 pins 1-4 correct but was incorrect on pins 5 thru 17 with each of those wires being in the wrong spot one away from where it should be.

Currently I can't get the gameplay to actually start so hopefully once I rewire A1-J7 I'll be able to finally start a game!
Will check back with an update & thanks again for the help.

#8 9 years ago

I have a CountDown and have repaired and sold 3 others. Gottlieb was notorious for using different colored wire than from what the manual states. I have seen this in my CountDowns, Cleos, Sinbads and Joker Pokers.
When you get the wiring straightened out hopefully CD will work. If it doesn't , more than happy to help.

#9 9 years ago

Well I rewired A1-J7 as per OTTOgd's picture above (All wire colors match).
I turned the machine on & after the standard 5 sec bootup delay all 4x displays show all zeros (Solid) while the small credit display shows nothing, Pressing the start button does nothing as before.

Turned machine off then back on, Normal 5 sec delay then all 5x displays including the credit display show all zeros but now they are rapidly cycling on/off each segment. Pressing start does nothing (Machine is wired to freeplay).

I need to upload both videos so you guys can see & will try to do so shortly.

#10 9 years ago

Ok I have finally uploaded both boot up videos of my Count Down.
When I boot my Count Down machine I get either of the two results.
Any ideas as to what the issue here is?


#11 9 years ago

Are the slam switches adjusted correctly?

#12 9 years ago
Quoted from Trident:

Are the slam switches adjusted correctly?

I have the slam tilt bypass mod on the cpu in place

#13 9 years ago

conserx

I'm assuming your using all Stock system 1 PCBs and power supply?

#14 9 years ago
Quoted from pdman:

conserx
I'm assuming your using all Stock system 1 PCBs and power supply?

Yes all stock system 1 boards, Nothing by pascal or niwumph.
Replaced all caps on power supply board, Replaced all transistors on driver board & completed upgraded ground mod to that board. CPU board had corrosion damage from leaked battery. Repaired corrosion damage, Completed remote battery pack mod, Slam tilt bypass mod, New CPU to driver board wiring harness, Replaced all of the ICs along the bottom of the CPU board & the ground mod to each board also.

#15 9 years ago

For me.. first video is (probably) regular boot up, if you have "click-click" on a playfield G.I. (&relay) possibility is better.
(in this solution, I suspect on DIP switches problems for credit display, and maybe some others functions)

The second video indicates (expected ? ) problems with (only display's ?!?? ) connectors

Question...after boot-up (first one is there any "high score to date" numbers on displays ?

Starting a game... are you 100% shure in additionally wiring ?
(BTW, did you check "test mode" ? )

Greetings from Croatia

#16 9 years ago
Quoted from cro_pinman:

For me.. first video is (probably) regular boot up, if you have "click-click" on a playfield G.I. (&relay) possibility is better.
(in this solution, I suspect on DIP switches problems for credit display, and maybe some others functions)
The second video indicates (expected ? ) problems with (only display's ?!?? ) connectors
Question...after boot-up (first one is there any "high score to date" numbers on displays ?
Starting a game... are you 100% shure in additionally wiring ?
(BTW, did you check "test mode" ? )
Greetings from Croatia

When I first received the machine & turned it on it went straight into slam tilt error (All zeros with no 5 sec delay)
After doing slam tilt bypass jumper wire it turned into what's seen in the videos above.

No switches work, The start button, The white diagnostics button inside the coin door, Nothing.
I've traced the wiring out & all is good. No high score to date on the displays, I've only seen the number zero.

Also want to add that this is my first & only gottlieb system 1 game & I have no access to any other so I can't test these boards in another working system 1 machine.

#17 9 years ago

Threadjack alert.

#18 9 years ago

Did you checked diodes on bottom of cabinet ?

(did you have "click-click" (relay) on boot-on, and playfield G.I. off-on?

Have you a logic probe ? (I guess you have DMM )

And, what's about soldering skills, for removing some integrated circuits ?

(are you DOUBLE-checked connector pins on J6 ?!? )

#19 9 years ago

Threadjack alert.

#20 9 years ago

Could you post some pics of the front and back of PCB showing the replaced IC's and connector pads?

#21 9 years ago
Quoted from SadSack:

Diodes have been checked. Relay clicks. I have a logic probe and I double check the pins on J6 when I was shorting pin 3 to pins 4-8 with no results.
Thanks for the tips. I might get more aggressive on the repair attempts once I get the ni-wumpf in and see how I like the game.

SadSack to avoid any confusion please don't hijack my thread, I believe cro_pinman is referring to the situation with my machine which has it's own unique problems.

#22 9 years ago
Quoted from cro_pinman:

Did you checked diodes on bottom of cabinet ?
(did you have "click-click" (relay) on boot-on, and playfield G.I. off-on?
Have you a logic probe ? (I guess you have DMM )
And, what's about soldering skills, for removing some integrated circuits ?
(are you DOUBLE-checked connector pins on J6 ?!? )

I do hear the click-click of the relays on boot (I think you can hear in my videos)
Don't have a logic probe but do have a DMM
Soldering skills aren't a problem, I use a Hakko 808 to desolder ICs.
I have J6 wired correctly I believe.

#23 9 years ago
Quoted from conserx:

I do hear the click-click of the relays on boot

Great,it is VERY important ( confirms proper boot-up )

Quoted from conserx:

Soldering skills aren't a problem

OK, if you have experience, just replace Z9 (7405 ) and Z8 (7404)

( Z9 is at left lower corner,above connector J7,and Z8 is another )

edit:
Z9 is "first on list"..so you can try after replacing Z9 only

#24 9 years ago

Here's a pic of my CPU board. I replaced a number of IC's on the board (Shown in pic with green dots) a couple of weeks ago (Before starting this post).

sys1_cpu.jpgsys1_cpu.jpg
#25 9 years ago

Please post a closeup of the lower left corner where the chips were replaced.

#26 9 years ago
Quoted from woz:

Please post a closeup of the lower left corner where the chips were replaced.

+1

(both sides...component & solder side)

2 weeks later
#27 9 years ago

Gave up on the original CPU board & ordered a replacement from Pascal Janin.
Still sure there will be other problems such as 2x of the drop target banks not working.

2 weeks later
#28 9 years ago

Recieved the Pascal CPU board last week & (Just about) everything works!
Should have purchased one of them from the start, Oh well.

The problem I have is that the 2x left side flippers don't work.
Would this be a problem with the cabinet flipper button switch?
The wiring all looks good, Still yet to check the coil diodes etc.

#29 9 years ago

Buy new flipper switches. Yours are probably gone or heavily pitted, not making proper contact.

Game will play alot better if new flipper switches installed. Should then be good for quite a few years of home use.

Ps. Pascal boards are the best!

3 weeks later
#30 9 years ago

I thought my countdown just had connector problems, but when I went through the interconnect, the system 1 MPU still didn't go into setup. In the end, it took a ni-wumpf to fix it. In the future, I will assume that any system 1 with an original MPU will need a replacement either immediately or shortly in the future.

#31 9 years ago

Check the following connector pins are OK:

Left Flipper switch
A6J1-9 > A6P1-9
A6J1-10 > A6P1-10

A6P5-2 > A6J5-2
A6P5-4 > A6J5-4

1 week later
#32 9 years ago

To close this thread the game is now working 100%, Flipper issue was due to a plug inside the cab.
Thanks to all that helped.

1 week later
#33 9 years ago

Just a note on the differences in wire colors.

Gottlieb didn't run out of wire. They used single color wire, the cream colored wire you see most of the time, and had a machine with Sharpie like pens that put the traces on there.

Lots of times, there will be a wire color on the schematic, then something like this (300) after it indicating a wire change. If you check those numbers against the chart on the schematic, you'll see that those numbers most of the time correspond to the correct wire color.

1 week later
#34 9 years ago
Quoted from EMsInKC:

Just a note on the differences in wire colors.

Gottlieb didn't run out of wire. They used single color wire, the cream colored wire you see most of the time, and had a machine with Sharpie like pens that put the traces on there.

Lots of times, there will be a wire color on the schematic, then something like this (300) after it indicating a wire change. If you check those numbers against the chart on the schematic, you'll see that those numbers most of the time correspond to the correct wire color.

I tell you what. I'm currently working on 3 Joker Pokers at once. I got the first one up and running, then I was re-pinning the second PF. Some prior idiot had soldered the wires to the driver board. To put the wires back in the connector, I referenced BOTH the other PF and the manual. When I was done, I had one wire that didn't match. After doing a little sloothing with my DMM, I determined that this was the wire for all the standup switches. Green in two out of three of my PFs. Green in the manual. White with some stripes on this PF.

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