(Topic ID: 220540)

Gottlieb Dragon (System 1) Won't Start a Game

By MaxAsh

5 years ago


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Topic Stats

  • 12 posts
  • 6 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by MaxAsh
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#1 5 years ago

Hey Everyone! Picked up a new project today, a Gottlieb Dragon. I've worked with a bunch of System 80 and 80b games, but never a System 1. Here's where I'm at currently:

Powering on the game, I immediately get GI on both the playfield and head. After about 5 seconds, the GI turns off for a second, comes back on, and the displays turn on. Player 2, 3, and 4 all show "000000". The credit display shows "03 70". Player 1 display needs some repair (need to repin the connector).

My understanding is that what I described is the normal boot process, is that accurate? I hear no sounds, and nothing else happens.

When I attempt to add a credit or start a game, nothing happens. It simply continues to sit with the displays at all zeroes and the credit display showing the digits mentioned above.

- Tested power outputs in the power board, 5v and -12v test good. 60V was good.

- Remote battery pack was installed by previous owner, but the batteries and holder were corroded, so currently no batteries are installed.

- Driver board appears to have several bad transistors based on testing.

- interconnect between CPU and driver is brand new

- Ground mods appear to be done

Suggestions welcome! Thank you in advance!

#2 5 years ago

First thing to check is the slam switch on coin door .Make sure the contacts are clean and switch is closed

#3 5 years ago

Boot up seems fine by your description, so the board is working, doesn't sound slammed, just not receiving signals from the start button. If you hold down the white button at the top of the inside of the coin door, does it "click" and go into audits? You would see "0" on the credit and whatever value there is for coins fed into the machine.

Do the displays "flicker" slightly when you press switches on the playfield? Does it sequence the "high score to date" light regularly, then switch it back off?

Check the pins on the A1-J6 connector, that's the door/front panel part of the switch matrix harness. Test by using something to short the third and sixth pin on the MPU (black yellow yellow, and black blue blue for the wire coding if the wires haven't been replaced), that should be the strobe and return for the Start Game button, and should tell you if it's the board or the harness/connector. Check the diode board on the left side of the electronics panel in the floor of the machine. Repin the A1-J6 connector.

#4 5 years ago

Thanks, I'll check all of these suggestions ASAP and post back. The only question I can answer without checking is that I have not seen any high score cycling. It always just shows 000000 on the displays.

#5 5 years ago
Quoted from MaxAsh:

Thanks, I'll check all of these suggestions ASAP and post back. The only question I can answer without checking is that I have not seen any high score cycling. It always just shows 000000 on the displays.

If it's cycling, there's also a light behind the backglass that will come on behind the backglass mask that says "High Score to Date". Depending on the contents of memory, that may be a more reliable thing to look for.

#6 5 years ago

I had a Close Encounters of the Third Kind that was doing exactly the same thing. After spending hours troubleshooting all the basic stuff, I installed a new CPU and it worked fine.

#7 5 years ago

I concur with Plunger069 and you can never go wrong with a new MPU.

#8 5 years ago
Quoted from Boltronix:

I concur with Plunger069 and you can never go wrong with a new MPU.

While that's a quick fix, I'm trying not to spend major dollars at the moment, so I'm going for repair efforts at the moment. If the boards were inexpensive, I'd definitely do that though!

Hopefully testing everything mentioned above later today. Also ordering a power supply cap kit and some transistors, because I know at least one of those is bad on the driver board so far. Going to start repinning connectors as well.

#9 5 years ago

DIP switch 21 controls whether it shows high score or not, ON would show it.

#10 5 years ago
Quoted from BorgDog:

DIP switch 21 controls whether it shows high score or not, ON would show it.

I'll check that - good call thanks.

#11 5 years ago

Pulled all the boards today to do some work. Replaced 3 bad transistors on the driver board, rebuilt the power supply with a cap kit, and fixed some badly done ground mods (several were loose). Going to repin several connectors, check the wiring between the coin door area and the connector/board, and then try again to see what I've got going on. I'll report back what happens!

#12 5 years ago

I wanted to report back and let everyone know that this Gottlieb Dragon lives again! After the board work above, cleaning and re-pinning some connectors, and fixing some bad wiring, I could tell we were getting close. Then I remembered the battery pack that was installed remotely was all corroded and gunked up (I had removed it). I asked a friend and he informed me that the game might not work without a battery in place, so I installed another battery pack (including blocking diode) and sure enough the game fired right up! Lesson learned... some (if not all) System 1 machines need a functioning battery or it will boot, but not play.

Some other issues (Player 1 display out) were simple (cleaning the connector... going to repin too) brought it right back to life.

Now it's time to get this thing cleaned up, cosmetically nicer, rubbers, and the works.

Thank you to all for your advice/help! Hopefully this is going to be solid moving forward!

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