(Topic ID: 142154)

Gottlieb System 1 not starting game.

By D3m0nicSoul

8 years ago


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#1 8 years ago

Hello, I have a Gottlieb system 1 Charles angels pinball machine. I used to play it all the time but one day it just stopped working. Its been a few years but when I finally took a look at it I cant see any physical damage like leaking battery or burnt traces. It starts up normally with 5 second delay and displays all 0's on the screen. But I do not hear 2 clicks when it starts up it is silent. Any idea what I should check? Thanks in advance.

#2 8 years ago

Are the displays flickering some? Could be a slam tilt switch in that case. Could also have blown the solenoid fuse if it's starting a game (credits counting down) but just not kicking the ball out.

#3 8 years ago

Check if the harness from the power supply to the MCU is delivering power. That's what happened to our Solar Ride, the symptoms were identical, would boot, but wouldn't coin up or start and no clicks - when I bent back the connector pins to make contact, the game started working again. I've since repinned the connector.

#4 8 years ago

No display flicker, all the slam switches are in the right position I checked them first. I will check the harness later today.

#5 8 years ago

Check fuse for 24V
And connectors on driver board too

Credit(s) will not be decreased if ball remains to stay in the outhole

#6 8 years ago

Not having any luck. I tried getting a better contact from the power supply to main board but it didn't work. All the fuses and wires seem to be ok. I'm not quite sure how i should go about checking voltages on the main board.

#7 8 years ago

Use a multimeter in DC meter mode on the upper power supply connector. On the power supply board, there should be five wires, left to right, coming from the connector. They are in this order: 5V, 5V, Ground, Ground, -12V. Start there to see if it's outputting those voltages.

If the 5V is low, there will be two "pots" on the power supply. The leftmost one will adjust the 5V.

Do note that the connectors in that harness may have gone bad - this is what happened to ours. I was able to bend the connectors back and get it to work, but I repinned them at the first opportunity rather than risk another failure.

-1
#8 8 years ago

So I have 5v 5v and 11.9 and on the main board it's 4.9 and 11.9

#9 8 years ago

When you check fuses be sure to remove them from the holder before you test for continuity.

Have you done the recommended System 1 ground mods?

What voltage do you measure across the coin lockout coil? (should be 24VDC)

#10 8 years ago

I checked the fuses and the 25v one seems to not be working. I'm going to try and see if i can find one, hopefully its as simple as that. Sorry im new to the whole multi-meter thing so i checked them last once i felt comfortable. Its funny cause the fuse looks perfectly fine.

#11 8 years ago
Quoted from D3m0nicSoul:

So I have 5v 5v and 11.9 and on the main board it's 4.9 and 11.9

That sounds like it's within tolerances. The main board... it's always possible it's only getting part of the 5V, even though you're reading it there, since there's technically two lines to ensure enough amperage gets to the MPU.

Does the system coin up, or can you get it into the menu via the test switch at the top of the coin door?

#12 8 years ago

The system does not seem to coin up but the test switch does work and lets me get to each menu.

#13 8 years ago

Check and clean the to lower left connectors of the CPU-Board!!!!!

#14 8 years ago
Quoted from D3m0nicSoul:

The system does not seem to coin up but the test switch does work and lets me get to each menu.

OK, so that means the MPU is getting all the power it wants, and eliminates that harness as a possible culprit. Our problem, we couldn't even to get it to hit the test menu.

I'd check to see if the coin switches are indeed making contact, as well as the recommended cleaning of those lower left connectors on the MPU, as well as the connector pins in the harness that attaches there. You can also check, in the power supply panel at the bottom of the cab, on the left of the bridges and above the fuses, there will be a small breakout panel with about five diodes on it tied into the harness going to the coin door. One or two of those should be to the coin switches, and should probably be checked as well. The rearmost one will be to the test switch, and can be ignored since that works (it was actually broken on ours when we got it, which is how I know that's the one to that switch).

#15 8 years ago

OK so i replaced the fuse and checked some of the wires and there were a few suspicious ones. The guy before me soldered a few and they came undone. They looked like 2 ground wires on the main harness by the front lcd panel. Anyway the system boots up now and starts a game! The only thing im not sure of is that i don't have to press the coin button before i press the start button. I'm not sure if it saves credits even when you turn the system off or if one of the switches is constantly adding credits? The two coin switches are open are they supposed to be closed? Sorry its been a really long time since this has been running. Also one of the wires the ball runs over is broken, is there any place that sells replacements? I have some more work to do as some of the switches don't always register points when the ball hits them or rolls over them but that's small stuff.

#16 8 years ago
Quoted from D3m0nicSoul:

OK so i replaced the fuse and checked some of the wires and there were a few suspicious ones. The guy before me soldered a few and they came undone. They looked like 2 ground wires on the main harness by the front lcd panel. Anyway the system boots up now and starts a game! The only thing im not sure of is that i don't have to press the coin button before i press the start button. I'm not sure if it saves credits even when you turn the system off or if one of the switches is constantly adding credits? The two coin switches are open are they supposed to be closed? Sorry its been a really long time since this has been running. Also one of the wires the ball runs over is broken, is there any place that sells replacements? I have some more work to do as some of the switches don't always register points when the ball hits them or rolls over them but that's small stuff.

I don't know if it saves the credits - the battery on ours was removed a long time ago, and I won't be fitting a battery until it's working and after the housewarming in a few weeks, so I can't even test it. I do know some people can basically make it so you add a credit and start a game by pressing the start button. Ours actually has a dedicated "add coin" button added to the cabinet, so again I can't verify that.

Odds are pretty good that if it's constantly adding credits, you'd be hearing the credit chime again and again... unless they turned the chime off via the DIP switches, and even then I'd think you could literally watch the leftmost two numbers on the four digit credit/ball display constantly climb and have trouble starting a game.

#17 8 years ago

So the machine is up and running but I seem to be having problems with it registering points. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesnt. I'm probably going to say misadjusted/dirty switches? And I have a pop bumper that doesn't do anything but hum when the ball hits it. Any ideas?

#18 8 years ago

For the pop bumper check the switch gap on on the spoon switch by operating the skirt manually in different positions. There for may be gunk in the spoon causing the switch to be sticky and the pop bumper permanently activated.

Is it the same switches that don't work consistently?

#19 8 years ago

It sounds like the switch is activating because everytime the ball hits it the bumper hums like its stuck. And no the switches that don't work consistently are the top rollover switches. Sometimes the ball rolls over them and they activate and other times they don't do anything.

2 months later
#20 8 years ago

Check the pop bumper from underneath and see if you can move it freely by hand. It should move easily. If it has any resistance, replace the coil and sleeve.

On the rollovers, I've noticed that on our machine, they also don't register every hit. More often it won't register when the ball goes up rather than down.

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