(Topic ID: 316282)

Gottlieb System 3 Gladiators Scoring Going Down During Gameplay?

By Knxwledge

1 year ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 12 posts
  • 4 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 1 year ago by ForceFlow
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

You

Linked Games

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider Knxwledge.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

#1 1 year ago

My boss had this problem with a customer's Gladiators where when you score points, the game subtracts the points for seemingly no reason. No video of the problem sadly, but it seemed to happen with any switch, ball count isnt progressing. Im thinking some kind of MPU or switch matrix issue?

#2 1 year ago

Got a video from the customer, I notice not all the digits of the score are displaying properly either
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IEJhhB6ZjmK9m7ciNtzix3I4tJfhveiR/view?usp=drivesdk

#4 1 year ago
Quoted from ForceFlow:

The video is a big help. It looks like it's dropping the tens digit occasionally--whenever the number is supposed to hit 6,7,8, or 9, the tens digit disappears.
First, I would try replacing the display EPROM. It's possible that the data where image data for those numbers are stored got corrupted/erased. If that doesn't work, then maybe also replace the game EPROM on the MPU (probably not likely to be the issue, but it's an easy issue to rule out).
With the game off, reseat the ribbon cables on the MPU, DMD controller board, and DMD. Again, probably not the issue, but an easy step to rule something out.
After that, I would guess there might be a possible logic issue on the MPU or DMD controller board, but probably more likely the DMD controller board. Do you have another working game you could swap boards with? That would be a quick way to see if the issue is on that board or not.

Thank you! Its at the customer's house, and we have no other working System 3 to swap boards with. We dont work on them very often at all. This is a good starting point

1 week later
#6 1 year ago
Quoted from ForceFlow:

Just as an additional thought, if it does look like the DMD controller board has an issue, the first thing I would try to test/replace would be the RAM. Whenever there's a weird issue on that board, more often than not, bad RAM seems to be involved.

We ended up taking the game in on trade. Reseating cables and changing RAM didn't work. Ordered an Eprom and GAL chip from flippers.com, then if that doesnt fix it I'll assume it's the DMD controller board

1 week later
#7 1 year ago
Quoted from ForceFlow:

Just as an additional thought, if it does look like the DMD controller board has an issue, the first thing I would try to test/replace would be the RAM. Whenever there's a weird issue on that board, more often than not, bad RAM seems to be involved.

Changing the EPROM didnt work. Changing the U8 GAL with the new causes the display to just show garbage. Swapping back to the original U8 makes the garbage go away

Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
From: $ 209.00
2,450 (OBO)
Machine - For Sale
Centerport, NY
$ 1.00
Pinball Machine
Pinball Alley
 
2,699
Machine - For Sale
Wichita, KS

You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider Knxwledge.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gottlieb-system-3-gladiators-scoring-going-down-during-gameplay?tu=Knxwledge and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.