It's not a game setting, it's the default behavior of Embryon software.

Are you sure you've got Embryon correctly selected on the Alltek game selection switches?
Did you try running the Alltek memory clear function?
The Alltek CLK speed jumpers are selected for Bally and not Stern?

Quite possible.
What happens in game over mode on the displays? It should:
1) Show the last game scores
2) Blank
3) Show the High Score to Date
4) Blank
Repeat

Do the displays momentarily blank at 2) and 4) ?

Have you got a factory 6 digit display to try with the 7volution controller board disconnected?

Looks like they might need to update the firmware on their controller interface board.

It's really quite strange why Embryon was released with 6 digit displays, when nine months earlier Bally already made the change to 7 digit games.

Did you ever find a solution for blinking the 7volution displays?

Purchasing scored a bulk purchase of 6 digit displays. When the 7s came out suppliers Cherry and Burroughs had large inventories of 6s and made Bally an offer we couldn't refuse. It was a long time ago but I think the decision was to use them up on widebody games and in other spots.

Was there a solution found for the non-blinking displays with 7volution?

I have the same issue with my Embryon.

Contact X-Pin. The 7volution product is their proprietary design and only they'll be able to resolve it.

Hmm, this looks like an error in their logic detection, not an electrical issue.

All the below 6 digit games flash the player up score at the start of a ball. Shouldn't be hard for them to find one of these..

Kiss, Dolly Parton, Harlem Globe Trotters, Silverball Mania, Future Spa, Space Invaders, Rolling Stones, Paragon, Mystic, Hot Doggin, Viking, Embryon, Six Million Dollar Man.

no solenoids at all?

have you checked fuse F4 on the board in the bottom of the cabinet and your 43VDC supply at TP5 ?

Also check the 5 volt loop wire on the J3 connector at solenoid driver board pins 13 and 25 that powers the solenoid drive circuits.

I have tried to contact X-pin about this issue and their phone number just refers you to their website. When I try to send them an email I get a “No Robots Allowed Here” response so I guess that doesn’t work either.

I guess I’m going back to 6-digit displays.

If the xpin displays work as regular seven digit displays you can put the Oliver roms in they might already be in the alltek boards they have a couple of them on there.

That would be a shame.

X-Pin are on Pinside if you want to try PMing them:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/xpin-black-friday-sale-2021-1

They've also partnered with Big-Daddy, so they could be another contact route.

Olivers Embryon update isn't in the Alltek ROM.

Finally saw this post. Yes, this is in the 7volution displays. We are battling technologies with what we are doing here.

The classic Bally games when updating the score displays have an interrupt every 3.1ms and then it updates the same digit on all of the displays and must do so before the next interrupt occurs. With actually adding the millions digit, we now have to update more digits in that same amount of time and miss the real blank that occurs, which is in part due to the 7volution code and LED vs Plasma devices.

It is important also to keep in mind that since we have no interaction with the MPU (we are monitoring the entire display harness) the determination as to when we roll and keep the millions digit has to be done real time as it is moving across the buss. Definitely a challenge across the board.

I readily admit that there are improvements that can be made, such as making sure the blinking of the player occurs, as well as addressing Stern games, but I haven't had the opportunity or time to improve this. If anyone is interested in helping with this, send me a PM. Would need someone who knows their way around C language and MicroChip parts. I can make it worth your while if interested.

Stern games have or can have relatively easily seven digit scoring native.

The seven lution displays should just grab the data and put it onto the displays at its own pace.... No need to refresh the display live sixty times a second.

I presume you're also monitoring the lamp states so you know when to display the high score to date, etc.

There is no situation where the singles digit will be blank and other digits will have live numbers. Same goes for the 10's digit.
So if either of those two digits are blank at a display, that whole display will be blank. i.e. you don't need to worry that the score has rolled over and you have to stuff zero digits up to the millions digit when those first two digits are blank.

Since the MPU board writes digits to the displays in reverse order (most significant to least significant) there are likely times your blanking will be out a frame or so but we are talking some milliseconds which nobody should notice.

The Stern MPU-100 games with 6 digits write to the displays the same way Bally does.
The Stern MPU-200 games have a faster display interrupt generator that runs at 400Hz.
Alltek MPU boards run the display interrupt generator at 420Hz from memory, regardless of 6 or 7 digit games - they defaulted to Ballys 7-digit refresh speed.

Having a new solenoid driver board has nothing to do with the 43VDC, that supply initially comes from the transformer lugs 2 and 6 in the form of AC then is converted to DC at the rectifier board.

By "all went dead again", do you mean the fuse F4 went open?

all good, no need to say sorry and forget about the questions, ask away.

just going back to your first post.....did you ever have the game working with an original mpu board?

after the ball drains, having played the one ball, does it come good after a few seconds?
when you lose the solenoids working, do the displays go out?

check the fuse holder under the playfield, sort of between the flippers in the middle.

the fuse should be a 1 amp slow blow.

sounds like the clips that hold the fuse in place may not be tight enough hence the intermittent results.

if the fuse holder is original, there is a chance that upon squeezing the clips together a little that one or both sides may snap off, just be gentle.

To add to Rikoshay 's post, if the solenoids go out but the flippers keep working.... it's the fuse holder. The underplayfield fuse splits off the flipper power *before* the fuse (the flippers are protected directly by the rectifiers' board fuse) leaving only the non-flipper solenoids for that fuse.

Bally fuse holders are pretty bad and something I replace on all machines I go through, even if they 'seem good'.

do you notice the coin lock out coil on the door go out also?

sounds like we need to start at the start.

you mention not being too confident with early solid state, that's fine we'll fix that, well try anyway

do you have a digital multi meter that you understand how to use?

That points to a connector issue or a bad solder joint on the rectifier board.

when the games loses the solenoids i'd like you to probe pins 2 & 10 on the J2 connector on the rectifier board.

multi meter set to volts DC and put the red probe to pin 2 (43VDC solenoid bus) and the black lead to pin 10 or any 'ground' on the machine.
this is pretty much the same as probing test point 5, but the meter probe terminal may cause a better connection to happen, if so determining where the fault is.

J2 plug feeds power to the cabinet, hence me asking about the coin lock out, i'm curious if only the playfield loses the 43VDC or it also drops out on the door also?

i don't suspect the rectifier board to be at fault or the fuse F4, a 5A fast blow would go open.
i'm thinking a bad connection somewhere.

if you have 43VDC at pin 2 and 10 (ground) then whilst it's still 'down' check voltage at the 1A fuse under the playfield (and/or any solenoid lug on the banded diode end) and ground.

also remove J2 from the rectifier board and look inside the plug, at pin 2 and see if it's 'okay', like not broken, and not squashed which would cause minimal pressure to the rectifier board header pin.
actually, when the game is 'down' press say any flipper button whilst lifting on the J2 plug loom (essentially pin 2 wire) and see if the flipper works?

Are the flippers dying aswell?

If yes, also check the 5V power loopback (brown-green) wire on the solenoid driver board J3 connector - if wiggling it makes the solenoids work, time to reterminate with new crimps. Measuring test point TP3 on the solenoid driver board should indicate 5 volts.

SDB_LogicPowerA.png