When I first started reading your description I was thinking you may have reseated incorrectly. You do not have to remove the cable to re-seat it, just rock it up the pins without taking it off the pins then press it back a couple times.

A method I have found that works well for me is to put the cable end at a 90 deg angle to the header pins so I can see them lining up, then tip the cable on the the pins. It is very easy to connect them off a row. Glad you didn't damage anything else! Great story, you are not an idiot, you just did not realize, now you know and you will make sure they are lined up correctly. Live and learn

You're not the first and you won't be the last. ALWAYS suspect work you previously did and remember KISS....keep it simple, stupid.

Too many times, people think the worst and start looking for something that isn't there. Start at the beginning and rule out the simple stuff. Most times, that's all it is.

Whew! Good story with a happy ending.

+1 to BK's comment. All of my 'major' damage on my games has been inflicted by me trying to solve an issue in the wrong way.

bsd sounds likes it's a pain in the a$$ in the repair dept for most people. endless "help" posts on this game.

Congrats! Don't let that brain go to pot. Drugs are bad, mkay.

I'm telling ya I fix more machines by letting them sit for a few days...then another 10 minutes of work. Usually after spending hours chasing a problem down.

Not sure why this works...but it does

Damn connectors get me everytime.

Ive had misseated jones connectors all the time on the EMs.

The Dracula Curse Strikes again!!!!

My DMD cables need re-seating even if no one plays the game.....I get Strange displays, constant
blood and weird sounds.

I say a prayer, cross myself, exercise a few demons, then re-seat cables....the curse is gone until
a blood moon.......

If you don't want me to play your BSD, it's ok, you don't have to make up phantom issues.

Glad you got it figured out, now go get your AFM working!

Common mistake, good catch! We have all done it at least once.

I fried a display and a DMD driver board by working on a game with the power on. I am an idiot and very lucky it only cost me a couple of hundred to fix my mistake and I did not get fried by working with the power on.

You repaired it so you re not an idiot

I wonder if something like this could cause a Frankenstein machine to stop uttering any audio calls... like hypothetically, if one had just had the CPU board out for service and then plugged everything back in and all of a sudden it only plays the hurry-up music...

You know, hypothetically speaking. I may try some reseating exercises when I get home.

Maybe we should start an "Idiot" thread. A couple weeks ago, I stole a fuse from my SuperSonic machine for another machine I was working on because I had no 3/4 Amp fuses. When I got some more, I replaced it, then found out none of my controlled lighting was working. Looked inside, saw that I had snapped the fuse in between fuseholders instead of into the right one, DOH. Applied the high voltage DC (200V +) to the 5V lighting buss. Replaced all circuit boards and power supply one by one with another Bally machine to troubleshoot, nothing changed, wtf? Ended up that I fried every controlled light bulb in probably a nanosecond when I hit them with the high voltage, quantity of 74. Got away cheap, still feeling pretty stupid.........

Glad your BSD is back up and running.

I put a 14" scratch in an otherwise pristine piece of Invisiglass a few nights ago. Would this qualify for your thread?

If you're feeling adventurous, I have a 36-part video series bringing my BSD back to life... http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD0BC7072C81EA9BE&feature=view_all

I'm sure I make plenty of mistakes therein.

I won't comment on if that qualifies, but if you scratch Invisiglass, is the scratch invisible? My guess: no.

Let's see, I've done the misaligned cable once, that took an hour before my eyes caught it. I also replaced a EOL switch and flipper coil. I sodered the leads on the wrong terminals. So when I turned it on it cycled like crazy and died. I thought it took out an SCR. So I replaced the MPU and then power supply with spares. Turned out my EOL switch was just barely open instead of closed. It was the simple thing and not the Apocolypse. Lesson: No more wine during repairs, even simple ones.

Let me guess.
Slid it out with the coin door open?

You are not an idiot.
That's a good catch on your part to find the mis-seated connector.
You are only an idiot if you seriously damage something expensive.
And even then, I would cut you some slack. We all do idiotic things once in a while.

Glad you've got it up and running.

I haven't done that type of oversight with a pin, but I have with a car.

I took the top side of a 4cyl engine apart back in the late 1970's, a Ford Pinto I owned to change a head gasget. I took care to diagram everything as I went. Got it all back together and it wouldn't barely even run. I double-checked everything to my diagram multiple times but found no flaw.

The car sat outside covered in my Minnesota driveway snowdrift for about a half year while I bummed rides from friends, took the bus etc as I tried to figure it out. I checked the fuel system, checked for proper spark, valve timing etc etc etc.

Later I got hold of a manual and found my firing order was off. I had put the spark plug wires in wrong.

How embarrassing!

On the contrary, the door was closed. As I pulled the glass out, it somehow scraped against the lockdown bar mechanism. I had recently moved my games around, so something must have shifted just enough to cause the metal to stick up higher than normal. Badbilly was there when it happened. I imagine the look on my face was not one of delight.

ummm, I don't think "exercise" was quite the word you wanted here....

The wine is for AFTER the repair

Man, I love your BSD videos. I'm on #12. I bought a BSD recently and really appreciate your efforts. Say, where do you get your 91% alcohol?

When I'm repairing EM's sometimes you have to go over the same thing a dozen times until it works and have to test the machine each time, in which all it takes is one time to put something in the wrong way, forget to latch down a relay bank, whatever just once, then bam, just what happened to you, which eventually happens to all of us who work on our own machines EM or not.

Bottom line: Your golden, you fixed the problem and got the machine going, good job! Don't be so hard on yourself.

Ken

Ain't that the damn truth...

I remember watching the back box of HMM fall right off.
I almost died.

Go to any CVS, Walgreens, etc type drugstore and get the 91% Isopropyl in the really big bottle for like 5 bucks.

RussMyers

Enough time to run through scenarios in your head?

If it is a long Trouble shoot I find this also helps to walk away and come back later that day or the next day with a solid game plan to fix it.

I have reseated one ribbon cable wrong before and it makes you feel really stupid because it is such a simple task. I really like the rocking the connector idea instead of pulling it all the way off the pins.

Thanks for the post your not alone.