Hi

I've got an Iron Maiden which fails to boot up after the initial switch on and totally lost as to what might be the problem. Power is there and leds come on on the main pcbs but it then fails to go through it's initial boot up sequence where the screen comes on and then playfield lights etc.

Have swapped over most components with a GOTG pro which I also have which is very handy to be able to test the bits from IM in it and all seem to work fine in GOTG but of course cannot still get IM to start properly.

Here's a summary of what we've done to try to find the problem. As I say we're lost as to why it won't work and have run out of things to logically test.

- the game was bought second hand. The seller insists it was working when the courier collected it. It was then stored for a couple of weeks, most likely in a cold place before being delivered to me. When I plugged it in it would not start fully.

- On power up, you can see the 4 leds on the main Spike 2 cpu, the red led on the power distribution pcb and a red led on both node 8 and 9 within the cabinet/playfield. It does not then go to the next step of loading the software with the screen energising and playfield lights coming on etc that you would normally expect.
- We have tested that 48v is coming into the pdb (47.8 to be precise) (measured on wide connector on pdb between grey and black wires).

Have swapped the following over with a working GOTG pro:

- Spike 2 pcb from IM put in GOTG pro with SD card from GOTG and boots up fine
- SD card from IM put in GOTG pro and boots up fine with data cables disconnected (to avoid confusing GOTG nodes)
- power distribution board swapped between both machines and both work in GOTG but don't make IM work
- cable between main cpu and pdb
- power lead
- plugged IM in a different plug socket

Have switched IM on with data cables disconnected to test that node boards on playfield are not causing a problem as should boot without these connected as GOTG does but IM doesn't so therefore assume that nothing wrong with node boards.

So not sure what else to test!

Does the Spike pcb need some input apart from the SD card to boot up? What else could cause IM not to boot up?

We've tested that the IM Spike cpu, SD card and pdb are all good and we have 48v coming in so not sure what else to test or can be the problem but it still won't start up past initial switch on.

What we've not yet swapped as can't think could be the problem but can do as required:
- power supply (not sure I want to fiddle with this given lack of electrical knowledge and surely if 48V is coming in OK this is fine)
- LCD screen
- nodes 8 and 9

Getting desperate now as to what to do and would really appreciate any ideas from anyone on here who understands the system better than the seller and me.

I've been in contact with Stern over the past week. They initially said SD card was corrupt but worked fine in GOTG and got a copied replacement which didn;t make IM work. Since then have not yet been able to come up with any further thoughts and emails have just been their information gathering so far.

Many thanks in advance for any ideas or if anyone has ever come across this before.

Cheers
Greg

I've found the problem so posting here for future reference. It was the Spike 2 pcb.

After much further swapping and reseating connectors the one thing I should have done, which I didn't because it wasn't logical, is to put the known working pcb in the non working machine.

This succeeded so I then put the pcb from the non working game in the working one and it was fine initially which is where I was misled before when I swapped pcbs, because I thought the pcb was OK but it then crashed and wouldn't boot. So definitely something wrong with the pcb but seemed odd how it initially worked fine in the other machine.