Look for any blown fuses... Do you have the instruction manual for the machine? It has the schematics and troubleshooting in it.

First thing open up the back box and look to see if the pia light is on.

Do you have a copy of clay's guides? If not send me a pm. It might be easier for you to read through them.

Any sign of battery corrosion on the MPU near or on the batteries?

Re-Seat cpu and display rom.

Take them out and put them back in. Honestly if you have to ask you might not want to do it.

Roms are on the boards. that's probably not it. If you have broken fuse parts, fix those first.

2 are supposed to be on.

I sold my jp today, but if memory serves at startup you should have 5 volt and the pia should be lit briefly. Then it should shut off and the blanking should be on.

I would go through clays guides again as it should tell you why the pia light is on.

That's correct and this would be the best place to start,The most problematic thing on Data east/Stern boards are the fuse clips.They are cheap and split/break off very easily,This could be the problem why your game is not working.

What's the location of that fuse on the board so we can narrow it down to see what it drives?

Louknees,Do you have a multimeter?

Test that bridge rectifier on the power supply board,It's the Big square thing and there's only one on that board.

Power off the game and it's easy to test in-circuit with the meter set to diode function. Red lead on the ‘”-” bridge lug, black leads on the lugs next to it. Should see .4 to .6 volts.

http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/Category-32.asp

Top of the page. you want the high current

Product ID: 1A1907-03
Fuse Clip, 3AG, High Current, Tin Plated

I read this thread title and thought James Garner had passed away. Wait, he's still alive right?

PIA = pain in the ass

Sounds like a coil may be locking on which would be a transistor issue maybe?

F8 is on the PPB. It drives the high voltage coils if memory serves me correctly. The burning smell was probably the wrapper around the coil melting.

Do you have a good multi meter that can read ohms?
Does it have a diode setting?

You will need to figure out which coil locked on. Replace the melted fuse. Take the glass off and raise the playfield. Turn on the machine briefly and try to spot the coil that fires and stays on. If you cannot find it in a couple of seconds turn the machine off and let the coil and the fuse cool for a few minutes and try again.

Once you find the coil take the wires off the lugs. Put the multi meter on ohms and put connect one end to each lug. It should be above 4 ohms. If it is replace the diode on the coil, pay attention to which way the band is. Put the wires back on as they were.

Now you need to pull the popcorn popper board. Look in your manual for the coil chart. It will tell you what transistor drives that coil.You need to replace the large tip36c (someone correct me if I am wrong its been awhile) with a new one. Put the PBB board back in and pull the driverboard. Look in the manual again to figure out what transistor drives that coil. It should be a tip102 or tip122. Replace that one with a tip102 and its predriver if it has one.

That *should* fix the locked on coil problem.

Have you replaced the broken fuse clip? If not make sure you replace both ends at the same time as they tend to fail one after the other. I would go around and check the other fuses. Firmly press down on each fuse. If the holder gives way it needs to be replaced.

Sounds like something you'd hear on RGP.

If you are talking about soldering inside the cabinet, then don't worry about laying anything down. I just vacuum out the cab after a shop job and it comes up.

If this is your first time working on a board you need to decide what you will use to get the old solder off the board. Some use wick, some use a squeeze bulb, some use a spring loaded sucker (what I use) and the pros use a desoldering station which has a small vacuum attached to it.

You can pick up the wick, bulb, or spring loaded from radio shack. Taking those fuse clips out isn't too hard, just take it easy. I do recommend that you get a bit of practice before you move on to transistors, and get a lot of practice before you tackle a chip.

Its true though. Honestly better to not do it. Bent pins etc. We all had to be first but lots of risk of damage on that op if it goes bad. No time like the present disconnect the coil plugs forget which ones they are on the ppb and see if game fires up.

TO the OP if you want someone (a tech) to walk you threw this pm me and i will be glad to call and help you.

I'm just learning too, but I think once you find the coil that is locked on you can look it up in the manual. The manual will tell you what transistor fires it, Q-??. Once you know that, with the machine off, Set your DMM to Countinuity, place the Neg(Black) lead of your DMM on the Ground Braid of the back box and Pos(red) lead to the metal tab of transistor Q-?. If you have Continuity( buzz on my meter) then the transistor is shorted and needs to be replaced. I do believe that you should also replace the pre-driver to the shorted coil also as there's a chance it is damaged also.

Like I said I'm just learning, so I hope my little input helps, Bill in Indiana

I guess I just believe " You have to start somewhere".

Oh for sure. But if you dont have a chip puller and attempt to use a screw driver butter knife etc you can cause more harm than good. If its the fuse that controls 18volts that also is the same for the 5volt logic. Game wont boot if thats the case.

If it was me i would disconnect all psu and coil driver plugs. I would apply 5 volts to the test point and a ground and see if the cpu fires up. Same for the Display. A De display can be fire up and go into attract on its own without the need of the cpu. It has its own 6808. Lots of stuff he can do based on his skill level

It depends on the transistor each one tests differently. Some I still haven't found out how to test VN02's for example.

For most using the diode setting to read and compare will often point out the non-working ones. I would say 95 percent of the time, every once in awhile one will test good, but act bad.