Hi everyone,

So, I seem to have really messed up my getaway

It was working absolutely fine until a few weeks ago, when I pulled out the power driver board in an attempt to diagnose some problems on my T2. I ran into some additional problems on the T2, so I gave up for the time being and went to return the power driver board to the getaway.

Well, now the machine doesn't work properly. I got the power driver board back in and reconnected everything. The machine powers on OK, the MPU board completes it's bootup sequence, and the playfield lights up as it should and begins attract mode. Also, if I press the start button, a ball is launched into the shooter lane, and I can fire it into play with the shift lever...

HOWEVER, none of the boards other than the power driver board and the MPU board seem to be working at all!

The symptoms are:
-Flippers don't work (the getaway has a fliptronics board)
-No sound, just a little hissing from the speakers during boot up
-The DMD is blank and never shows anything

My power driver board is a rotten dog board. I tested all of the test points, and they are all good. I also tested for power on the 3 boards that aren't working right (sound, DMD control board, and fliptronics), and they all seem to have power.

Next, I suspected the ribbon cable might be bad, since these 3 boards are connected to the MPU board via one ribbon cable with 4 connectors. However, replacing all of the ribbon cables with new ones didn't change anything.

I also tried disconnecting the ribbon cable and tried booting with one board connected to the MPU board at a time (for example, I just connected MPU and fliptronics, then MPU and sound, then MPU and DMD control board). However, none of the 3 boards worked when connected solo like this either.

I even grabbed a new power driver board, in case somehow the board went bad in the T2, but the behavior is exactly the same with the new board as well.

I'm currently totally stumped by this. The game WAS working fine, as of when I pulled the power driver board. I don't see anything wrong or burned out, and I double checked every fuse in the machine. Is there anything else anyone can thing of that could cause this behavior? At this point, I'm starting to wonder if the MPU board somehow went bad, but this seems absurd to me since it boots properly, controls the playfield properly, and it's a new rottendog replacement board that worked fine as of when I yanked the power driver board.

Thanks!

Thanks for the reply,

I believe everything is plugged in correctly. I've double and triple checked everything, and I got help from another pinsider who sent me detailed photos of their backbox so I could match everything up. While I can never be 100% sure of this, I have gone over this many times, and I think it's all correct. Is there anything specific you know of that could be connected incorrectly that would produce this behavior?

I tested every fuse I can see on the 5 boards in the backbox, and all have continuity and negligible resistance. Are there any others to test? I know the main fuse isn't blown since the machine mostly powers up. Is there any particular fuse that could be bad that would cause this?

To clarify exactly what happened:

-Getaway was working 100%
-T2 was experiencing multiple strange issues with power, and I suspected the power driver on T2 might be bad
-I swapped the getaway power driver into T2. The T2 issues persisted.
-I replaced the power driver board in the getaway, and had the issues described
-Now, here is the thing... I can't be certain the power driver board wasn't damaged while in the T2 machine. I never got the machine working properly, and the issues I was having on the T2 persisted.
-Because of this, I purchased a replacement rottendog power driver board for the getaway, just to eliminate that possibility. However, the problems persisted in exactly the same manner with the new power driver board.

If the original power driver board was damaged while in the T2, perhaps that caused damage to some of the other boards? I'm not really sure. There is nothing visibly damaged on them that I can see, but I'm not an expert by any means. It also seems unlikely to me that all 3 boards (fliptronics, sound, dmd control) would have been damaged, so if one board went bad I would guess the MPU?

However, if it was damaged, it was damaged in such a way that the main game functions (lights, switches, solenoids) seem to work fine. Even though the flippers don't work currently (presumably due to the fliptronics board, or a communication issue with the fliptronics board), I can manually trigger targets and the game responds appropriately, and the supercharger works.

No, the rottendog board came with new fuses populated in it already.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone.

Here are some pictures I took of the machine powered on. I double checked & re-seated the ribbon cables again, but perhaps I still messed them up. Please let me know what you see!

I have a fair amount of experience fixing mechanical issues/resoldering, but board issues and electronic problems are still mostly out of my league.

dmd (resized).jpg

flip (resized).jpg

mpu (resized).jpg

overview (resized).jpg

powerdriver (resized).jpg

soundflip (resized).jpg

Here are a few more showing some of the ribbon connections up close

20180705_154802 (resized).jpg

20180705_154810 (resized).jpg

20180705_154822 (resized).jpg

Here is a quick description of how the machine behaves when powered up:

-I turn the main power switch on
-Power driver and MPU board light up (MPU starts with 3 lights as normal)
-Speakers make a slight hissing noise that increases in pitch over a few seconds
-D19 on the MPU board goes out, D20 starts blinking
-A few seconds later, I hear the startup 'bong' and the playfield illuminates and begins the attract mode.

At this point, the game can be started with the start button, and the trough and launch solenoids work. However, the flippers are dead, the speakers just emit occasional crackles, and the DMD is dark (but powered).

Sometimes the machine remains running indefinitely, other times it reboots in a loop after 30-40 seconds.

Wow, I looked at that connector many times and never saw that. It's pretty dark in there, and hard to see that spot. I'm going to address that now and see if that fixes it.

Regarding the hacked connectors, I didn't do any of this work. Many of the connectors were badly repaired or spliced together. I was looking into fixing them, but there isn't enough slack in the wires to re-crimp most of them without extending everything, or getting entirely new wiring harnesses.

Back in business!

Big thanks to everyone who took the time to read this, and especially to Kronlar for spotting the issue. I must have checked that connection half a dozen times, but I didn't see the bent pins at the end.

I'm glad it was so simple, but sorry for wasting everyone's time with this. Lesson learned I guess.

Thanks again.

20180705_181343 (resized).jpg

=)

So, the last time I turned on the T2, there was a loud pop and it blew the main fuse as well as F105 on the power driver board. This happened instantly after the machine was turned on. It kind of freaked me out, and I haven't had a chance to get back to it. As soon as I have time to look at it again, I will make another thread about that machine.

It was weird, since the game was mostly working OK just prior. All I did between that powerup and the last one was unplug the ribbon cable from the DMD to the DMD control board in the backbox.

That sounds entirely plausible. Do events like this often cause lasting damage?

I have a fuse kit for T2 on the way. I'm going to re-fuse the entire game, double check every connection in the backbox, and then I will create another thread with photos before I try powering it on.

Thanks for all your help.

Hi everyone,

In order to keep this thread on topic and relevant to anyone who may find it in the future, I made a new thread detailing the problems with my T2:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/my-poor-poor-t2-

I really appreciate everyone's help and input, and I'd ask that we continue the discussion there. I've gotten immense value from older threads on this forum when I had problems with my machine, and I want to be sure all of the T2 discussion takes place in a thread linked to that machine.

Also PinballManiac40, sorry that I was unclear, but the T2 issue was NOT a flipper problem. I've detailed it in the new thread. Only the getaway had a flipper problem. The original power driver in the T2 has a relay of course, and the rottendog boards have a solid state equivalent I believe.

Big thanks once again for the help with the getaway! The issue has now been resolved.