Hi, I already have these issues posted on the POTO club forum, but thought I should try a wider forum aswell.

I have bought a DATA EAST PHANTOM OF THE OPERA pinball machine and have been working on cleaning it up. My experience is fairly limited, and I am no expert when it comes to electrical issues, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

These are the issues I'm trying to solve :

1. DIGITAL DISPLAY NOT WORKING. It shows no sign of life at all. Is there any way i can test wether it is the display itself thats the problem, as I don't mind buying a new display if needed, but not unnecessarily.

2. ATTRACT MODE NOT STARTING. When I switch on the machine, all the GI lights come on, but the under playfield lights do not. It appears that if I then open the coin door, the slam tilt switch causes the table to then come to life ( a few sounds of solenoids briefly firing, and all the attract mode lights functioning).

If I then press the game start button, all I get is a sound of the phantom laughing, but it sounds too fast and high pitched. No game start though.

Once I have triggered the slam tilt switch and the playfield lights are all functioning, I find that if I keep the coin door open, turn the machine off and back on, the attract mode lights function from switch on. However, if i shut the coin door, switch off then on again, its back to the original problem.

I have also found that if i close the coin door and lift the playfield so I can reach in and trigger the slam tilt switch, the slam tilt won't trigger at all.

Can anyone help?
Many thanks.

Thank you so much for your reply wdennie, it appears you were absolutely right about the batteries, I can't believe it was something so simple! Doh! So I now have a working game

Regarding the digital display, I have no other compatible displays or machines to try, so I think I'll have to bite the bullet and buy an Xpin replacement, and maybe an Xpin replacement power board incase the issue is at that end.

Would it be advisable to disconnect the plugs at both ends which at least appear to be linking the power board to the display, and try the digital multimeter audible continuity test from end to end, or could this cause a problem? I have only ever done this with fuses, so I don't know if I should or not with the cables.

Many thanks again wdennie, and as always, I would appreciate any advice.

When you say 'the av board', is that on the main power board in the back box? And if so, do you then think its a wiser move to go for the Xpin power board replacement alone first?

Yes, first thing I did was the audible continuity checks on the fuses, all seem fine.

It must be the CPU board that your referring to, on POTO it's the biggest circuit board and it's directly behind/above the display, with the ribbon cables. It's probably different to star wars, as POTO doesn't have a DMD, but a 2 row digital display.

Also yes, have tried removing and reseating the ribbon cables, no luck. Are ribbon cables generic as long as you buy them from a pinball parts seller in the correct length?

Not yet, I'll have to figure out how to do that. Must be a how to video on youtube somewhere.

I've not found anything on YouTube. Any tips on how I would check the voltage to the display?

I've been reading about how the CN1 connector on data east power boards are infamous for having issues.

Have many people on here experienced this and could this be a likely suspect for the display problem?

I received my Xpin replacement display for POTO today, and, deep joy, it does work, but as you will see in the picture, the lower display is fine, but the upper, while working, shows parts of the digit areas that it shouldn't be.
The lower display was like this at first, but on moving the ribbon cable about, it improved, but the upper screen will not improve.

Does anyone have the part numbers of the ribbon cables needed, as I can only assume this must be the issue, but I can't find anything about these in the instruction manual download

Also I understand that the high voltage power fuse should be removed now that the Xpin display is installed, could anyone confirm for me that this is the fuse that is referred to please? - FUSE F3 0.25A SLO-BLO Display Reg. Input (90VAC).
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Many thanks again.

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