Just brought home a Cleopatra that's been out of service for a long time, so I'll be working to revive her, hopefully with your help!

I'll have some acid damage to neutralize and a lot of investigation to do, so let's start with the power board that seems to have seen better days.

It's got a couple transistors soldered on the back side and R12 and R13 have one leg desoldered. I know C1 should be replaced but that looks like the least of the concerns at the moment.

How does this look to you guys?

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Thanks @forceflow, so that's going to be an adventure. Now onto the mpu. Doesn't look /too/ bad from the front. But then the back...

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Nice! Looks a lot easier than trying to sand it all!

Ok, so mpu is acid bathed and the cap kit is on order for the power board. Pair of legs is in the rust remover along with a cup full of bolts and levelers. Next to ready is the lock down bar and receiver. I got the 3" tube because I figured the handle on the receiver would be simple to remove. Was I wrong, or am I missing something?

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Yeah, the rest will have to be on my next order, of course. Fwiw, the other diodes and such look ok.

Also, damn. Figures. I'll have to get a trough to do that in.

Thanks.

Thanks, I emailed Ed to see if he can get the rest of the stuff into my order before he ships.

What gauge wire do you use for the ground and transformer mods? 18?

Also, Ed was able to get the other parts in my order, so I'll be able to do the whole upgrade.

I'm clearly going to owe you a couple cases of beer by the end of this project. I couldn't appreciate your help more. Thank you.

Thanks! Yes, the pic is very helpful there.

Thanks, I appreciate it, too.

Mine is good, but I need the center plastic! Also, why doesn't anybody ever offer me the Mystic glass that I've been searching for!

As I continue to wait for parts, the coin door and lock down receiver have been getting the rust buster love.

I suspect the orders will arrive tomorrow so there will be lots of time before I'm able to open them...

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So now I'm taking apart my first chime unit. Should I be replacing these rubber grommets and black foam? What kind of foam should I use? Grommet part number?

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Of course they do. Thanks!

Holidays are getting in the way, of course, but the project continues. I've got a ton of parts now and just need the time to work. In the meantime, is there any way to turn smoke white back to regular white again?

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Thanks, I'm more concerned about the magic eraser on a 1977 painted cabinet. I guess you weren't scrubbing too hard, huh? I've got some purple power around here, think I may give that a try.

I didn't have a lot of luck with purple power and light magic eraser usage. I'm thinking it's more fade/yellowing than smoke at this point.

I'm finally rebuilding my power board...

The cermet trimmers are going from 4 leg to 3 leg. Can I get a pic of how the new ones are supposed to be oriented? I see the board has the proper holes for the 3 leg model.

Edit... I see the holes are not evenly spaced so can only be inserted properly in one direction.

OK, next question. When I got the game, Q1 was removed and the power board wasn't in the game, so I don't really understand what's going on with the wire mod and how this thing is to be assembled with regard to mica insulators, thermal grease, etc.

I do see the pics (though it would be easier if they were inline).

Is the point just that you desolder the wire rather than the eyelet when removing Q1? You still have to remove Q1 when removing the heatsink? The pics show where the holes go, but not where the wires route. You say not to route the wires through the original holes, but there are only 3 holes drilled.....And I see the 4th hole in the done picture.

The more I talk about it, reread the instructions and look at the pics the more I understand it.

You just desolder the wire from the pins on Q1 next time you remove it. Clever.

Also, where does this piece go?

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Now you lost me again. If Q1 goes through the heatsink, is the intention that everything stays connected by those wires while you work on the back of the PCB? Obviously, you can't pull Q1 through the heatsink. Should the wires be like 6"?

Also, if you want any additional pictures while I have this on my bench, I'd be happy to send them along.

Awesome, thank you. I'm going to have to make longer wires.

Last question about this for now...

The bottom transistor was replaced previously and it's not going to line up with the bottom screw hole. Anything I should do, other than replace it?

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That one does not have a nylon insulator, though the other one does. I was wondering what that strip on the back side was.

Would it be ill-advised to not screw that one down, but just use the mica insulator and thermal grease?

That makes sense, crap. Now I'm going to be stuck until I can find a nylon insulator for that screw hole. It was clearly never installed (at least properly) after that TIP was replaced because there's no grease on it.

Edit - Nevermind. The insulator prevents the screw from touching the heatsink.

So where do I get one of those nylon insulators?

I'll try to zip tie it for now, just so I can get it powered on and see where I'm at.

I do, will check that, thanks.

Funny thing is all this work is to attempt to save myself the $300 for the all in one board! I'm hoping after all this work, I'm going to plug everything in and it'll work like new! (And then I wake up)

The game is decent but hasn't been turned on for over a decade, so I honestly don't know if it will be a keeper. I'm not going to put a ton of time into it, but if $15 in parts can save the board, it's worth the attempt. I'm more concerned about the acid damaged CPU.

Jackpot! It is a shoulder bushing. The inner diameter is a little smaller, so there's some slop in the hole, but that works for me since my regulators didn't line up anyway.

That's it, we're done. Now let's see what blows up when we plug it in!

Could only get 5/6 screws in, but they're the 5 important ones.

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Absolutely. The bottom board is already checked out, and now we're checking the power board.

J2
+5.38v
-12.42v

J3
12.6v where there should be 60v
Pretty much 0 everywhere else

60v pot moves the 60v pin from 12.5v to 12.6v.

Yeah, I agree. There are some poorly done touch ups, but the part I was most impressed with is how solid it is. The bottom edge isn't separating or anything. I'd like to try to remove some of the bad touch ups, but that'd be a tough job not to go too far.

Q4 was missing and is brand new. I have not checked anything since I took those measurements, but I will. Thanks.

Ok, so I think Q3 is bad too. Getting measurements of .128 and .241 on the legs. Of course I don't have any of these transistors to replace it. It's supposed to be a 2N3416 NPN. I don't suppose I could use a 2N3904 in its place?

2n2222a is a substitute according to another thread. Found a pn2222a at RS. Assuming that's the same thing?

I'm getting 4v and 8v on J2, but still 12.8 where it should be 60v and nothing where it should be 42v.

@forceflow, forceflow, wherefore art thou forceflow?

I already put that pn2222a in and it didn't help, unfortunately. I am getting better readings on the transistor itself, though.

I have not seen that schematic, will check it out. Thanks.

I'm pretty sure I'm doing this right. I'm using the neg lead of C2 on black and red going right to the pin on J2.

Where can I measure the 69V AC input? Just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something on the bottom board.

Sorry C6, not C2. Going off this, but I'll try your way too.

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Gottlieb_System_1#Testing

I've got 76v coming in and 102.5v across C6.

My J3 measurements don't change when measuring off of pin 5 for ground.

I'll go through that other schematic and see what I can find.

Right away things seem off. On CR6 and CR8 I have 36v instead of 62v, but on CR7 and CR9, I have 102V where the schematic calls for 94.8v.

It seems to get worse as it goes as the emitter on Q2 is down to 13v.

I was measuring DC. The only AC I measured was from the bottom board on the J1 pins. Everything else is DC. I was using J3 pin 5 for ground during those measurements. I had the black lead clipped on, so just moved the red lead to all the different locations mentioned.

All the caps are new and I'm testing within 30s of power up. According to the fancy schematic, it goes, input voltage > cr6 > CR7. Voltage is low after 6 but high after 7? Doesn't make any sense to me.

I'm trying to trace the voltage with that schematic but I don't think I'm getting very far. Should I be measuring DC right at the start with CR6 and CR8? Use C6 as ground still?

Edit: I'm sure I'm doing this right, but wtf? How can R10 and R11 have those measurements when they're attached to the same solder pads??? My measurements are in blue.

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I understand that R10 and R11 are in parallel, but if that's the case, how is it that the same leg on each of the resistors measures a different voltage?

polyacanthus thanks for all of that. I'll study up some more. I didn't even recognize those blue balls as caps... I'll check those, too.

Is there a difference between a 1n4753 and a 1n4753a? They seem to look different. Did this just change over the years? Am I going to break something if I replace this CR10 diode with a zener equivalent?

I can't seem to find a 1n4753.

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Thanks.

I give up. I've replaced almost everything in the HV section and nothing has changed. I go from 100V to 13V at R10/R11 where it should be 62V. From there through the rest of the circuit it just keeps going down and I end up with 13V on the 60V output and essentially 0V on the 42V output pin.

I've begun to think the same thing about just how poorly designed these boards are. When I said I give up, I was just referring to the PSU, not the game. My CPU was acid damaged, so that'll probably take a ton of work, then who knows what shape the driver board is in. I'll probably just close my eyes, hold my breath and order the 4-in-1 (and then hopefully I won't find out all my displays are blown too).

The biggest problem with this PSU is that it's such a PITA to disassemble the damn thing over and over again. The wire mod on Q1 was an absolute life saver, but it's still a pain. I'll check Q2 because it is still out of the game and I should have a replacement, just in case (it tests ok, at least).

Yeah, I'm using C6 for ground and can get 100V early in the circuit. It just doesn't make it all the way to the pins.

Can this board be bench tested with an ATX power supply? That would make things soooo much easier. I should've asked this question weeks ago...

bah. Was afraid of that.

So, I'm here while I continue to ponder my board decision.

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Need to figure out what to do with this part.

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Thanks. Then I'll just have to figure out which hole is the correct one. I'm guessing the top left.

Wow, just the pic I needed. Thanks!

Is peroxide still the best whitening process for these posts?

Also, does anybody have an old red pop bumper body laying around? Mine lost half the art during cleaning.

If I replace one with new, I'd really have to replace all of them since the aged white wouldn't match the new white.

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Less than 1/10 solution of simple green in the ultrasonic. No wiping involved at all.

On a happier note, the playfield is clean. Ready for touch ups and reassembly.

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Lesson learned. Didn't even cross my mind when I was throwing everything in there.

Almost time to start reassembly. Good news is that a friend tested the boards for me. Driver is good, CPU boots. We'll see how well once I get a working PSU.

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Closer and closer.

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Ok, time for tech help again. I got a rotten dog PSU and before hooking it up, o figured I would check my input voltages again. I'm only getting 35V at the 69V fuse. Not sure if I'm measuring wrong or if something happened here. Help?

Apparently, the 25V is also low-key 16v.

Yeah, Nevermind. Output voltages are all good, so I was obviously measuring something wrong.

Alright, I'm all the way through power up, but of course the playfield issues start now. When going through the coil test some coils work properly, but the right pop bumper goes crazy. See video.

I haven't done the ground mods for the CPU or driver board yet, but this seems like a bigger problem than that.

Ok, so the switch being always closed will do that.

Next problem. Game starts and serves ball but then nothing else works, except the pops.

Bump.

No switches register during switch test, or during game play. The display seems to say 0 or 1 at times during test, but I can't find anything that makes that happen. After a little while (more than 5s, but not a whole lot), it goes back to attract.

How should I go about testing the logic? I repinned the connector already and this board did have acid damage. I cleaned it the best I could and replaced the obviously damaged components. Anything specific on the board to check?

Just what I needed. Thanks.

So I went through all the testing with the game in attract mode. The only thing that didn't go exactly as expected is Z29 pin 1 is "locked on" but since I can't find in the schematic what that refers to, I can't say that's a problem. When I grounded Z9 pin 1 it started a game just like pressing the start button. All the strobes were pulsing properly.

I can't find in the schematic what switch maps to which pin, so I can't try activating other game switches, but while testing all the other pins on Z9 (with a game active) nothing happened, just like activating the playfield switches.

Yikes, just added the CPU ground mod and now all the coils lock on at power up. Haven't done the driver board ground mod yet.

What'd I do wrong?

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Including when I remove the ground from the back panel. Ugh. So I just blew the driver board? How does that work?

Edit: if I pull A1J5 it doesn't happen, so probably not a driver board problem?

Broke it so good nobody wants to touch it, huh?

Awesome, thanks. Didn't recognize that chip notation.

Just gotta go back and check the coils part now to see what that ground mod blew up.

Ok, so I don't know if I did something wrong last time or if that ground mod caused it, but I'm getting no strobing on Z8 now, so I guess that means goodbye to this board. Time to order a Ni-wumpf.

Almost there!

Now that I got Ni-wumpf boards in, I've got some real progress!

Next problem is why the ball in play is overlaying on the P1 tens digit.

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Ok, so the display issue was just a loose connector pin coming off the CPU.

Last remaining problem is that the driver transistor for the 10pt chime keeps blowing. If I move the power wire to the 100 pt chime, the same transistor blows and locks on the 100pt chime. I sent both boards back to Ace at Ni-wumpf and he went over them for me. They're coming back now in a known good condition after his testing.

Hopefully all is well. Is this something the interconnect harness could cause?

I've been following Clay's guide and have repinned most connectors, including the CPU side of the interconnect harness. The driver side looks good still. I'll probably repin that wire at least anyway at this point.

So, put the boards back in, ran a whole new interconnect wire and a new wire from the driver board to the coil, just in case. Worked like a charm for one game. One ball into game two, it blows again, just like always. Wtf? I already tried swapping power wires and it locked on the 100 chime instead, so it can't be the coil, right? I'm at a complete loss here.