Does anyone happen to have a spare MA-1770 add on speech board? Mine is missing. Even if it is for a different game I can order the ROM for it. If you have the DIP cable that goes with it that is a bonus but I can make one of those if needed.

So looking over my game I noticed that the fuse for the outhole is blown. A couple apron screws are missing on the front (would like to confirm the correct screws to use there) so someone has been in there before. I noticed there is a Williams coil in there and I have no confidence that the polarity is correct on the wiring. This is the first time I am trying to bring up the game. Past history unknown.

I have a manual on order but it would help to know the correct coil number and perhaps a picture of the wiring so I can confirm which wire connects to the banded end of the diode. I want to straighten all that out before replacing the fuse.

Also should the game boot ok without any balls installed or does it have to sense them before booting like some earlier games?

badcoil (resized).jpg

How is the voltage jumpered in your game? Is it set to 120V? Maybe swap the jumper and try it at 110V.

What are the correct length legs for Stargate? Are they the same length as the typical Bally/Williams legs? I think mine has a set of Bally legs on it now.

While I am waiting for my manual to arrive does anyone happen to have the list of rubber rings this game needs? I made quite a bit of progress and got the game running. Now has the correct coil for the outhole and that is working.

Also, what is the latest Main ROM code for this game? I have /3 in it now.

Thanks. That helps. I'm surprised no one added the qty of each size needed. At least that will give a good start.

The comment about the ring counts really doesn't have anything to do with Steve. It is more about calling out the oversight in the manual. The manual really should have the counts.

I usually get the ring kits from Steve and recently got sets for three other games. I just e-mailed him about ordering a batch of parts for this Stargate. I probably would have ordered a ring kit too but I have a friend that never uses the black rings any longer and was going to give me the ones I need for this.

There is a version 5? The latest that I found is /4 for the game code. Looked like when that is used there is also an updated display ROM. Seems that the sound ROM's and speech ROM are the same no matter what game ROM/Display ROM is used.

Operators did swap boards around all the time. Mine had an MPU from a different game with quite a bit of prior work done. It also had the /1 revision of the ROM's. Waiting on some parts but I plan on rebuilding that as a spare board or possibly sell it.

Luckily I was able to find a completely roached container game. It was missing parts but had the boards in it. Fixed the MPU from that which has the /3 revision and is the correct board out of a Stargate, got the speech board that was missing, coils, fuses, and auto launch bracket. With those got the machine running!

Now I have quite a few spare parts. Last night rebuilt the spare DMD controller and spare power supply.

Just need to get some things from PBR to make it 100%

Finished stripping the playfield from the roached container game I was using for parts. Was able to save a ton of great items. Playfielfd completely wasted, warped, corner rotted off, etc. but it has all the inserts, wire ball guides, etc. Anyone need any of those hard to find parts? I also have a spare fully intact playfield harness in good shape. Just needs a couple passes through the dishwasher. If you need any pieces just send a PM and I will see if I can help.

Probably have a shorted MOSFET on the driver board. I just rebuilt one of these boards as a spare for my Stargate. You can quickly test each one with the board out of it using a DIODE test on your meter across each of the three legs. A shorted one is obvious. Should use these on the board:

Transistor IRL530N N-Channel MOSFET 100V 12A TO-220

The L in the part number is CRITICAL! Do not just substitute in a IRF part. They have different threasholds for turning on. The L is the logic level version and the one it calls for.

https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=670160

Usually cheaper to repair that board than buy a new one. If you aren't comfortable doing board repairs there are several on pinside (including myself) that can help.

No matter what you should check the coil and assembly where it locked on. Bad switch? Mechanical issue? Shorted coil? Shorted diode? Wires connected backwards on diode? It is important to verify the game. If not you run the risk of blowing the same part on a brand new board you install or an old one that was repaired. Just popping in new boards is not always the answer.

Are you missing the blade part? You can check with PBresource.com to see if they still have them. If not I may have a spare. In order to get my game going I had to buy a wasted Stargate that came out of damp shipping container for year. Although the game was a wreck it is a great donor machine full of good parts to help other games.

Is the spring on it missing or just compressed under the cup? Does the plunger bind? If the coil got hot it may have started melting and deforming the coil sleeve. It it was overheated then it may be good to replace the coil and sleeve.

There should be a spring between that cup on the bottom of the plunger and the coil. That is missing along with one of the screws holding that entire assembly to the plaufield. Check the bottom of your cabinet for loose screws. I've found things in every games I've bought and sometimes missing pieces are there. You may even find that spring. I vacuum out all my games and knock loose and vacuum up the random solder blobs that previous repair folks leave stuck to the bottom of the cabinet.

That coil should have a diode on it and it may be there. It is on the other side of the terminal lugs (or at least should be) Banded end of the diode goes to the + coil voltage. Should be shown in the schematics. Would probably be good to clean up those solder connections too.

The coil for the up kick does have a diode. At least the ones on mine do.

The pivot coil may not need a diode. I’d have to check. You had asked about two different sections each with their own coil. The upkick I knew has one. Not sure on the rest

I’m going to have to dig out my manual and look at the schematics to see if it shows up.

I may be able to help. Ended up buying a ruined container game but it has been a great source of parts.

I'm sure I have that wire guide still attached to the playfield I pulled from the container game.

Those are all pretty normal and pretty minor issues. The main game looks to be in good shape and should clean up well. As far as the flippers that may just need cleaning the end of stroke switches and cabinet flipper switches.

I keep a couple short lengths of the black foam pipe insulation for that. Had some left over and it has worked really well.

Mine seems to do the same thing. Sometimes it works perfectly but often waits until the ball search. Haven't tried to clean/adjust that switch. Need to check it with a ball sitting on it. I don't believe that one is a smart switch. Those aren't supposed to be adjusted.

Has anyone seem issues with the game constantly offering to shoot again even if you’ve had good scoring on a ball. I ran into this on a Street Fighter pin and it also happens on my Stargate from time to time. Want to see if I can isolate what causes that.

Just checked switch 25 on mine and saw it was gapped too far. Cleaned it again and re-adjusted the gap. Seems ok for now but I may end up replacing that switch too.

While I was working on it I noticed the fine wire from the left slingshot coil came off. Resoldered that and both slings are working again.

Still need to get the new rope light installed.

What setting is that? Did the game just let you keep shooting after the 3rd ball? I may have run into that too!

I’m going to have to look for that setting and drop it down to the minimum too. Learned something new about the game today. Thanks for mentioning it.

When I replace all the rubber rings will check and clean all the trough switches.

Just installed a new rope light in the backbox this evening. What a difference!

Thank You! That was something I was not aware of and thought that there was going to be another issue for me to track down. That explains what I was seeing. I can understand Ball save if it immediately drains but the keep shooting until 2 minutes was actually annoying and I thought there was a problem with the game.

Those Harbor Freight meters are often more trouble than anything else. Occasionally you’ll get a good one if lucky. I had a stack of them that you could free with coupons. They were so bad most went in the trash. A meter you can’t trust with wrong readings is worse than not having one.

If you look at the driver board does it look like any prior work was done? Any of the transistors replaced? If so see if the ones replaced are for the coil you have issues with. Maybe someone used the wrong transistors. You cannot trust that any prior work on any game was done correctly.

Is there a list of what was fixed or changed in the different Stargate game ROM versions? What is the latest version or the best version of the game ROM to use. I’ve seen /1 /3 and /4 for the game.

Just want to make sure I am running a good version on my machine.

In case anyone is looking for parts I have a box of random playfield parts that I posted on pinside:

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/146828

I have /4 in my game now so I should be all set!

Actually the shoot the pyramid hasn’t gotten to be annoying yet and seems fine.

The only thing I found really irritating was the default setting for a 2 minute minimum game. Set that to 0 and now it plays like a normal game. Before it seemed like there were switch issues or something wrong.

I was having an odd issue where the callouts and some sounds would just stop. Mostly callouts, Stargate sounds, etc. At first there wasn’t anything until I had rebuilt the auxiliary sound board with all new DIP sockets, RCA connector, YM2151 (old chip had pins rotted off), fresh sound ROM, and new 20-pin ribbon assembly.

Ended up buying a new 6295 VOICE SYNTHESIS chip from PBR and carefully installed that. Afterwards I haven’t noticed any lost sounds or speech. Finally plays and sounds as it should.

With the power off I would unplug the short ribbon cable between the MPU and DMD driver to inspect for any damage or corrosion. Then try reseating it if it looks ok. If there is corrosion you could try some Deoxit spray to help clean the corrosion and then replace the ribbon cable.

If there are signs of corrosion I would also inspect the DIP sockets for the EPROM chips. My game was missing boards and the ones I found to rebuild for it had to have all the DIP sockets replaced.

Another thing to try if you haven't is do a factory reset to clear all the settings. After that you'll probably want to go back in and reset the minimum game time to 0 and tweak any other settings like freeplay, etc.

Something off? WTF is going on with the tilt mechanism? That is a new one.

Do you have minimum game time set? The default is 2 minutes. I set it to zero. I leave ball save active since I think that is ok..

At first I thought something was wrong with the game or issues with the trough switches. Nope. Just a setting that should have defaulted to 0 like just about any other game....

I think those were just factory shipping blocks. Found a similar set in my game.

I misinterpreted your question and read it as why is the game giving me extra balls and how can those be limited....

Does anyone else run into a ball getting stuck in the Sarcophagus? A couple times now my game will complain it is missing a ball. Sure enough there will only be 3 in the trough. If that happens I just make sure to shoot one into the Sarcophagus and magically two will come out and all is well.

I haven't taken that part of the playfield apart but wonder if it is just a worn or missing rubber ring up there causing the problem. If it is a common issue what did you do to fix it?

It looks like a nice replacement for a missing or board that was messed by battery acid. But, Boots faster? It doesn’t mention that in the description and unless there is something unique done I am doubtful of that particular claim unless I see timings of that vs original. The NVRAM vs battery backed RAM shouldn’t make it faster.

I’ve had to repair a lot of pinball boards over the years but rarely had any requests for System 3 boards. The original boards seem to be pretty solid. The only ones I’ve had to do were for my own Stargate. Parts are still available and instead of the soldered in battery use a 2430 holder and coin cell. That coin cell is unlikely to leak and will run for years. I am a fan of NVRAM on other boards but a coin cell works great on these System 3 MPUs. Not expensive to add either.

The only boards that were a PITA were the pair of sound cards. Had to install new DIP sockets and the surface mount chip for the daughter board was bad making the speech cutout. Luckily those were still stocked at PBR.

Same main ROM revision as before? Just curious what other difference there could be.

But did you go to V4 ROM from an earlier version of the ROM at the same time you replaced the MPU? If so then it may be the ROM you are noticing and not the new MPU board. The description doesn't mention it is different, faster, etc. If it is but isn't mentioned then it wouldn't be an accurate matching replacement. Not necessarily a bad thing if it is called out and highlighted. Otherwise it could be a bad thing if someone expects it to behave as a exact replacement.

Some people prefer new boards and others like myself prefer originals when possible (with an exception for early Bally/Stern rectifier boards)

Here is some additional Food for thought and a different perspective. Unless the original boards are physically damaged by burned up parts, battery damage, or significant hacks by prior work there is no reason not to stay with them. Properly repaired and reconditioned boards are "Fresh" if done right. They should continue to run just as long. If not, then perhaps things were missed or corners cut when servicing the boards.

Any flaws with the originals are pretty well documented in numerous sources like pinwiki.com and bulletproofing threads on pinside. Following that and good practices when refreshing boards (like washing them and cleaning off flux after re-work) you shouldn't have any trouble. Just about every one of my machines run all originals and they are solid. I do have an aftermarket MPU in JD because leaking batteries ruined the original board.

I haven't heard of a lot of issues with the original Gottlieb System 3 board sets. If they are working I just don't see why anyone would replace them. Things like going over any cracked solder connections should be part of going through any game. When I get a new game all the boards come out, get washed, inspected, strip off any questionable prior work, perform any repairs (if needed), replace parts that do age like electrolytic caps, perform any updates/mods, depending on board some get new sockets, etc. They come out fresh and usually look like new boards again.

At least for me the original boards are easier to maintain and get parts for. I should be able to keep them going indefinitely. Many replacement boards went to mostly surface mount parts which aren't always as easy to deal with in repairs. Others have moved to incorporate larger programmable chips without published code or binary image that you can't replace.

I use these holders:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YSD1LVS

and then you can use these batteries:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0797NYRHH

They last a long time and are unlikely to leak. If they die it is easy to pop a fresh battery in.

One is in my own Stargate and have done several others.

That is one of the reasons I replaced the original battery on mine with a CR2430 coin cell holder and popped in a new CR2430 coin cell. They last a LONG time and haven't heard of any leaking.

I do like NVRAM and prefer it for most machines but on these the holder and replaceable battery seem to be a great option.

Bummer about the glass size. I hope that they get it sorted out soon. Guess the initial ones can be used as wall art.

Unfortunately many of the trim kits need to be trimmed. I've had to cut to size the trim on Gottlieb System 80B and System 3 games. Also trim the stainless channel for a Bally Motordome (6803 game). Currently I need to trim down two more stainless channels and plastic channel for a Bally Mr and Mrs Pacman. I haven;t found any precut. The plastic is easy. Stainless is a pain and makes me worried that I am going to accidentally trash one trimming it down.

I think I may have a spare of that ramp in pretty good shape. Can check this afternoon.

I was able to find that spare ramp. It has damage and unfortunately is probably in about the same shape as yours. May make a good donor ramp for a pattern to make new ones.

Check to see if all fuses are correct sizes and types. Look if any coils were changed and are they correct? Is the EOS switch shorted?

If the fuse is underrated that could explain it. Also check for the proper type. If it calls for a slow blow then a regular fast blow may pop and open when the other wouldn’t. Do not install slow blow fuses in place of fast blow.

Check them all.

I would get fuses from pinball life, Mouser, or Digikey. Avoid cheap fuses on Amazon, etc unless they are name brand American fuses.

A lot of the cheap fuses are not the correct physical size and often slightly smaller. Close enough that you don’t notice. But when installed they end up being loose in the fuse holder. I’ve looked at machines for friends that weren’t working and both ended up being those cheap garbage fuses. Really can’t say enough bad things about them. They suck and cause more problems than they solve. The quality fuses littlefuse, Buss, etc aren’t that much more expensive and worth it.

My post mentioning busman was referring to their fuses. Fuse clips are another story.

The sound board in Stargate is very different than TSPP. So I don’t expect that fix would apply.

First I would check to see if your game has a ground lug on the power cord and if it is connected. A lot of times those are cut off. If it isn’t there fix that first.

Look for any ground connections in the game that are off or loose and fix those. Next reset the connectors for the sound board.

If the problem is still there the it will need additional troubleshooting