Skip down to a more recent post, this old one is more for background at this point.

I had thought this was a connection issue, but I'm starting to wonder. T3 upon first power-up would show some funky stuff on the DMD. First it would ask for player 8 PIN, I could start a game despite what is on the DMD. I start a game, screen goes from blank to flashing modes in the game that I am not in (Like RED for you T3 fans). I play a full game (usually quit before a full game and mess with this display, but today I played a full game cause my 1.5 year old was laughing at the game). Finally by the end of the game, the DMD is reading normal and now after sitting powered on for awhile it is normal (well, except for 2 lines that have been out for awhile now).

Any ideas? I still think it is a connection issue with the ribbon connector, btw. It seems like anytime I would pull that main board (to fix the battery corrosion issue that I had) I would have to finesse the ribbon cable a bit before the display would behave correctly. Today's behavior is just odd, it is fine now after a game.

Do you think a cable would fix it? Or is it the pin connector on the board?

Thread Resurrection...

Replacing the cable fixed this issue.

Now there is a new issue after all these years that has similar symptoms.

Background: I sold this game twice now. Let's call myself owner 1. Owner 2 was a coworker, owned it for 2-3 years, and owner 3 purchased it yesterday (with me delivering).

Owner 2 reported lights out but full gameplay. I stopped over to see insert lights out and F22 blown, replaced fuse played 1-2 hours testing all known functions. Nearly got to final battle during this time.

Owner 3 was a WTB - T3 ad. I took pics agreed on price and brought it down to his garage. I get a text message a couple hours later asking if I had any issues. I did not nor did owner 2 who I see daily at work. I tell him check cables as it seems like something loosened up. Then things go south and I make the 1.5 hr drive to attempt to fix.

Here is what owner 3 is seeing. Service buttons are wonky, you cannot get anywhere in the menu because it jumps around. You get odd text and errors on the DMD. Jibberish and "EFFECT 74", "EFFECT D0" "Player 8"... Nothing that makes sense. Much like this thread that I'm resurrecting. While down there, I did see a small amount of white powder on the ribbon cable pins... The short ribbon cable that goes between the boards. Cleaned it up with white vinegar. But no fix. You can get different behavior by messing with this short ribbon cable but never anything that fixes it.

I told owner 3 to swap the DMD ribbon cable after re-reading this thread. Any other ideas?

I pulled the board and did not see anything other than white powder on pins. Board has battery damage at battery connection that was fixed by my when I first bought it 5-6 years ago. I pulled the batteries of the board. And ran wires directly to the diode, this has not caused any problems since I fixed it way back then.

Also note that I played this game for 1-1.5 hours prior to packing it up and delivering it. Owner 2 reported no problems other than insert lights out (F22 fuse solved).