Greetings,

I lifted my working Star Trek TNG on my pinball dolly, moved it about 10 feet and lowered it.

When I plugged it in and tried to power it up - not much happened. I heard the transformer power up, saw one line across the DMD, but nothing else. No other sounds, no lighting, nothing. The game had been played recently prior to the move, and was working properly.

I searched online and decided to check the LEDs on the Power Driver Board. All were lit as they should be (#3 off, all others on). I checked the CPU board - D19 and D21 are constantly lit, and D20 blinks twice (one hint I found during research suggested a RAM problem, due to the two blinks). I checked that all cables/plugs/etc. were firmly seated, checked everything I could visually. I followed advice given on another forum and reseated all of the cables/plugs/etc, checked that ROMs were properly seated, and tested voltages on the power driver board.

I utilized Pinwiki to determine the proper voltages for each of the Test Points on the power driver board, and include these numbers in parentheses to the side:

TP1 - 13.99 (12v) - this seems high to me
TP2 - 4.96 (5v)
TP3 - 11.92 (12v)
TP6 - 76.1 (70v-75v)
TP7 - 22.48 (20v) - this seems high to me
TP8 - 18.56 (18v)

I think there might be a problem because of the variances on the voltages as noted above, but have not a clue on what I should do next. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Printis

Reporting back. . .

I removed 4 ribbon cables - Display, I/O Extend, I/O Sound and Power Driver. When I powered on, I got a bong, and all lights blinked as before. Was not getting a bong before.

I added each cable, singly at a time. Each cable "bonged" and blinked twice, except for the sound. No bong for sound.

I added all cables - no bong and two flashes. Removed sound cable, got bong and two flashes.

Back to the DSI search. DSI FOUND - only took a little reenactment.

Lloyd, I also reseated the cable between the CPU and Power Driver as you suggested, and didn't see anything loose that is socketed.

I have a wall of dedicated circuits for my pinball machines. This one is plugged directly to the wall, and is the only machine on the circuit.

I did not think of the batteries - they look to be an off brand. I changed them out but there was no difference.

Thanks Lukex. I have pushed on the ASIC - even removed the board to do so. I may go to Radio Shack and get the tool to remove the ASIC so I can reseat it completely.

I will need to cipher on your instructions a spell. I buy these machines working and am dumbfounded when they stop working. Always worried about frying something - myself included. I will jump back on this tomorrow.

STTNG is a WPC DCS Sound board. I have Theatre of Magic which is WPC-S. Any chance that one would work?

Thank Lukex - I will try that some time today and post results later.

I appreciate all of the input I have received. I am usually able to find solutions searching archives, but this one has me stumped.

Thanks for the suggestions. No matter what I did, D19 and D21 remained constantly lit, and D20 consistently blinked twice.

I am a novice. I buy working machines, and have so far muddled through by changing out boards or DMDs when necessary. My technical knowledge is less than minimal, and my tool chest does not include much for pulling roms and asics.

With the ribbon cable off STTNG, I got action from the DMD - bunch of "snowy" static. I put the STTNG ribbon into TOM. I first thought there was a problem with the ribbon cable, because TOM would not work properly, then realized I had seated one connection improperly. The STTNG ribbon cable did work in TOM. I swapped the cable several times from machine to machine while checking various configurations. Eventually, I started getting the "bong" sound on STTNG with the sound card connected, and the flashers lit - first time for both. D19 and D21 remained constant, D20 flashed twice, so no change there - but signs of life! The cable from STTNG worked in TOM, so I decided there could not be much wrong with it.

I am leaving for the day, but will try to get back to this tonight. I think I am going to go further with Lloyd's advice way up the list, and reseat these cables several times. Then I will decide if I am brave enough to start swapping around the boards.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.
P