Do you have the manual? Most likely the LEDS on the CPU board are feedback to what the other boards are or are not doing. Since those lights aren't working I would assume something blew on your CPU board.

Check this link out
http://www.pinrepair.com/de/index2.htm#poweron

Apparent CPU "Failures".
On Checkpoint to Guns N Roses (all games with small 128x16 and mid-sized 128x32 dot matrix displays), there is a unique problem that can make the game look very broken. Random horizontal lines and garbage can be shown on the dot matrix display (but actually the game's CPU has booted correctly and is working OK). On games with the small 128x16 displays, random horizontal lines can appear first, followed by the entire display lighting and staying lit.

If the backbox 18 volt lamp matrix fuse (8 amp slo-blo, with the blue/white wire connecting to the fuse holder) fails, this can cause the dot matrix display to "crash", causing these problems. Another way to identify this problem is the lack of any playfield CPU controlled lighting. The game will "play" (that is, the game will start and play balls), but with score display problems and no CPU controlled lamps. Simply replacing the 18 volt lamp matrix fuse (in the backbox) will fix this problem (providing the associated components such as the bridge and capacitor are OK). If there is a lamp matrix power short, or the lamp matrix backbox bridge is bad, the problem will need to be fixed or the fuse will continue to immediately fail.

This problem occurs because the +12 volts needed for the dot matrix display is generated by the 18 volt lamp matrix bridge and the capacitor/fuse bolted inside the backbox (through connector CN5 on the power supply). The 12 volts generated by the power supply board (for the sound board which comes from connector CN6), does not provide this voltage to the dot matrix display! Hence the power supply could be working perfectly, and this problem could still exist.

A Babcock 128x32 display where the 18 volt lamp matrix backbox
fuse has failed. Notice the horizontal "garbage" line across the
bottom center of the display. This problem only seems to affect
the Babcock brand dot matrix displays.

Interestingly, on 128x32 displays, this problem will only occurs on games with "Babcock" brand dot matrix displays. The 128x32 displays made by Cherry and Dale seem unaffected by a failed 18 volt backbox lamp matrix fuse. This happens because the Babcock displays require 12 volts to function, where Cherry and Dale 128x32 displays do not. This problem can also arise on Cherry brand 128x16 dot matrix displays.
This stange problem was solved with the advent of the 192x64 super-sized dot matrix display (Maverick to Batman Forever). An additional backbox 18 volt fuse (F3), bridge and capacitor was added. This backbox voltage supplied power to a switching power supply, implemented on the 192x64 DMD display driver board. This way if the lamp matrix (F2) fuse failed, the dot matrix display remained unaffected.

The Game Will Not Boot or Stops Booting.
On games Simpsons and before, the game just will not boot. The GI lights come on (and if the game has a dot matrix display, EPROM version is show), but little else happens. There is something wrong with the game CPU board.

First check for +5 volts on the CPU board. The voltage range should be 4.9 to 5.1 volts. Test for this voltage at the +5 and ground test points, just to the right of the battery on the top of the CPU board. If there is good +5 volts, next check the power on LED flashes, to see if they give any information as to the cause. Turn the game on and immediately examine the LEDs.

Could you describe in some more detail what happens when you turn the game on? And most importantly, does the display show any info before it goes "nuts"?

No LED's on the CPU = No 5 Volts.

On the power supply you have a 12pins square connector. I thought is was CN1. Big chance that this one is the problem. Try to reseat this connector. If this is the problem you have to replace this connector.

Thare are a couple of testpoints on the powersupply in the right top. Check for +5 VDC.

Get the schematic from here:http://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?any=tales+from+the+crypt&sortby=name&search=Search+Database&searchtype=quick and start checking one wire @ a time to that location.

I'll take a pic of the suspected area and how it's wired on my machine for you. Will post later today.

Are you able to post pictures of the area of those connections? (And, www.flickr.com, run by Yahoo, is a good FREE service that allows uploading to host your pictures). Sounds like a hack job has been done at some point.

My Future Spa had the wires soldered directly to the pins on J1 connector and also right to the circuit board where the pins were missing. I had to resolder on new pins and a J1 connector, plus the real problem which were the bad Bridges. I know these are different boards but if you don't feel up to the task of rebuilding a circuit board, you should contact [email protected] or [email protected] to see how much they will charge to fix and upgrade it. They both do reall good work, and super quick turnaround. Ship it on Monday and you will likely have it back by the weekend. They will probably want pictures of the board to make sure it's repairable so I would have them ready.

Some people are complete ...soles when it comes to electrical parts, why oh why do they just bodge it together? and hope for the best. CHEERS to the people who believe in doing things right, no matter how long it takes or what the costs are. In the past I have found wires soldered directly to board connector pins and it sux. Come on, how much is a new connector and bits, to me it seems ridiculous.

Good luck with your fix.

This was my first circuit board repair. I figured, if I mess it up, no big deal, it's already broken and hacked. Makes me wish I didn't throw away the original Meteor's board. It wasn't in nearly as bad a condition as this one. But I didn't know any better at the time. Oh well, you live and learn.

Phil, Once you post your pics. I'll take some and attempt to mirror yours to the "T" so you can compare them.

I meant this one. I had to many DE games with this problem.

But please check the 5 volts on the CPU.

And do yourself one favor. Remove the the COIL fuse from the power supply when the game is not booting!

deps4.jpg

Sealchubber i think Phil is looking at the GI input of the power supply.. The plug is soldered in to the board most of the times

SealcHubber. lol

Sorry SealClubber my mistake.
Phil you should check the 5volts on the powersupply first.

If there is no 5 volt check for +12.

Most of the time problems with 5 volt relates to the square molex plug of leaky capacitors on the power supply.

If the 5 volt is not working you have a big chance some of the transistors energize some coils witch results in smoking transistors and coils. This happend to often to me.

No problems Ben. It gave me a laugh.

Looks like the CN1 connector pin#12 is burned. Too much power thru it, likely. Will need to replace the burnt pins. Also need to look at what feeds that pin and replace those bridges, diodes etc... And hope it didn't do much damage down the line.

All that electrical TAPE in those pictures reminds me of a party I went to awhiile back.....in 1988.........when things were GREAT........you could get a cheap DATE........pinball machines were shipped by FREIGHT.........when they didn't care about WEIGHT.........but WAIT!!!!!!!!
..yep getting off topic again.

Lots of hacks on that board....ouch! did you know that nothing rhymes with orange?

Wow! I didn't even notice the tape holding the batteries. Or the tape on the wires on the ppb board. Or the two other brown connectors. Or the burn marks on the backbox and the wires below the power supply board. That is worse than my Future Spa was. Are you decent at soldering? I ask this because you are not only going to have to repair at least two circuit boards and the wiring harness as well. This will be expensive to replace or send to someone else to repair.

This is what i call a McGuyver rerairment

The first step would be replacing CN1's header and connector. But this could not fix your problem, but it needs to be done anyway.

Any progress on mesuaring (arg difficult word and i know its wrong ) the voltage?

Phil..

The best thing to do it to buy a new connector and some new pins. In your case i would replace the header too. This can be a very tricky operation and you need a molex crimper.

I coult give you a lot of suggestions, but the best thing is to remove "the hacked stuff" and replace it with original connectors.

You can find the wirecolors in your schematics.
The connectors can be bought at http://www.greatplainselectronics.com/

It does make me feel better about my DE board.

I know this is probably way too late, but... there are some modern replacements for this board on the web or ebay that would set you back less than $100.

I have been tempted to change out mine and it still works. This board tends to run hot and work a lot better with jumpers, so it is one that begs to be hacked. I'm not a purist when it comes to repairs, but I do insist that everything works well.

After you get this working, I'd definitely get a repair guy with a good reputation, and have him go through the machine to un-hack all that stuff. Quickie field repairs like I'm seeing there should only be temporary in nature, and only cause more problems down the road.

Where you located anyway?

-Hans

Hmm, that board might work, it doesn't look quite right though. I would want to see a list of games for it before buying it.

However, before you go down that road...

Since that little guy is your problem, take a pair of needle nose pliers and give him a slight twist. I can't stress how important it is not to over do it. If you twist too hard you will break it off the board and no one wants that.

A resolder would be the best, but if it is too hard to reach, a slight twist would reconnect the pins and can last a long time.

Same issue with mine. It doesn't seem to be the resistor that Phil had. I'd hate to buy a new DMD if it is something minor. I have checked all connections but I will recheck tomorrow.

2011-10-28_23.37.49.jpg

future, did you get my email? Did that help any at all?

I got the email about the scoop and I got that issue resolved, I can now play with the glass in place . I never got an email about the dmd.

This thread is a year old...

I know, right? Forums should auto-lock threads after a couple months of inactivity, so people create new threads instead of responding to ancient, and usually only tangentially related topics (as was the case here, assuming i'm reading Future's last post correctly - it sounds like the game is playable, with only the DMD failing, whereas in the original poster had no functionality)

Youare right. I skipped past the frozen part. Saw the picture and assumed we had the same problem. I will open a new thread after work. Just bought multimeter and solder. Ready for action

So I have this flipper problem with my TFTC...

The lights in the back of my machine on the playfield are not working anymore..everything else is fine. Any ideas of what might be causing this issue??

Yes. A blown fuse is a good start. Use a dmm and test them all. Or a burnt GI connector. Start a new thread rather than redirect a 2 year old one