Leaderboard

Check this out. This might go to help if you have a MPU that wont boot and you cant find the issue. Sometimes you can find hidden shorts on these things... So I thought I would put a little repair log on here for you lads. MPU4 MOD2, fails to boot, owner cant find the issue. So at first I coudn't find the issue either. No dead pins on CPU or RAM, sometimes CPU starting sometimes not, not stuck in reset, no interrupts stuck low. I was a little surprised at the IRQs stuck HI at first because that crystal card I am using is a total git (they are multilayered things and the pads fail) and more often or not it locks up with the IRQs low. So a little investigation started, first thing was to find out if there was a read /write or enable issue. Ram voltage was fine, a little low at 4.6v , Output enable , pin 20 on the 6116 all pulsing away nicely, but pin 18 was stuck hi. Weird thinks me because the 138 at IC16 is pulsing away, and as far as I could see I had a good working address bus (well I thought I had). Then I smelled something burning. And then I saw something burning. C37 became a roman candle. Switched off and checked nothing shorted on my "everything" power supply . No apparent cause for the blowup. The cap had blown open , schemys show its just a bypass cap at the 5v line input so just left it alone and powered back up. Nothing else went bang so continued on. Checking up at the 138 a little further I noticed that pin 1 never went low. Which was odd because it was address line A8 it was tied to. Checked at the CPU, noticed it was always HI as well. Pulled the game card, it was still HI. Didnt think I would get a buzz, but checked for a short between pin 1 at the 138 at 5v. BEEP! Cut it and short was still there. Next target looked like the 541 tied to those address lines from the CPU, so removed that, short was still there. A8 on the CPU socket was dead shorted to 5v. How? It didnt make a great deal of sense because all A8 tied to directly was that 541. And that was no longer there. Its when I turned the board over, and used the zoom on the phone ( the cameras on these things make the digital cameras of old look like fischer price toys!!) that I spotted the teeniest of breaks in the trace pushed over onto the track for 5v. You can see on the video how its happened the two traces run next to each other and its very easy to short them if the solder mask is worn or flaky. So fixed the short , replaced the 138 and 541, reinstalled working CPU and RAM and fired up. Nothing else smelling bad, nothing else smoking, after fiddling with the PAL chip as usual on the program card to get good contact IRQs started running and I had boot. But no alpha. It was definetly working and display should have been up because IC3 and 8 were being selected and it was trying to do something with the reel outputs. Checking the pins for the alpha display on IC3 and 8 (cant remember the numbers off hand) Showed that everything was stuck low. followed the outputs down to the display pins, and saw the three zener diodes on the clock, data and display lines looked burnt. Cut them out, and pin 39 on IC3 ( alpha data out) started running. So replaced the diodes, and voila! Got "CASH METER FAULT" flashing away at me. Easy bypass , clip lead across the top and bottom leg of T11 . Then a quick bit of trickery with a clip lead on the reel photo pins and it was in attract. Hope you liked the video, got more repair logs coming up in the near future, I decided Id put them up here, and although I havent got all too technical on this one, I will try to be more accurate with pin and IC numbers and locations next time. Hope you all had a good christmas and new year!

We’ll as an update I have been busy busy and tried a few things like reseated the IC’s 7 & 8 and thoroughly cleaned everything from the cabling looms/connectors to the boards, re-assembled and methodically reconnected things, all new bulbs and hey presto the thing is only reliably working! I had removed the reel deck and cleansed all that too and the reel backboard, in doing so I lost one of the lamps on reel B opto - I shoved that to the end and everything is working just as it should. I’ve ordered some spare opto’s as I suspect they are a point of weakness. I have a new £1 coin S10 mech so can use some current ‘real money’, but I decided to leave the 10/20 and 50p’s as old money and have old coins I can use. Payouts tubes for new £1 work fine. Very happy at this stage, thanks for input folks, I have no doubt I may need help again as these are no spring chickens! Thank goodness for this forum with these old machines. I want more now lol ….

Happy New Year to All in Fme Land!!!! And what a treat i've got for you all today, not one but two versions of our best loved family from America, Grab a Duff Beer or Six and a Box of tasty Donuts and sit on your Favourite Couch/Settee Its gives me great pleasure to bring the original Simpsons Machine from the series and Imo its the best one from Maygay & Bwb on MA1/b tech £6 token on v1.1 roms and the All Cash £6 3.1roms thanks to Richie100 for these from the Mecca. Thanks goto the former dx layouts i used as a template first made in 2003 @infection for the Eastender donor cab used, got a blank one if anyone needs it for future dx'ing @Reg for the image from a former dx which got me interested in re-dxing this to the various members from here for help in getting the token version to stick on £6 @Tommy c, @Geddy, @serene02 and others which made no difference until this morning when i decided to change a number in configuration from 37 to 39 and it seams to have done the job, chris217 for youtube vidoes of this machine from which i gained the lit images of certain parts thanks to @Tommy c for the plain reel symbols from his It's a Knockout Layout And of course to the great @Wizard for Mfme's past and present you're still greatly missed don't think you're ever be forgotten... if not let us know and i'll hit my head against the wall again and again lol!! If you want it on £3 cash simply goto edit mode and tick the checkbox37 (above the coin slot) then reset the machine, but don't blame me if it sticks on that setting!! do it at your own risk!! lol if you want 5p play goto configuration and turn on dip5 bank1 for 5p play (hover over the switch and its labelled) shortcuts are as standard (Homers wages = W) 20p/20p tokens = 9 Just leaves me to say, Enjoy Both and Happy Gaming throughout 2022 and beyond!!!! The Simpsons Original £6-10p All Cash Dx.zip The Simpsons Original £6-10p Token Dx.zip

Not had chance to look through yet, sorry.

Golden Chance. An unknown companies conversion on what started life as a JPM SuperChance circa 1975. Many of these oddball conversions were usually built by local operators rather than main suppliers so the machines were limited to a small local area circulation, Without any names or Identification labels then only those that have seen or know the actual re-build company will know their origin. With a main glass and reel band change, the original JPM £28 jackpot has been reduced to £10 is the only noticeable game change. Looking at it, someone has gone to some expense for little change to the better original machine. Description says temperamental which was later added about the 50p too but looking at the dust in the back , I expect it is many years since this machine has seen a good service. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284587589767?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Well this will be the last update but I might do a video but I'm sure you have all seen an EWS in action. It's not perfect by any means! slight white showing at the edges of the t moulding, the new stuff I got was a fraction too narrow! I will black the white bits with a fine brush. Still need to cut the inner cash door but that's about it. Going beside EWS will be chances unlimited in the house!