Slot will freeze with no error

[ThirdGenAmusement]

Working out the kinks on this 5 reel 9 line s2000 with enhanced board.  I thought all was good and was leaving the machine on for a day or so to test if it is stable and to play occasionally.   I left it on last night and before heading to bed I noticed the blue dot matrix screen had a tilt of door open.   The latch is hard to shut so just figured maybe I didn't get the latch all the way seated properly so I opened the door and shut, then re-latched a few times to clear/make sure it was down.  I did move the main door up and down a bit while latched to also see if it was the door sensor setting and all was good.  This morning I checked it and all was good.   Played a few credits through and worked great.  About an hour later I walked by the room its in and noticed the white portion(top) of the candle was flashing so I checked it and the pic attached is what I saw.  No error on the Blue dot matrix but it also didn't say to insert coin/bv wasn't lit.  Game was unresponsive to buttons on the deck even though there was credits.  Opened the door and re-shut and the machine came back to life but then stated commination error with the bill validator.  Cleared the errors with the door latch a few times and now its back to being played.


Any thoughts?


i should add there was some acid present on the varta battery which I removed.  I just dont attribute the problems I am having to the board itself and am curious of thoughts of a power supply issue.  I may try a different MEI bv in the meantime. 


Sorry for the sideway pic.  Saved it with it being oriented correctly.

[ThirdGenAmusement]

Thank you shortrackskater for your help with the photo 


So the machine has been on for about 6 hours without the bv in and no errors.  Beginning to believe it has to do with the traces on the board that sticks out the back of the MEI or the contacts on the transport.

[ThirdGenAmusement]

I cleaned all the contacts on the MEI including the edge connector and interface as well as the connector the interface board plugs into.  All while off of course.    Now the machine is flashing the green light on the bv though the machine will play.  I did get another bv communications error and then the blue dot matrix display wouldn't turn on.  I can simply clear it on the door latch and sometimes the machine will play but then others I get a display communications error.  The bv doesn't turn on no matter what.


In my reading about netplex, there seems to be a lot of issues with the blue dot matrix display causing problems with netplex.  Does the display sound like it could be an issue?  I know these things are kind of daisy chained but I am not sure which comes first in the chain to start tracing it back to the potentially faulty device. 

[ThirdGenAmusement]

Still having issues but now it seems more like a roving communications error.  Sometimes its the printer, sometimes its the bv with communication errors.  sometimes the 6-6-3 display will have no disp.  There are times the bv wont turn on but the game plays.  And then there are times where I will leave the machine sitting with credits up and I will hear the coil for the pull handle release and the deck lights go out but no errors until I lift the latch and then its usually a communications error of sorts.


Any suggestions?  I am possibly going to swap the main board in the morning.

[Sunrise Side]

Power supply ?

[ThirdGenAmusement]

So far this morning I replaced the mpu board with a known working one.  I did transfer the base chip to the test board.  While at it I unplugged the printer 6 pin molex to remove it from the possibilities.  I cleared the test board in the machine, put in the key chip and I am back to square one with the machine.  lol.  I get the netplex is down, then testing memory on the vfd,  then it will go blank.  Out of the 3 times I tried shutting the machine off at this point and turning it back on one time it did the no disp on the 6-6-3 display.  All times the horn sounds and I only have the 2 green leds on the cpu on.    Grrrr.  But hopefully this clears the issue isnt with the mpu.  I did remove all i/o cards and unplugged them and removed the bv head as well to try to start bare and had no effect.


Swapping the power supply with a known good one was the first part I swapped.


Can the back plain board cause these issues?  It seems to be the heart and sole of communications and whatnot. 

[ThirdGenAmusement]

Finally was able to revisit this issue.  I did not attempt to replace the backplane board.  Thought I would try something quick and easy first.  I pulled a vfd from another known working slot and slapped it in this troubled slot.  So far its been on for nearly 6 hrs and hasn't had an issue.  I believe I read in my searches that these can lead to different errors with netplex and communications so it just made sense to give this a try.  I will report back if there is any further issues.

[Ash100]

Sounds like you're on the right track.


Netplex errors can be complicated and confusing at times.


If the Power Supply didn't solve it, it would have to be caused by one of the actual Netplex devices.


I've had a few Power Supplies that were missing the discreet signal to the MPU and caused issues like you described.


I've got a machine now that I can't get up due to the same thing, and I've changed every component except the Backplane. That's my next step.


Hopefully you will have better results with the VFD swap and it will resolve your problems.


Just seems odd that it's so intermittent. Sounds like a heat related problem on a component causing it to fail.


Keep us posted. Others chime in if you've got some other ideas. I'm no expert.


Curtis ash100


Edit: You mentioned corrosion on the Varta Battery.  Did you remove the Battery or just clean it? A dead or non-charging Varta can cause some weird issues. I reccomend removing it along with the U16 Regulator and then re-clean the area with some diluted vinegar to neutralize the acid.


That's for the 1270 Enhanced Board.

[ThirdGenAmusement]

Hi Ash,


Yes, I removed the Varta and used vinegar as well as DeOxit to clean the boards.  I have let the owner of the slot his days are numbered but I didnt see major damage at this point that would point to the issues at hand.


I agree heat related is one of the pointers.  These are the worst to diagnose!   The power supply can be one of the issues with a heat related issue due to the netplex but it seems to pass that.  So
its either board issue or hopefully the typical vfd.  Crazy to think a device would work and function yet cause issues with devices other than itself.  I know in the pinball world it can be done since it is a similar tech for the displays for scoring on them .   A little leak and air introduced into them can cause shorting out inside the readout.  Possible that's what's going on with this. 


Once again the search and wealth of knowledge of nlg is such a great thing.  I will wait to do the fireworks until its 48 hrs without error.  lol.  Until then....