Bally Alpha Bonus Frenzy 4 Reel Attendant Key won't work

[Ash100]

Hello all,


Started working on a 4 Reel Bally Alpha Bonus Frenzy machine today.


Cleaned it up, ensured everything was connected, changed all 3 batteries and inserted clear card 312.
OS is 317-02.


Reads Clear Card, shows Jurisdiction and prompts to turn attendand key to clear NVRAM and EEPROM.


That's as far as it gets. Turning the key switch does nothing. Tried shorting wires together, followed wires down to backplane and ohmed them out. Have continuity on multimeter when switch is turned.


So, now what?


Bad backplane. Something in MPU?


Not real good with Bally stuff yet.


Thanks,


Curtis ash100

[rickhunter]

If you have another mpu, I would try that first just to rule that out.  It could also be the backplane like you said, but the easiest thing to rule out first is the mpu.

[Ash100]

Thanks,


Put a different MPU in the machine, ran the Clear Card Operation and it worked, so that tells me the backplane is good, but the MPU itself is bad.


I tried the original OS and Game card in the other MPU but it wouldn't load. Got some system errors and a halt message. I'm assuming that it's a BOIS mismatch problem between the original game and the new MPU?  Or does it sound like that MPU may be bad as well?


I didn't record the errors, and I cant recall what they were. Sorry.


Curtis ash100

[rickhunter]

Unlike WMS, the OS on the bally is determined by the BIOS on the MPU.  So if the original os/game combination worked on another mpu, it was because the bios was compatible with the OS.  So you need to determine what bios the mpu has before you chose which os to use with the game.

[Ash100]

Forgot this post was still open.


Problem was the MPU. Changed everything over, Cleared and set up the game.


Plays great.


Thanks,


Curtis ash100