Alice: no video output, won't boot up (RESOLVED)

[bproosow]

Greetings all!

I have a WMS Bluebird 5 reel machine (Alice & the Mad Tea Party). It hadn't been turned on for a few weeks, maybe a month. It's always worked fine. I went to turn it on the other day and all the lights came on, the reels started doing their thing, but both screens were black (it has a small, cell phone sized screen in the top box). They both say "No Signal", so they're getting power. About once in every 50 tries it will come on (but won't boot all the way due to corrupted NVRAM from changing the batteries). It's actually only come up twice.

I've been going through everything I could find here, went through the whole manual. I have a 2nd machine (video-only if that matters) that I've been able to borrow parts from to try to figure out what's gone wrong with it.

Here's what I've done so far:
-Replaced NVRAM batteries
-Double checked that they were above 3v
-Confirmed all voltage LEDs on both the backplane and CPU were all lit green
-Inspected all connections, found nothing
-Swapped video cards with known good machine, no effect on either machine
-Removed the CPU, blew out all the dust, reseated it
-Swapped the entire CPU with known good machine, still does the same thing (have not tried to boot Alice on the other machine since the problem was still there
-Tried a new DVI cable
-Tried running the new cable to the standard video monitor in the other machine-- no video on that screen (compatibility problem?)

So I believe I've ruled out the batteries, power supply, video card, cable, CPU... I'm suspecting the monitor itself, but why wouldn't the small screen come up? I certainly don't want to throw money at the problem, especially with the cost of a transmissive monitor. Also, I haven't been able to confirm a video signal coming out of the CPU.

I feel like I've been pretty thorough in my troubleshooting process and have certainly benefited from having a 2ne machine. Clearly I'm missing something, but what?

[dragster73]

You could try putting the power supply in your working machine, Just because the LED lights for the voltages doesn't mean the voltage is proper.

I would love to get some reel strips for this game.

[Stayouttadabunker]

-Tried a new DVI cable
-Tried running the new cable to the standard video monitor in the other machine-- no video on that screen (compatibility problem?)

I ran into that problem once.
I can't remember which one we use, but there was definitely a difference in these DVI connections...>>>

[dragster73]

Bproosow said: "It hadn't been turned on for a few weeks, maybe a month. It's always worked fine"   Therefore he shouldn't have the wrong cable.

[bproosow]

Swapped the power supplies. No change to either machine. Both confirmed good.

Now what?

[bproosow]

I tried plugging the output of the working machine into Alice’s monitor and verified that the monitor is working. So it’s not the monitor. I guess that only leaves the CPU itself? I took the board apart, cleaned and inspected everything, replaced the thermal paste on the CPU fan just to be safe, but of course, no change.

Is there anything else it could be? What am I missing?

[Stayouttadabunker]

Can you swap in a known good CPU?

[bproosow]

I just tried that and it did boot up in the Alice machine. Ordered a replacement CPU moments ago. Thanks everyone for the help! I’ll post an update when I get the CPU replaced.

[Stayouttadabunker]

Sometimes it's something simple.
Take a good clear photo of the problem CPU circuit board.
All the chips that are installed and whatnot.
Maybe someone will spot something.

[bproosow]

Quick update:

I got the replacement CPU and I’m back in business!

I still would like to get the old one working as a backup. I tried posting pictures but my whole post disappeared. Not sure if it’s the size of the files or what, but it’s been several minutes and still nothing is showing up. I’ll put them in a separate post.

[Parsonsaj]

I am fighting a similar problem now with my Alice 5 reel cabinet. It started out as intermittent resets over the course of a day, but now it has started resetting before it can even come up fully. I tried another power supply and that did not help (would not even start with that one, so it may have been bad). I have a CPU on order and will swap that. Mine did have a temperature issue at one point and it makes sense that the CPU or video card might have been damaged by the heat.

Glad yours is working again!

[bproosow]

Final update:

Although I purchased a whole CPU, I still wanted to get the old one working as a backup. Thanks to some inexpensive parts on eBay, I was able to figure out the issue and come out with some spare parts.

It ended up being the CPU daughter board. I did notice that the fan right above the chip wasn’t running. I just wasn’t sure if that was a sign of it being bad or if it’s thermostatically controlled and there was no call for cooling. Turns out that fan should be spinning whenever it’s on. So with no video and no fan, it’s highly likely to be the CPU daughter board. There were no obvious signs of damage, burn circuitry, etc, to clearly point to this as the fault. In any case, I now have a full spare CPU that I’m loading Star Trek Episodic 6 on so I can quickly swap games without going through all the setup nonsense. I also took advantage of my time under the hood to install TITO boards on both of my machines.

Thanks everyone for your help. This is now resolved.

[dragster73]

You said:  In any case, I now have a full spare CPU that I’m loading Star Trek Episodic 6 on so I can quickly swap games without going through all the setup nonsense.

This will not be the case, you will still have to clear the computer once you change it out. The only way around this is to remove and socket the 8 pin chip on the back plane, and then have that chip installed with the computer it was set up for.   I hope this makes sense.

[Stayouttadabunker]

I agree...
I had a fellow slot tech that told me once that "they're not married" 

[bproosow]

@dragster73

Not sure I follow. Are you talking about the CPU motherboard? I’ve swapped whole CPUs with no issues and there’s no mention of that in the service manual.

What would happen if this wasn’t done?

[dragster73]

When you say CPU are you referring to the entire metal cage with the motherboard inside it, or are you referring to only the Chip that plugs into the motherboard?

[bproosow]

This is what I replaced.

[dragster73]

Ok, Disregard what I said.