Tech: Party Animal

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

I just picked up a Party Animal and I have it working almost all the
way. I have two weird problems that I just can not figure out, so I
thought I would post here where someone with more knowledge than me can
tell me what to try next.

The first problem has to do with the bottom cabinet buttons, below the
flipper buttons. I know that they are supposed to rotate the letters
that are lit in the PIG targets. Unfortunately, my right cabinet
switch draws in and fires the outhole coil. That does not seem to make
much sense to me as I do not know why the two should be connected.

The other problem has to do with the lower of the two left hand
saucers. When the game is in one ball play, when the ball goes in and
the switch is activated, the coil for the upper saucer eject fires. It
continues to fire and the ball stays on the lower saucer. When the
ball is in Party Animal mode, the lower saucer functions as a lock,
which it should not do. When there are two or three balls in play, the
lower saucer functions exactly as it should, registering points and
kicking out the ball. The upper saucer works the way it is supposed
regardless of the number of balls in play.

The machine is working exactly as it should, except for this problem.
We checked the wiring, which looks right, and replaced the 6821's,
which looked a little rough. The next step we plan on doing is to swap
in a working Strange Science MPU with the Party Animal Rom's, but the
SS is packed away and it willl be a bit of effort to get the board. I
checked Google but did not find any similar issues, so thought I would
also reach out here and see if there were any other ideas. Any
thoughts on what is going on here would be greatly appreciated.

Ron

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Boy you did what I would have done, changed the PIA's. I guess the next
things to check would be diodes on the offending coils. Maybe burn a new
set of game roms too? For the lane change to affect the coils I would
think there would be a problem in the switch matrix or even up to the
6803 cpu itself. This is a toughie, let us know what you find and maybe
Clay could add it to the 6803 guide.

Ron Donohue wrote:
> I just picked up a Party Animal and I have it working almost all the
> way. I have two weird problems that I just can not figure out, so I
> thought I would post here where someone with more knowledge than me can
> tell me what to try next.
>
> The first problem has to do with the bottom cabinet buttons, below the
> flipper buttons. I know that they are supposed to rotate the letters
> that are lit in the PIG targets. Unfortunately, my right cabinet
> switch draws in and fires the outhole coil. That does not seem to make
> much sense to me as I do not know why the two should be connected.
>
> The other problem has to do with the lower of the two left hand
> saucers. When the game is in one ball play, when the ball goes in and
> the switch is activated, the coil for the upper saucer eject fires. It
> continues to fire and the ball stays on the lower saucer. When the
> ball is in Party Animal mode, the lower saucer functions as a lock,
> which it should not do. When there are two or three balls in play, the
> lower saucer functions exactly as it should, registering points and
> kicking out the ball. The upper saucer works the way it is supposed
> regardless of the number of balls in play.
>
> The machine is working exactly as it should, except for this problem.
> We checked the wiring, which looks right, and replaced the 6821's,
> which looked a little rough. The next step we plan on doing is to swap
> in a working Strange Science MPU with the Party Animal Rom's, but the
> SS is packed away and it willl be a bit of effort to get the board. I
> checked Google but did not find any similar issues, so thought I would
> also reach out here and see if there were any other ideas. Any
> thoughts on what is going on here would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Ron
>

--
Cliffy - CARGPB2
A passion for pinball!
http://www.passionforpinball.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

We checked the diodes on both coils and on the other coils in the same
line. I think that the problem is either in the ROMs or in the CPU, as
you suggested. So, the next step is to put in a known good board with
the PA ROMs. If that does not work out properly, then I guess I get
some new ROMs from John Wart. I was just checking to see if I was
missing something silly.

Ron


Cliffy wrote:
> Boy you did what I would have done, changed the PIA's. I guess the next
> things to check would be diodes on the offending coils. Maybe burn a new
> set of game roms too? For the lane change to affect the coils I would
> think there would be a problem in the switch matrix or even up to the
> 6803 cpu itself. This is a toughie, let us know what you find and maybe
> Clay could add it to the 6803 guide.
>
> Ron Donohue wrote:
> > I just picked up a Party Animal and I have it working almost all the
> > way. I have two weird problems that I just can not figure out, so I
> > thought I would post here where someone with more knowledge than me can
> > tell me what to try next.
> >
> > The first problem has to do with the bottom cabinet buttons, below the
> > flipper buttons. I know that they are supposed to rotate the letters
> > that are lit in the PIG targets. Unfortunately, my right cabinet
> > switch draws in and fires the outhole coil. That does not seem to make
> > much sense to me as I do not know why the two should be connected.
> >
> > The other problem has to do with the lower of the two left hand
> > saucers. When the game is in one ball play, when the ball goes in and
> > the switch is activated, the coil for the upper saucer eject fires. It
> > continues to fire and the ball stays on the lower saucer. When the
> > ball is in Party Animal mode, the lower saucer functions as a lock,
> > which it should not do. When there are two or three balls in play, the
> > lower saucer functions exactly as it should, registering points and
> > kicking out the ball. The upper saucer works the way it is supposed
> > regardless of the number of balls in play.
> >
> > The machine is working exactly as it should, except for this problem.
> > We checked the wiring, which looks right, and replaced the 6821's,
> > which looked a little rough. The next step we plan on doing is to swap
> > in a working Strange Science MPU with the Party Animal Rom's, but the
> > SS is packed away and it willl be a bit of effort to get the board. I
> > checked Google but did not find any similar issues, so thought I would
> > also reach out here and see if there were any other ideas. Any
> > thoughts on what is going on here would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Ron
> >
>
> --
> Cliffy - CARGPB2
> A passion for pinball!
> http://www.passionforpinball.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

You are missing something and don't call me silly (in my best Leslie
Nielsen voice

Ron Donohue wrote:
> We checked the diodes on both coils and on the other coils in the same
> line. I think that the problem is either in the ROMs or in the CPU, as
> you suggested. So, the next step is to put in a known good board with
> the PA ROMs. If that does not work out properly, then I guess I get
> some new ROMs from John Wart. I was just checking to see if I was
> missing something silly.
>
> Ron

--
Cliffy - CARGPB2
A passion for pinball!
http://www.passionforpinball.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Before you get out the knife-

Disconnect all the cables going to the playfield and then run your switch
test. See if the cabinet buttons then report the correct switch ID. (Maybe
re-install playfield and try again just to see if anything different). If
they do show okay with playfield disconnected, then you may have something
on the playfield that is interfering- classic switch-matrix problem- stuck
switch, shorted diode on a closed switch, or a dead short to something else
(other switch line, high power, ground). Lots of possibilities and these
are far more likely than a "bad chip". Look also for switch matrix lines
shorted to ground in the main cabinet (coin chute switches or others on the
inside of metal coin door, in cabinet by ground braids, etc.)

Also, on the 6803 MPU board (I think this is a 6803 game?), there are a lot
of MPU board connectors that can be put on wrong- in the wrong place- too
short, too long, etc. That's just the way they came from the factory- lousy
QC on this setup. So double check all your connectors and maybe even
double-check wiring colors vs. pinouts per the schematic, just to be sure.
Very common problem in these games.

Ray J.
--
Action Pinball & Amusement, LLC
Salt Lake City, Utah USA
Web: www.actionpinball.com

We're serious about pinball. Anything else is just for fun!



"Ron Donohue" <rdonohue@hoyt.org> wrote in message
news:1122755351.520820.163500@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> We checked the diodes on both coils and on the other coils in the same
> line. I think that the problem is either in the ROMs or in the CPU, as
> you suggested. So, the next step is to put in a known good board with
> the PA ROMs. If that does not work out properly, then I guess I get
> some new ROMs from John Wart. I was just checking to see if I was
> missing something silly.
>
> Ron
>
>
> Cliffy wrote:
> > Boy you did what I would have done, changed the PIA's. I guess the next
> > things to check would be diodes on the offending coils. Maybe burn a new
> > set of game roms too? For the lane change to affect the coils I would
> > think there would be a problem in the switch matrix or even up to the
> > 6803 cpu itself. This is a toughie, let us know what you find and maybe
> > Clay could add it to the 6803 guide.
> >
> > Ron Donohue wrote:
> > > I just picked up a Party Animal and I have it working almost all the
> > > way. I have two weird problems that I just can not figure out, so I
> > > thought I would post here where someone with more knowledge than me
can
> > > tell me what to try next.
> > >
> > > The first problem has to do with the bottom cabinet buttons, below the
> > > flipper buttons. I know that they are supposed to rotate the letters
> > > that are lit in the PIG targets. Unfortunately, my right cabinet
> > > switch draws in and fires the outhole coil. That does not seem to
make
> > > much sense to me as I do not know why the two should be connected.
> > >
> > > The other problem has to do with the lower of the two left hand
> > > saucers. When the game is in one ball play, when the ball goes in and
> > > the switch is activated, the coil for the upper saucer eject fires.
It
> > > continues to fire and the ball stays on the lower saucer. When the
> > > ball is in Party Animal mode, the lower saucer functions as a lock,
> > > which it should not do. When there are two or three balls in play,
the
> > > lower saucer functions exactly as it should, registering points and
> > > kicking out the ball. The upper saucer works the way it is supposed
> > > regardless of the number of balls in play.
> > >
> > > The machine is working exactly as it should, except for this problem.
> > > We checked the wiring, which looks right, and replaced the 6821's,
> > > which looked a little rough. The next step we plan on doing is to swap
> > > in a working Strange Science MPU with the Party Animal Rom's, but the
> > > SS is packed away and it willl be a bit of effort to get the board. I
> > > checked Google but did not find any similar issues, so thought I would
> > > also reach out here and see if there were any other ideas. Any
> > > thoughts on what is going on here would be greatly appreciated.
> > >
> > > Ron
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Cliffy - CARGPB2
> > A passion for pinball!
> > http://www.passionforpinball.com
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Ron Donohue wrote:
> We checked the diodes on both coils and on the other coils in the same
> line. I think that the problem is either in the ROMs or in the CPU, as
> you suggested. So, the next step is to put in a known good board with
> the PA ROMs. If that does not work out properly, then I guess I get
> some new ROMs from John Wart. I was just checking to see if I was
> missing something silly.
>

Check the jumpers against the manual on the CPU board, some switch logic
can be configured with jumpers.

Clive
---
Board repairs, EPROMs, servicing...

The Coin-Op Cauldron
405 Wild Wing Way
Easley, SC 29642
(864)238-1707
http://www.coinopcauldron.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Thanks to Ray and Clive for the suggestions. I will try them out prior
to going down the other paths I was contemplating.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.pinball (More info?)

Well, we finally got this thing going. After following up many good
leads and getting some excellent advice, the darn thing was still not
working correctly. Then, in a burst of brilliance, we decided to
double check everything in the multiball loop, as that was where the
problem was occuring. Lo and behold, victory. The problem was that
the trough switches, which looked to be factory and original wiring,
were wired wrong, i.e., the trough switch wires were mixed up. With
trough switch wires restored to the original and correct configuration,
the machine works as expected. Thanks for all the advice and
suggestions.

Ron



Ron Donohue wrote:
> I just picked up a Party Animal and I have it working almost all the
> way. I have two weird problems that I just can not figure out, so I
> thought I would post here where someone with more knowledge than me can
> tell me what to try next.
>
> The first problem has to do with the bottom cabinet buttons, below the
> flipper buttons. I know that they are supposed to rotate the letters
> that are lit in the PIG targets. Unfortunately, my right cabinet
> switch draws in and fires the outhole coil. That does not seem to make
> much sense to me as I do not know why the two should be connected.
>
> The other problem has to do with the lower of the two left hand
> saucers. When the game is in one ball play, when the ball goes in and
> the switch is activated, the coil for the upper saucer eject fires. It
> continues to fire and the ball stays on the lower saucer. When the
> ball is in Party Animal mode, the lower saucer functions as a lock,
> which it should not do. When there are two or three balls in play, the
> lower saucer functions exactly as it should, registering points and
> kicking out the ball. The upper saucer works the way it is supposed
> regardless of the number of balls in play.
>
> The machine is working exactly as it should, except for this problem.
> We checked the wiring, which looks right, and replaced the 6821's,
> which looked a little rough. The next step we plan on doing is to swap
> in a working Strange Science MPU with the Party Animal Rom's, but the
> SS is packed away and it willl be a bit of effort to get the board. I
> checked Google but did not find any similar issues, so thought I would
> also reach out here and see if there were any other ideas. Any
> thoughts on what is going on here would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Ron