TECH: Gottlieb sys 3 Driver board Stargate

G

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Hi,
Recently had a sling coil issue ( stuck on ) that turned out to be a bad
MOSFET on the board. ( Thanks to the help of the group and Clay's guides )

Replacing the MOSFET fixed the problem and all was well.
Last night the game suddenly went from free play to credit ( documented
here before ). I found the other sling coil was stuck on and the fuse
was shot. Replacing the MOSFET and fuse fixed the rubber problem but
cannot return to free play. Cab switch has no effect.

My question: before further digging tonight does anyone have a
suggestion? Also what other reasons should I blow MOSFETs this quickly,
othen than a well worn machine with a hacked driver board ( multiple
replaced MOSFETS, resistors and I believe an IC )

Should I NAVL the Stargate to Clive? :)

Thanks

Jack James
 
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John

When you post about replacing parts please put the original part number
down along with your replacement. This really helps, especially when
talking about these types of problems. Unfortunately, Gottlieb did use
some real goofy parts occasionally. Example was the BUZ 72L mosfet
that I posted about months ago.

> Recently had a sling coil issue ( stuck on ) that turned out to be a
bad
> MOSFET on the board. ( Thanks to the help of the group and Clay's guides )

Everything can fail. Does not necessarily mean there are other
problems lurking.

> Last night the game suddenly went from free play to credit ( documented
> here before ). I found the other sling coil was stuck on and the fuse
> was shot. Replacing the MOSFET and fuse fixed the rubber problem but
> cannot return to free play. Cab switch has no effect.

It's memory clear time! 6502 systems, all of them, suffer from RAM
issues. I did some research years ago into this and finally got in
touch with a former Apple engineer, who knew nothing about pinball, who
enlightened me about this issue. It seems as though the cheaper they
tried to make the systems to compete, the less tolerant they became to
corruption. When I told him about Gottlieb and the 6502 his very first
comments were: "You have +5 volt problems". I then mentioned the
manually adjusted regulator and he started to chuckle. His next words
are a quote: "You poor bastards".

This is a very solid board system with one really major flaw. The +5
volt regulator is manually adjusted. The +5 will wander up and down in
relationship to the incomming AC. The MOV will knock down the spikes
but not the peaks and valleys.

There has been quite a bit of rhetoric on this panel lately about
"cutting in" switching regulators in pinballs. This is the only
pinball system that I can see that would definately benefit from this.


If you perform the usual checks, ground security, and connector
reliability, it should be solid.

> Should I NAVL the Stargate to Clive? :)

Ask him! I'd love to hear his answer.

Mario
Pinthetic
 

otto

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There are 2 switches there and think one has to be in tournament play.

It's been a while--I may be totally wrong.

Otto

CARGPB11

My web page: http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-Ottoslanding

"John W. James" <ebd@jackdds.com> wrote in message
news:FlNJe.18688$_R1.4877@fe11.lga...
> Replacing the MOSFET and fuse fixed the rubber problem but cannot return
> to free play. Cab switch has no effect.
 
G

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

For the tournament issue, check for a broken wire underneath the
playfield (esp. near the kicker targets). There's a couple of us on
the board that had the tournament switch go inactive due to some wierd
wiring that ties the switch through a bunch of other things (like the
glidercraft kicker).

Aaron
 
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The manual states that changes to settings can be made with the coin
door open. I find that opening the door kill power. Perhaps this is
an
issue?

You will find two white switches in there. One is the coin door
interlock and it kills power to the game when released. For servicing,
pull on it and it will extend and stay that way to keep the power to
the game while the door is open. Push it back in and it will work with
the coin door when it is closed. A lot of people will either disable
the switch by removing it from its bracket and leave it extended or
just jump it out.

During the attract mode are there any "?" that appear where there
should be numbers?
If so you need to reset the ram back to factory and then recustomize it
to your liking.

Set your voltage to 5.10.

Sounds like you are replacing with the correct parts.

Mario
Pinthetic
 
G

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

Thanks for the reply and the bit of history.
For reference I swapped out bad RFP12N10L s for new IRL530 s.
I got them from digikey, any other suppliers for my small needs?

I checked voltage on the driver and control boards, 5.03, 5.01
respectively at several points on the schematics. The machine works
fine with the exception of the free play. Are you suggesting that
resetting the RAM would do the trick? I'm guessing the battery is
soldered to the board, should I upgrade it with a AA fix while I am at it?

The manual states that changes to settings can be made with the coin
door open. I find that opening the door kill power. Perhaps this is an
issue?

Tremendous thanks for letting me pick your brain. There is no
substitute for experience. The only advantage in having no experience
is that you don't realize your're in over your head.

Thanks again
Jack James

Pinthetic@gmail.com wrote:

> It's memory clear time! 6502 systems, all of them, suffer from RAM
> issues. I did some research years ago into this and finally got in
> touch with a former Apple engineer, who knew nothing about pinball, who
> enlightened me about this issue. It seems as though the cheaper they
> tried to make the systems to compete, the less tolerant they became to
> corruption. When I told him about Gottlieb and the 6502 his very first
> comments were: "You have +5 volt problems". I then mentioned the
> manually adjusted regulator and he started to chuckle. His next words
> are a quote: "You poor bastards".
>

>
> Mario
> Pinthetic
>
 
G

Guest

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

After quite a search I did indeed find a wire still in place but not
connected. Fixed the problem, thanks. Still not quite sure why
multiple issues occured at the same time. Maybe just a fluke.

Jack James

taylor34 wrote:
> For the tournament issue, check for a broken wire underneath the
> playfield (esp. near the kicker targets). There's a couple of us on
> the board that had the tournament switch go inactive due to some wierd
> wiring that ties the switch through a bunch of other things (like the
> glidercraft kicker).
>
> Aaron
>
 
G

Guest

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

A loose wire fixed the free play issue but still a bit skeptical that
all these issues are unrelated.

If I have to ask how to change the voltage should I be doing it? Am I
adjusting the Pot resistor on the power board (R3). Any special
instructions ( unplug anything first ). I installed the orange 120v
jumper a while ago as per Clay's guide.

Thanks again
Jack James

Pinthetic@gmail.com wrote:
> The manual states that changes to settings can be made with the coin
> door open. I find that opening the door kill power. Perhaps this is
> an
> issue?
>
> You will find two white switches in there. One is the coin door
> interlock and it kills power to the game when released. For servicing,
> pull on it and it will extend and stay that way to keep the power to
> the game while the door is open. Push it back in and it will work with
> the coin door when it is closed. A lot of people will either disable
> the switch by removing it from its bracket and leave it extended or
> just jump it out.
>
> During the attract mode are there any "?" that appear where there
> should be numbers?
> If so you need to reset the ram back to factory and then recustomize it
> to your liking.
>
> Set your voltage to 5.10.
>
> Sounds like you are replacing with the correct parts.
>
> Mario
> Pinthetic
>
 
G

Guest

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

John W. James wrote:
> A loose wire fixed the free play issue but still a bit skeptical that
> all these issues are unrelated.
>
> If I have to ask how to change the voltage should I be doing it? Am I
> adjusting the Pot resistor on the power board (R3). Any special
> instructions ( unplug anything first ). I installed the orange 120v
> jumper a while ago as per Clay's guide.
>
> Thanks again
> Jack James


That is the 5+v supply board and R3 is the adjustment pot. Output to the
control, display/ driver , sound boards is J2 (right side). Do you have
a meter? How is the machine working now? Resets/restarts ?

Brian Ray
 
G

Guest

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

I have a few games on it and nothing has died. No resets or other issues.
I have a brand spankin new fluke 112 ready for action if needed.
Thanks

Jack James

Flyinwalenda wrote:

>
> That is the 5+v supply board and R3 is the adjustment pot. Output to the
> control, display/ driver , sound boards is J2 (right side). Do you have
> a meter? How is the machine working now? Resets/restarts ?
>
> Brian Ray
>