Tech Help: Atari Middle Earth

[Guest]

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

I just shipped an Atari Middle Earth pin to a customer in N.C. The
customer set up the pin and when he turns it on all the coils fire on
and off continuously and the lights/displays blink on and off as well.
The customer says that there are no loose connectors. Any ideas what
might be causing this? Unfortunately, I'm in Md. so I can't check it
out personally. Any suggestions that I could pass on to him would be
greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Guest]

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

kjm8...@earthlink.net wrote:
> I just shipped an Atari Middle Earth pin to a customer in N.C. The
> customer set up the pin and when he turns it on all the coils fire on
> and off continuously and the lights/displays blink on and off as well.
> The customer says that there are no loose connectors. Any ideas what
> might be causing this? Unfortunately, I'm in Md. so I can't check it
> out personally. Any suggestions that I could pass on to him would be
> greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Kevin

Hi
I don't recall if the slam switches and tilt can cause this.
I don't have access to my machine right now to test this.
If it isn't a switch or loose connector, there is a problem
on the CPU board. For this, it could be any of a number
of parts of the board.
I don't recommend having the customer remove the CPU board.
It is quite common for inexperienced to swap the switch input
and the driver output connectors. It makes a mess of the CPU board.
Have them check the various tilt and slam switches. These are
most likely to be messed up from shipping. As I recall,
the slam switch on the coin door was real easy to mess up.
Resetting connectors is a good idea.
Dwight

 

[Guest]

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

Dwight,
Thanks for the quick reply. I'll pass that along. If you should think
of anything else let me know.

Thanks Again,
Kevin

 

[steve]

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

Sounds like the microprocessor is in 'freerun' mode, which
means its not able to read the code in the ROMs. There's
a good chance that you've got an intermittent socket.
Removing the ROMs and re-inserting them will often fix
the problem.

Steve
p.s.-when a uP is in freerun mode, it'll clock through all of its
address space sequentially which is whats causing the lights
and solenoids to blink


<kjm8888@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1125360594.714428.252360@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I just shipped an Atari Middle Earth pin to a customer in N.C. The
> customer set up the pin and when he turns it on all the coils fire on
> and off continuously and the lights/displays blink on and off as well.
> The customer says that there are no loose connectors. Any ideas what
> might be causing this? Unfortunately, I'm in Md. so I can't check it
> out personally. Any suggestions that I could pass on to him would be
> greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Kevin
>

 

[Guest]

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

On 2005-08-29 17:09:54 -0700, kjm8888@earthlink.net said:

> I just shipped an Atari Middle Earth pin to a customer in N.C. The
> customer set up the pin and when he turns it on all the coils fire on
> and off continuously and the lights/displays blink on and off as well.
> The customer says that there are no loose connectors. Any ideas what
> might be causing this? Unfortunately, I'm in Md. so I can't check it
> out personally. Any suggestions that I could pass on to him would be
> greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Kevin

This is a RESET not completed issue, more likely a ROM or PROM is loose
in it's socket and the CPU's watchdog reset is triggering over and over
again.

Also be sure to tell the customer not to MIX up the connectors! If you
exchange the Solenoid and Switch Matrix connectors the results sound a
lot like yours...and severly damage the MPU board!

John :-#)#
--
(Please post followups or tech enquires to the newsgroup) John's
Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 Call
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games)
www.flippers.com "Old pinballers never die, they
just flip out."