21 replies to this topic

[Guitar]

I have some M1A motherboard problems and need some hopefully helpfull advice.
I bought some boards off of ebay for my M1A machines hoping a couple would sort me out and even asking the guy if they were battery damaged over the phone, they have all been leaked on. The good news is that they arent as bad as the ones that came with it.

The bad news is only one of them would boot. And that broke soon after.

The board that has broken was running fine, It didn't click up meters or pay out but I later realised it was on door open mode so theres a possiblity that the meters and payouts are fine.

I was playing the game (East-enders) and I held 2 symbols on the winline and hit start. The third reel span as normal. The next spin neither of the two previously held reels would spin despite no hold being offered. This kept happening so I decided to switch off the machine and reboot. Now none of the first two reels twitch or move during boot up and it comes up with reel 1 error 2.1.

I have had a look at the board and repaired most of the through tracks and that didn't solve it. Looking at the M1A technical manual it says that reels 1 and 2 are driven by 2 ULN2803A chips. Logic says to me that 2 chips breaking at the same time is highly unlikely and that it is probably the 74HC374B1 chip that drives those two. I have checked that voltage is getting to the chips and can see no obvious signs of a broken track etc.

Has this fault ever happened to anyone before and does my diagnosis sound plauseable or am I barking up the wrong tree?

I should mention... I have tried swapping reels around and the problem follows the motherboard as the other reels spin fine when attached to the working reel ports. I have plugged in the cluedo rom cart and the problem still occurs. I did wonder if it was a program fault initially.

I can get good pictures if needs be but it looks fine and continuity test showed no faults. The chips do look quite black on the legs from corrosion.

[lincs1]

i'll leave this for bazpeeb to answer as am well in drink and i would like to see the response to your quest.


lol

[skabaz]

i'm not too hot on ma1 tech but since its reel 1 and 2 you are talking about and also you say there is nothing happening to them but the 3rd reel spins,it may be something just as simple as a wire not making a good enough connection at the crimps on the loom connections.

would be very suprised if it was a chip that had blown but you never know.

did you say you had tried several boards and the fault is still there??

baz

[Guitar]

i'm not too hot on ma1 tech but since its reel 1 and 2 you are talking about and also you say there is nothing happening to them but the 3rd reel spins,it may be something just as simple as a wire not making a good enough connection at the crimps on the loom connections.

would be very suprised if it was a chip that had blown but you never know.

did you say you had tried several boards and the fault is still there??

baz

I have 7 M1A and 2 M1B boards that have been leaked on by their wonderful batteries. I cleaned them up with vinegar and soapy water as directed by Dr 80.
Only 1 releases the relay for 12v.
The manual says that the motors are controlled by 4 wires coming from pin 16-19 for reel 1 and 12 - 15 reel 2. That is why I didnt think the loom was a problem. That said I have Cluedo and Eastenders so Maybe I should swap the board into cluedo and try it and see if the fault remains.

So only 1 working board out of 9 is a bit disheartening. Especially when the guy on ebay said (before I bid) that the batteries had leaked but not touched the board. I.E the batteries were a bit furry.

When I picked up the boards they looked OK. But it seems that when I rang the guy to check that he noticed the batteries were leaking and cleaned the board up so I didn't notice when I picked them up. Under the right light I can see a patch where the battery leak had got too.

[Guitar]

Also Bazpeep. Love the sig.

[skabaz]

if you have the same tech in another machine then its always good to swap the boards/looms or reels to just check to see where the fault lies.

but remember to mark which boards and looms you removed from the working machine that they were working.

i have failed to do this a few times.

baz

[Guitar]

OK I have swapped the Motherboard into cluedo and the fault follows with it. I swapped the roms across as well obviously. Its definately the motherboard, but what?

Still getting the Fullboot up and all the status lamps go off as they should.

[websherpa]

I am having the same problems with my M1A Monopoly MPU, but mine did work for a bit (off and on) until I replaced the battery. I haven't gotten around to it (partly because I don't have a manual), but I would suggest that you do what I am contemplating next, and that is to desolder and resolder the chips in the vacinity of the leak, and make certain that any plated through holes are still conductive.

In pinballs (which I repair), very often the chip legs are the problems, and intermittent joint occurs, and even new solder doesn't stick properly to a corroded leg (the legs need to be desoldered and sanded a bit).

In my case I recrimped almost all the looms but that didn't result in a fix.

I have been hoping to find a better M1A MPU, or even a spare to work on, so perhaps we can chat offline if you are willing to sell a spare.

Many thanks,

Wayne

[Guitar]

I'd be willing to sell you a spare but I don't have a single working board.

Originally the 2 machines (Cluedo (original not super sleuth) and Eastenders (Blue)) had boards in them that would boot up and accept credits and then would accept no input from the switch matrix. I decided to fix these myself and as a result neither of them will boot now. Its been a steep learning curve but my soldering is now much much better than it was. I asked sys80 on the mecca to help and he said he would. But I don't want to be too pushy and ask him about it.

I have a couple of M1B boards and none of those work either. The reason I bought another 4 boards was because I spoke to a guy on ebay who said that the batteries had leaked but the boards had not been touch. Upon arriving the boards had obvious leak patches accross them. Only one of them would boot and lift off the 12v relay.

It worked fine for about £20 worth of play and then the first 2 reels stopped working and here we are.

I can get photo's if that will help anyone to help me (6MP). Its just seemed very odd that the reels stopped working after a hold on those 2 reels. Maybe coincidence, I dont know. Can ANYONE offer some advice (Other than bin the maygay rubbish).

[websherpa]

I'd like to purchase one or two of the "better" non-working boards, it might help me pinpoint what the common problems is? Contact me via email (collectablecoinop@ gmail com)
Personally I suspect corroded amd cold solder joints at an IC or a failed IC. I sure wish I had some M1A scematics!

[Guitar]

Any idea's on this one? Lincs and Baz i would like to see your opinions. (Also anyone else). If the diagnosis of a dodgy chip is correct which one would you start on?

[Guitar]

Some nice hi res photo's of this board here, if anyone can spot the problem?
Another M1A thread. - Page 2 - The MPU Mecca

[impact]

look at you chr$ on the programe card as this is the most common as muck problem with all mpu 1a`s and b`s you need to get a dead match and this will fix and end all probs

i.e machine go`s to power start`s then resets and try`s again.......
i.e machine setup`s up and reels continue to spin and wont stop
i.e machine go`s to start but reels just move abit not even one hole step
i.e machines relay just clicks and +12v on the mpu flickers on and off.......
i.e machine just play`s funny unknown samples from sound banks
i.e machines solonids just pulse and thats it wont even try to power up

if you have a blue programe card stick with the blue pc
if you have a green pc stick with the green pc
if you have a brown pc then same stick with the brown

but keep the chr$ with the same colour of pc

[Guitar]

look at you chr$ on the programe card as this is the most common as muck problem with all mpu 1a`s and b`s you need to get a dead match and this will fix and end all probs

i.e machine go`s to power start`s then resets and try`s again.......
i.e machine setup`s up and reels continue to spin and wont stop
i.e machine go`s to start but reels just move abit not even one hole step
i.e machines relay just clicks and +12v on the mpu flickers on and off.......
i.e machine just play`s funny unknown samples from sound banks
i.e machines solonids just pulse and thats it wont even try to power up

if you have a blue programe card stick with the blue pc
if you have a green pc stick with the green pc
if you have a brown pc then same stick with the brown

but keep the chr$ with the same colour of pc

I'm a bit confused after that.

The game prom card itself is green. It has Brown circular dot sticker on it next to the plug for the audio out to the cabinet. I did swap the prom cards around as one of them the sound did not work and I wanted to check it was the card and not the proms. The Cluedo roms are now back in the prom card that they came in and it still has the same effect.

I'm not entirely sure what you meant if it doesn't refer to that stocker or the card colour itself. However I do have a coupl of boards that disply the symptoms listed above. If you could elaborate slightly that would be a great help. Sorry for being a muppet, Guitar.

[Guitar]

Both my program cards have a brown sticker.

[impact]

the hole game card is brown or green or blue
just don` be swaping the chr$ ic from one into another ie take green pc Chr ic and place it into the blue pc ic socket

it just sound like you have been swaping chr ic from one pcard into another along with programe ic`s

guitar we are all here to learn no1 is a muppet m8 like with myself if all my fax r wrong i would be greatful if some1 corrected me on it. as below

[Fruity2000]

I have some M1A motherboard problems and need some hopefully helpfull advice.
I bought some boards off of ebay for my M1A machines hoping a couple would sort me out and even asking the guy if they were battery damaged over the phone, they have all been leaked on. The good news is that they arent as bad as the ones that came with it.

The bad news is only one of them would boot. And that broke soon after.

The board that has broken was running fine, It didn't click up meters or pay out but I later realised it was on door open mode so theres a possiblity that the meters and payouts are fine.

I was playing the game (East-enders) and I held 2 symbols on the winline and hit start. The third reel span as normal. The next spin neither of the two previously held reels would spin despite no hold being offered. This kept happening so I decided to switch off the machine and reboot. Now none of the first two reels twitch or move during boot up and it comes up with reel 1 error 2.1.

I have had a look at the board and repaired most of the through tracks and that didn't solve it. Looking at the M1A technical manual it says that reels 1 and 2 are driven by 2 ULN2803A chips. Logic says to me that 2 chips breaking at the same time is highly unlikely and that it is probably the 74HC374B1 chip that drives those two. I have checked that voltage is getting to the chips and can see no obvious signs of a broken track etc.

Has this fault ever happened to anyone before and does my diagnosis sound plauseable or am I barking up the wrong tree?

I should mention... I have tried swapping reels around and the problem follows the motherboard as the other reels spin fine when attached to the working reel ports. I have plugged in the cluedo rom cart and the problem still occurs. I did wonder if it was a program fault initially.

I can get good pictures if needs be but it looks fine and continuity test showed no faults. The chips do look quite black on the legs from corrosion.

Sorry, I can't help you with your control board problems as I've no idea whats wrong with them. I've got the same problem my self with two M1A's.
However, you mentioned you'd got the M1A technical manual, does it contain a full M1A circuit diagram/schematic and if so, would you consider selling me a photocopy?

All the best.

[Guitar]

Sorry, I can't help you with your control board problems as I've no idea whats wrong with them. I've got the same problem my self with two M1A's.
However, you mentioned you'd got the M1A technical manual, does it contain a full M1A circuit diagram/schematic and if so, would you consider selling me a photocopy?

All the best.

I wouldn't sell you a photocopy. But I will GIVE you a pdf of the manual. Well I will tell you where to get it.

You need to sign up to cliffs repro server. Search the forums for "cliff" and "repro" and you'll find the details you need. Don't pm him though as there is a specific e-mail address you need to mail with certain info. If you pm him then 1) you wont get access and 2) he may kill you (joke.)
But please don't pm him about it.

Once signed up you will have access to pretty much all the roms, layouts, manuals and other resources you could ever want. Except the ones we can't find yet. If it aint on the repro then you're best to ask at the mecca. But don't mention any of the leaked emu's or anything newer than M1A as they will just look at you funny. And if it isn't on the repro then the mecca really is your last chance saloon.

P.s. the mecca boys don't like M1A much, but they will help you. You just have to sift through the posts telling you to dump the maygay and buy barcrest. But they're nice guys really.

Forgot to mention - I don't think there is a schematic in the technical manual, if there was I'd be using it.

[Fruity2000]

Hi, thanks for that info I’ll have ago at downloading it tomorrow.
It would appear to me that battery leakage is probably one of the main causes of machine failure which is a shame really.
Anyway, thanks again.

[impact]

Fruity2000 QUOTE "It would appear to me that battery leakage is probably one of the main causes of machine failure "

so in the last 14 and half years i have service let`s say 5000 mpu`s the battery is probably one of the main causes of machine failure.

And the servay said
mmmmmmmmmm may be jim can fix it

i will let my 11 service guy`s know is that some bloke said on inter web we need to replace and do a ram clear on all mpu`s to fix ic problems or software gliches yes even diode problems on the button matrix. i love you
i think your great