26 replies to this topic

[Bencrest]

Picking up a faulty DOND 'Whats in Your Box?' on Monday coming, sounds like it's probably a mainboard that's gone but from the photos it seems to be in excellent condition so thought I'd take it and hope it's a nice cheap repair. Paid more than it's worth IMHO, but it's nice to get a local machine and does have notey fitted and the seller sounds genuine. Plus I've got two other Scorpion 4 machines (and a spare Scorpion 5 board if it turns out to be on that hardware) so it should be easy to swap bits about 'til I find out what's wrong... that's the plan anyway!! 

 

Always wanted a DOND but wanted one with the old £35 jackpot and Mega Streak box, and with a higher stake 'enhanced game' option. Couldn't be bothered with the £70 rechips that replaced the Mega Streak box with a £70 box. Never really considered this one with the 3 reel affair, but it'll be something different for me to play on, and a bit of troubleshooting is always good fun

 

http://www.bellfruit...tsinyourbox.htm

Edited by Bencrest, 06 June 2013 - 10:22 AM.

[BIGBALLS]

make shaw you go higher then 11 and lower then 2 on the main board when playing 

[spa]

^^^ lol. It's more about winning a lower and then losing your extra life and setting up a 6/7 on the middle.

 

I have one of these aswell

 

sparcades cheapest machine to date coming in for £30.

 

Fantastic machine though. Plenty of tricks too it. Hope you get it working.

[nails]

_{hand on heart I know somebody who make £4k in 2 months playing the pre-chipped machine. his exact word were `I could have made almost double that but didt keep ontop of it`}

 

_{how the other half live eh ?}

[Bencrest]

^^^ lol. It's more about winning a lower and then losing your extra life and setting up a 6/7 on the middle.

 

I have one of these aswell

 

sparcades cheapest machine to date coming in for £30.

 

Fantastic machine though. Plenty of tricks too it. Hope you get it working.

 

... I'll give you £30 for it

 

 

 

_{hand on heart I know somebody who make £4k in 2 months playing the pre-chipped machine. his exact word were `I could have made almost double that but didt keep ontop of it`}

 

_{how the other half live eh ?}

 

Yeah, I was always too naive when I played machines. I thought it was enough just to be reasonably 'switched on', fact is that without the information, it's a mugs game. Even with the information, it's a dishonest way of making money.

 

Have never really had anything more than a curious passing interest in playing a DOND and certainly have no desire to start gambling again in the arcades and pubs. But I gave blood yesterday and during that visit I had 2 firsts.

One was visiting the Cheltenham Town FC stadium as I had never been there before in spite of being a Cheltenham boy all my life.

The second first was that my "bed" was right next to a DOND machine in the clubhouse. I couldn't for the life of me tell you the name of it, how big is my box or whatever, but it looked fascinating in terms of stuff going on and I realised just how much machines had moved forward since I stopped playing them 25 years ago.

Hopefully one day the MAME boys will sort themselves out and get DOND released properly on their kit. Congrats Ben. Sure you wll get this machine working. Don't mention over @ Mecca though.

bj

 

I'm pretty sure it's the mainboard (worst case scenario really). Suppose it could be a PSU. Won't know for sure. Seller has said I can pop around and just have a look, no pressure. 

 

I'm wondering how DOND will pan out as a 'home use' machine. I found them (at least most of them) incredibly enticing little buggers when I used to play, although IMHO the more recent ones got too predictable with crap boxes. I found the earlier ones more willing to give Mega Streak / JP from non-IM boards and more 'randomly', whereas the recent ones seemed to block it harder, and offer more predicable crap boxes. 

[spa]

Not really a dishonest way of making money.

 

The only 'dishonest' part is the companies putting the rips/empties in. They are obviously coded in and not there by mistake.

[Bencrest]

In the car with Noel Edmonds!

[Bencrest]

Well, it's been a barrel of laughs so far!

 

Got machine home, plugged it in. Couple of lights came on RIDICULOUSLY BRIGHT and smoke poured from the Scorpion 5 board... not the best start.

 

Found out that someone has (lord knows why) 'repaired' two wires, going to lamps on the 'STEP' button, by stripping an inch or so of insulation off and twisting them together. With the machine door shut, these shorted against the metal plate of the reel shelf, and ultimately blew the mainboard up (well, a diode caught fire).

 

Oh, there was also a very loose (read : not connected) earth lead on the PSU, and the plugs from the PSU to the power loom were loose. Probably explains why the machine turned off every time I moved it. 

 

What have I learned?

 

1) Even if a machine is faulty, ask for it to be switched on at the sellers house, at least that way if it catches fire you don't risk your own property.

2) If you pull up and the seller is an electrical contractor, in a large van with 'electrical contractor' on the side, assume that they've left you with a dangerous machine and no end of electrical faults.

3) Don't pay good money for a faulty machine on the say-so of an eBay seller - simple fix means 'completely shagged'.

 

Good news - I had a spare Scorpion 5 board, which seems to have sorted most of the problems. Do still have a couple of niggling issues, and now I've put in the BNV key for the note validator (yay, a Lumina ) I'm getting a NOTE MECH 15 error when turned on and can't even play it now!

 

Edited by Bencrest, 10 June 2013 - 08:33 PM.

[IHartwell]

I can hear a bearded man laughing in the back ground

[IHartwell]

Sounds like your having fun with this one then!

Suppose you get good and bad ones. On this occasion I got a good one and you got shafted!

[Bencrest]

... It's OK, I've had a good few hours stripping it for spares. Keeping the glasses (and perhaps the rest of the top door assembly), coin sorter / validator, note validator and bezel, PSU, and a cup full of bulbs (including much needed red ones!). Will keep both mainboards just in case I can salvage anything, hopefully the first one just has a blown diode which I can replace, my other one I'm not sure, but they might come in handy.

 

It was proving such a pain in the arse (this morning I got no lights and an MUX ROW 31 error) that I realised I simply couldn't be arsed, it had been bodged so many times and looks like it's not the first time it's caught fire. 

 

Lesson learned really, sure I'm a little annoyed at the seller for their bare-faced lies about the machine and it's history, the dangerous state it was sold in, but at the same time I should have given it a once over when I was there, and asked him to turn it on (would have been hilarious if it caught fire in his kitchen!!!)

Edited by Bencrest, 11 June 2013 - 03:25 PM.

[Bencrest]

Will be trying the note validator and bezel in my Club Clouseau later. Not sure if it'll work, but worth a shot, I've been meaning to get a notey and bezel for it anyway!

 

Going to smash the rest of the cabinet to bits as soon as I find my 10lb hammer, there's nothing left in it now

 

Kept the top door as a whole unit (all looms removed, but lamp holders, buttons and decals in place) and I'm tempted to clean the glass, leave the decals in and wall mount it on some kind of bracket 

 

The niece thinks it's quite funny

Attached Files

•  melonoel.jpg   299.29KB   1 downloads

Edited by Bencrest, 11 June 2013 - 04:17 PM.

[IHartwell]

Ouch, i would have cried if that happened to me!

Im missing 2 red bulbs I didn't realise I needed until I got the manual and learnt how to test each bulb and the description came up, most had white bulbs in!

[Bencrest]

Ouch, i would have cried if that happened to me!

Im missing 2 red bulbs I didn't realise I needed until I got the manual and learnt how to test each bulb and the description came up, most had white bulbs in!

 

I've mellowed out a fair bit over the past few years, thank god. I'm not a fan of being ripped off, but need to make the best of a bad situation, and I can now use the bits in other machines

 

I've had fun taking it apart, and at least while it did work I had a laugh

Edited by Bencrest, 11 June 2013 - 04:29 PM.

[Bencrest]

Easy when you have the right tools, only took a couple of minutes and felt pretty good

 

Will get it loaded into the car in a sec and will take to the tip tomorrow. That's the end of this story I guess, at least until I take the front glass and hang it on the wall or something

 

Don't forget - don't pay good money for faulty machines, ensure you give them a once over at the sellers even if sold as faulty, and avoid men with beards.

Attached Files

•  noelpile.jpg   328.24KB   3 downloads

Edited by Bencrest, 11 June 2013 - 05:28 PM.

[IHartwell]

Send that to the seller and ask for a refund lol

[tigerboytony11]

Bencrest, did you keep the power box off the machine? I need one urgently :/ mine has just died on me.

[Bencrest]

Bencrest, did you keep the power box off the machine? I need one urgently :/ mine has just died on me.

 

Yes, but I don't have much faith in it. Sticker on it shows 1997 manufacture date, whereas it's a 2007 Scorpion 5 machine so I'd expected something WAY more recent. Part of me wonders if the PSU might have been causing some of the issues, I'm sure it would be fine on a Scorpion 4 machine though.