Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!! (Transfer, started April 2010)

[SolidSilver]

Topic started by: Yoeddy1 on April 08, 2010; transferred from old site
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Title: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 08, 2010, 06:36:42 PM

Ok guys, many of you know that I bought a CEI poker machine a few months ago per this thread:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=4411.0

Well...I think I screwed up.  I had the power on, opened the door and wiped the screen off with a moist cloth, and all of a sudden the monitor went dark, the control panel button lights are off, and if I drop a coin in with the power on, nothing registers.  If you look in the thread above, I have outlined many photos of the inside.  I checked the board's fuses, pulled the monitor, and it's fuse is ok.  What's strange is that when I turn the power off, the monitor still shows the typical video zap like it always has when turning off, but nothing ever comes on the screen when powering up.

I was looking at the fuse panel where the power switch is as shown in the photo.  I took the panel apart and behind, what appear to be rocker switches are long gray plastic boxes (which I'm assuming are some kind of fuses).  On these gray boxes are various wires with slide on connectors.  Can these be replaced?  Are these fuses?

I'm so bummed out.  I really like this machine and would hate to trash it. Any ideas would be very appreciated.  Thanks!

[SolidSilver]

Title: Re: CEI Video Poker Trouble
Post by: knagl on April 09, 2010, 12:04:03 AM
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Sorry to hear about your machine.  I wouldn't take it to the dumpster just yet -- I'm sure some of the folks here can help.  I'm not terribly familiar with your machine, but let's cover some basics:

- How "moist" was the cloth -- was it dripping, or just a little damp?
- With the power off, have you tried pushing each of the buttons of those resettable fuses (the black boxes just to the right of the power switch, labeled 2A, 3A, etc.)?
- If any of them click back in, try turning the power back on.
- Do any LEDs on the main board(s) come on when you turn the power on?
- Are there power voltage indicators (more LEDs) anywhere on the boards?  If so, are all of them lit when you apply power?

My initial thought, based on the limited information at hand, is that you gave the machine a nice healthy static shock with static that was built up on the powered monitor, and it conducted itself through the damp rag and to the chassis of the game.  Did you feel a shock and/or hear anything when the game crapped out on you?

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Title: Re: CEI Video Poker Trouble
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 09, 2010, 01:00:55 AM

Didn't feel any shock of any kind and didn't see any lightning in the machine.  The monitor just went black and I can dump coins in the machine, but they just exit to the coin tray.  No sound or control panel button lights.  The fluorescent lights and fan come on.  I even pulled the game board and reseated it.  No change.  Look at the video when I turn the machine off...some sort of signal is there.

[MODERATOR’S NOTE: video expired on YouTube, therefore not transferrable]
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Title: Re: CEI Video Poker Trouble
Post by: knagl on April 09, 2010, 11:35:24 AM

Not sure what to tell you, but K+ for the video -- it'll be very helpful for someone who knows more about your machine to be able to help you.
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Title: Re: CEI Video Poker Trouble
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 10, 2010, 12:06:13 PM

Hopefully some others will chime in.  I'm considering selling it.  Not sure yet because up north, these aren't exactly easy to come by.  Not even sure what a non-working fair price would be.  Any of the shops here ever troubleshoot remotely and allow boards to be shipped to them for diagnosis and repair?

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Title: Re: CEI Video Poker Trouble
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 12, 2010, 11:03:59 AM

So in the photo below, I'm assuming that the gold box with the rocker switches and power switch is the actual power supply right?  Since the fuses on the boards appear to not be blown, and the fuse on the monitor is not blown, could it be possible that the problem is in the power supply?  If you look at the photos below, I've cracked open the Power Supply box and you'll see that each (what I'm guessing) is a fuse, is a gray plastic tube.  Is there a replaceable fuse inside of the gray plastic, or the entire housing a replaceable fuse/part?  I've also taken more snapshots of the boards.  Any help is appreciated. 

[SolidSilver]

Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: knagl on April 12, 2010, 06:16:38 PM

The only thing I can help with is to tell you that the gray "tubes" with the 2A and 3A black switches on the front appear to be circuit breakers -- they do not have traditional "one and done" fuses inside.

More info:
http://sound.westhost.com/articles/fusing.htm#s53 (http://sound.westhost.com/articles/fusing.htm#s53)

http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/NTE-ELECTRONICS-R59-2A-/R59-2A (http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/NTE-ELECTRONICS-R59-2A-/R59-2A)
(Of note from this link, listed as a feature is, "Push button to reset breaker")

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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 12, 2010, 06:49:21 PM

Thanks knagl.  I'm now wondering if the circuit breakers are fine.  Like I said, nothing looks any different with the switches.  They didn't pop out, etc.  Hmm.  I wonder if I should just order and throw new breakers in it?  I would think there is a way to tell if they are bad.  Also, I plugged in a laptop A/C adapter into the A/C receptacle on the breaker panel to see if it would charge my laptop, and it works.  Does this indicate that the Breaker panel is working?
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: doyson on April 12, 2010, 07:35:50 PM

Check the low voltage sensing fuse 1/4 amp at the lower right of the mother board. This is the 15 volt ac that is used to detect if the ac voltage is low and turns off the game board

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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 12, 2010, 09:04:58 PM

Thanks doyson.  I went out tonight to look for some of these fuses...looks like they're not easy to find.  Anyway, tomorrow, I plan to replace all fuses just to be on the safe side.  The 1/4 didn't appear to be affected and unfortunately I don't have a volt meter.  I'll report back after replacement.  Also, would this also contribute to the front buttons and coin drop not getting any power anymore?  Does the game board control their functionality?
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: knagl on April 13, 2010, 12:21:46 AM

My suggestion at this point would be before you buy new fuse breaker things (they're expensive, at least the ones I found), go spend $20 (or less) on a basic multimeter.  You should be able to test continuity on the breakers and determine if they're passing current or not, and I'm sure you'll use the thing a hundred times on this and other machines.  As far as fuses, sure, not a bad plan to replace them at this point, but again the continuity test function on your new multimeter will help you to determine if a fuse is good or bad.

While I can't speak to the specifics of your machine as I've never even seen one before, let alone worked on one, in general player panel button lights and coin-in "enable" signals are directly related to the main processor board working.  If it's not working, it's not going to be able to tell the panel lights to turn on, and it's not going to be able to tell your coin-in mechanics not to reject coins to the tray.

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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 13, 2010, 12:11:32 PM

Well, I struck out on the fuses...replaced them all...monitor, and the three on the motherboard.  Yeah, they were spendy!  Anyway, it seems like the gameboard could be next. I have a contact that billzel recommended by the name of Larry Weber 702-363-9998 in Las Vegas.  He's hard to get a hold of, but he fixed two boards for billzel, so I'm hoping he can do the same for me.

Anyway, if there are any other ideas, let me know.  Also, if you know of anyone else that you could recommend that works on these machines, let me know. Thanks!
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: dormi on April 13, 2010, 11:13:12 PM

Also on the circuit that doyson refers to is the pot located center near edge connector.  Try it clockwise max.
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 13, 2010, 11:39:17 PM

Dormi, are you referring to the game board and the dial circled in orange?  I've played with this dial before and it adjusts brightness on the monitor.  Tried it again...no change.   Unless you meant for me to check something else.

[SolidSilver]

Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: Yoeddy1 on April 19, 2010, 08:53:02 PM

GREAT NEWS!!!  After about 5 hours of troubleshooting, reading, and reacquainting myself with the mysteries of CEI Poker machines, I'm finally playing my beloved game once again.  First off, I want to put the spotlight on dormi.  Dave is one classy guy and without his help and willingness to assist a fellow CEI guy, I would have probably sent my machine to the grave...even though it would have been a painful ordeal to pull the trigger on that decision.

Anyway, here's the skinny:

Dave sent me out a replacement board 904 board that he had in his stash.  The replacement board had 24.0 chips on it.  I threw the board in, and it fired right up, although, the 24.0 game didn't match my layout and did not have the 29.9 Double Up feature of my game.  At least at this point we could determine that the mother board, monitor, front buttons, hopper, fuses, and circuit breaker were functional.  I called Dave up and he was very helpful with his guidance.  As my board and the replacement board were both 904's it was time to test my original 23.9 chips on the new board.  I installed them, and I couldn't get anything but a question mark in the middle of the screen.  Seemed like the chips were bad at this point.  I put the 24.0 chips on my board, and still got a black screen, so it was pretty much a sure thing that my board had a problem.  Since my 23.9 chips weren't working on the replacement board, Dave and I both suspected that my chips could have been bad as well.

So, I decided to pull my 23.9 chips off and reseat them just to make sure they were properly in the sockets.  In addition, I decided to pull the EPROM off of the daughter board that the lithium battery sits on.  I then reinstalled the game and powered it up one more time.  Guess what?  It fired up!!!  I couldn't believe it!  The only problem that I was experiencing was a "hopper out" message for some reason.

Also, thanks to StatFreak, he uploaded the 23.9 manual and I spent a lot of time with the diagnostics and reset functionality.  Once I ran through a few scenarios, I powercycled the machine one more time, and wallah...it was back to it's original working state.  A tear seriously came to my eye. 

Anyway, I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions.  Dormi, my hat is off to you, and I appreciate your help.

Here's the video of the "CEI New Life" :
[MODERATOR’S NOTE: video expired on YouTube, therefore not transferreable]
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: reho33 on April 19, 2010, 09:29:40 PM

Cool, K+ Glad you got it going again.
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: stayouttadabunker on April 19, 2010, 09:51:39 PM

That's fantastic yoeddy. It's always great news when a guy gets his machines working again like they should!
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: knagl on April 20, 2010, 03:19:21 AM

In this hobby, there is nothing more frustrating than "breaking" a machine (been there, done that), and nothing more satisfying than getting it back up and running.  So glad to see that you got your game working again.
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Title: Re: Desperate Help with CEI Video Poker Game!!
Post by: Yoeddy1 on May 01, 2010, 11:49:00 AM

If anybody needs a CEI Poker expert, dormi (aka Dave in the real world) is the man.  This should be stickied for CEI users to know just how good Dave is and that he should be a main CEI "go to" guy.  I was planning to just use his replacement board, but there were a couple of board specific issues that I was planning to live with.  One being, that the "Stand" light didn't illuminate as it had on my previous board...even with a bulb change.  This was an issue that evidently was not working correctly and is controlled by the game board.  The other was some video noise/static when booting up the machine.  It disappeared after about a minute or so, but no biggie...I could live with them.

Anyway, Dave contacted me a week later and ended up working on my original board.  He replaced some ufd bypass capacitors, and U37 (LM311) ended up being shot.  This IC is part of the reset circuit, and I guess that's what killed the board.  He also replaced the main battery per my request.  At any rate, I received my original board back and my game is running perfect now.  The boot up static is gone now, and the "Stand" button is now lighting up again.

Again, dormi, kudos for bringing my game back to it's original state.