IGT S Error 21 clearing help

[Vdubbinn]

I have from my understanding a Red, White, and Blue IGT S Slot and am having trouble getting my Error 21 to clear. I can find all kinds of info on the S+ but not the S. I purchased the machine with the 21 error and it had a normal .25 Coin me h in it with a coin optic. I pulled the coin optic out cleaned it, checked it, pulled the motherboard, checked it, pulled and re-seated the chips, etc, when throughl the test modes only to continue to have the 21 error. I purchased a supposedly working Comparitor and coin optic set before I realized it was an S and not an S+ as it was advertised working out of an S+. I installed it and still got the 21 error, I went through the test mode again, etc and can not get it to come out of the 21 error. Does anybody have any guidance for me in this machine and error as I’d like to get it working again? Do I need to a Clear Chip? Is there a difference in the clear chip for the S and S+, I would assume so? I cannot find anybody advertising one for an S, just the S+. Is there a different procedure to get it to clear that differs from instructions I’ve seen out there for the S+? I did get it one time to go into a 3100 error and had trouble clearing that, but once I got it to clear it went to 61 and then it seemed to go into normal operation mode, but once I dropped a coin in the game went right back to the 21 Error and I do not know what I did to get it to display the 61 code and go to normal operation. Any help would be appreciated, thank you

[Shaggy]

 Welcome to NLG!     Can you post a pic of the machine with the door open? By seeing the inside we can better tell what you have.

Dave

[Badbaud]

Yes pictures would help, especially the inside of the door.

[Badbaud]

Attached are the input tests for the S Slot.

[Vdubbinn]

Here are some pics of the game, Hopefully this will help.

[Vdubbinn]

Here's one more, sorry they're loading sideways, not sure why

[Badbaud]

That is a S slot. You can try removing the RAM chip just to the left of the EPROM with the label on it and shorting all of it's legs on a bare piece of metal for about a minute.
This will clear memory and cause the game to reinitialize after you hold in the test button for a while to remove the 61 code.
If you still get a 21 error then your coin optic is bad but that error may be stacked up in your game's memory so clearing it will either fix the problem or prove the problem is real.

[Vdubbinn]

Badbaud, I didn’t see your reply until after I left town for the Holiday so I will have to try the method you mentioned when I get home tomorrow evening and post the results, hopefully it will fix it. Will it make a difference which coin mech I use, the normal non electronic or the electronic one with comparitor? Like I said it had the regular one in it and I bought the other with optic before I realized mine was just an S and not an S+ and the electronic setup was advertised as for an S+. I’ve been collecting/restoring arcade games and pinballs for 20+ years but never have messed with Slot machines other than a few of those cheap Chinese ones so I have an understanding of electronics, software, etc but not the little quirks of these things so I appreciate this forums help. I’m hoping your fix works and I’m thinking the reason I got it to go into the 61 code on one occasion was when trying to clear the 3100 error I thought I might have a problem with corroded  or improperly seated chips. I removed the board and re-seated everything and I think when I pulled the Ram chip it might have been long enough to get it to clear the 21 and 3100 error but it wasn’t long enough to clear everything and as you suggested the error might have still been stacked and stored in the Ram.

[Vdubbinn]

Well I got the chance to finally try and clear the Ram on my machine. I pulled the Ram, grounded the legs out to clear it, put it back in, fired it up, cleared the 61 code, the machine went to normal operation, and as soon as I dropped a coin in it threw up the Error code 21 again. I cleared it again and tried the other mechanism I had that was supposedly working, but was removed from a S Plus machine and I got the same results. I've tried it with just the different optic and all kinds of combinations to see if one of the mechs components are bad (optic, Comparitor, coil, etc.) and just can't seem to get it to not throw that error 21? My question though is the Optic for the S the same as the one for the S Plus? Will the Optics from an S Plus work in an S or do I need to find one Specific to the S? If so were, or does anybody have one? Sorry about all the questions but I am kind of stumped and not real familiar with these machines, any help will be greatly appreciated and help so far has been greatly appreciated.

[Badbaud]

That procedure narrowed it down to the coin in optic. Good job.
S and S plus optics are different. Did you try the input test I sent you to see which optic is bad?

[Vdubbinn]

I have not tried the test you sent me yet as I had little time yesterday, I will go through everything today and report back my findings, thanks for your help so far. I was hoping the S and S Plus optic were interchangable but as my luck usually goes I guess they are not, thanks for answering that. Now to find an Optic for mine once I confirm everything. I’ve been doing some searching haven’t had much luck finding anybody advertising much for the S let alone a complete coin mechanism, optic, or anything associated with it.

[Jim]

looks like you have a typical 10 pin optic,  I have those available, tested and working !  which configuration are you using?  two pictures, one with a mechanical acceptor and one with a cc-16?

Jim

[Vdubbinn]

Badbaud - I did the switch tests on the machine ands hen I pass anything through the optics it doesn't change for zero to one it mistags on zero. Of course as I understand from the instructions I can only really test the coin optic as I have a mechanical coin acceptor instead of a electronic comparitor, I also don't have a door optic so that can't be tested, etc. but all other optics seem to be responding. Although I'm not sure how to test the reel optics, but I think I'm only needing to be worrying about the coin in/out as everything else seems to be responding and working fine on the machine when I go through the other steps with the test switch.

[Vdubbinn]

Jim - Sorry about the confusion, the pic you see with the electronic comparitor is a coin setup I bought before knowing or realizing my machine is an "S" and not an "S Plus" and that setup I bought thinking it would work for my machine as it was sold as a working setup for an S+ And it is my understanding this setup will not work on my machine as the optics are different. The mechanical setup is the actual setup that was in the machine when I bought it so I am needing a coin optic setup for my S like the mechanical one pictured. I can post pics of the optic board setup and board numbers as it differs from the S+ optic boards. The one that was in my machine although has the same number of pinned plug, it has small a different board layout with some small socketed chips amd other differences.

[Badbaud]

Badbaud - I did the switch tests on the machine ands hen I pass anything through the optics it doesn't change for zero to one it mistags on zero. Of course as I understand from the instructions I can only really test the coin optic as I have a mechanical coin acceptor instead of a electronic comparitor, I also don't have a door optic so that can't be tested, etc. but all other optics seem to be responding. Although I'm not sure how to test the reel optics, but I think I'm only needing to be worrying about the coin in/out as everything else seems to be responding and working fine on the machine when I go through the other steps with the test switch.

Then you have a bad coin optic but it could be as simple as a wire going from the optic detector board to the optic transmitter board being disconnected.
You have 3 optics and one of them should be working so the common denominator would be the transmitter board has a bad connect wire.
The transmitter diodes are on the bottom, the receiver transistors are on the top.
The transmitter diodes have a common resistor in series with them that provide current limiting in series to the diodes.

[Vdubbinn]

I’m going to pull the optic out today and go over it checking to see if there’s any cold solder s, bad components, etc. I did notice that on the top board there was a repair at one time and it looks like a resistor was replaced and whomever did it did a crappy job of soldering. I’m going to give it a good once over to make sure nothing is bad or not making a good connection. Thanks for your reply’s, I will try and post some more detailed pics of the optic in question to see if there’s something you see that I might not and so you know exactly what optic I have

[Vdubbinn]

Ok, So after pulling the optic, cleaning it, looking over all the components, running a soldering iron over connections with some fresh solder I installed it and went back to the switch test again. On 10_1 I am not getting anything when I obstruct the optic, it does not change at all. 11_1 if I obstruct the optic it changes to a 11_0, same for 12_1 if I obstruct the optic it changes to 12_0. SO from this I am assuming that only one of my optics is bad, is that correct? One other thing is that when I have it in the switch test and have the coin mech all installed, etc. when I pass a coin through it doesn't always recognized or trip the switch in any of the optics, maybe 1 out of 3 times does it register, but like I said if I hold it there it changes it. Here are some pics of the optic I have if somebody has a guaranteed working one like it.

[Badbaud]

That small switch only triggers the B optic as a pseudo coin test when door is open.
10 is the top or A optic, 11 is the B optic, 12 is the C optic so it sounds like the optic receiver or transmitter for the top A optic is bad.
If you are deft enough you can hold the transmitter board in one hand and slide it up so the B transmitter is shining on the A optic and see if the 10 test now works.
If not then your A receiver transistor is bad.
I have replacement transistors and receivers for those boards if you want to repair your board.

klar.slotrepair@gmail.com

[Vdubbinn]

Did as you instructed and moved the B Optic up and it didn't change anything, It still showed 10_1 and didn't change. I wouldn't mind just rebuilding this board if I could just acquire the Optics to solder new ones in, I'll get ahold of you through the listed Email to work that out. Thank You