Anyone heard of a STATUS brand Video Poker slot? CAN'T get it to do much!

[shortrackskater]

From SolidSilver:

So, how did it all eventually work out? Did you re-list & sell it?
If so, curious to know how much it went for.

[shortrackskater]

Well I tried contacting the former owner of the company and never heard back. But thank you for the help! I gave up. It's sitting in my garage, covered and super clean...looks new almost. The monitor is powering up, it has static but there's not picture, no sound. I'm going to put in on CL when I get some time.

[shortrackskater]

From jay:

You could easily get a 8 liner or cherry master board and wire it up.

Not the cheapest place but a good overview.
http://www.slotsdirect.com/8linerboards.html

Basically a cherry master / 8 liner is a generic board that will plug into any CGA/VGA or Svga monitor.

They work with a basic harness that can be wired up to buttons and hoppers.

Google away....

[shortrackskater]

Hmmmm...thanks. That might be fun and a good learning experience. I'm still a little worried if the CRT really works or not. I only have static on it...no visible light!

[shortrackskater]

From stayouttadabunker:

There's no question that your machine is kinda of rare and getting help on it would be sort of a challenge.
That's where your troubleshooting skills come into play here.
You need to get down to the nitty gritty and find out how to try to perform tests on the monitor.
Perhaps you can start by seeing what wires go to the monitor from the MPU?
Maybe that may give a clue as to what type of monitor they utilized in there and maybe you can search for similar help online?
Is there any stickers, labels, or circuit board etchings/markings that describe what CRT monitor it may be?
Not all CRT's are the same but many have similar troubleshooting procedures?

[shortrackskater]

Well I can certainly give it a try! I've always been hesitant working on CRT's - my only limited education was DC and digital technology and that was back before there was electricity! 
But I do have two other old video slots and it would be nice to learn this for future issues. AND this Status slot is in such CLEAN condition, it would be nice to see it come alive again. I'll start poking around. I'll make sure the power is on and I'm barefoot, and wet...just kidding... 

[shortrackskater]

From stayouttadabunker:

Personally, that big red rubber thing on the back of the monitor scares the crap outta me!
I remember once trying to tape wire to a big screwdriver, clamping the end to the chassis
and grounding it out with one hand in my pocket.
I asked someone to be with me for fear of flying across the room knocking myself out...LoL
The loud crackling sound when you touch the metal under the rubber cap
with the screwdriver tip...is disconcerting to say the least!

[shortrackskater]

Quote from: stayouttadabunker on January 06, 2014, 11:08:58 AMPersonally, that big red rubber thing on the back of the monitor scares the crap outta me!
I remember once trying to tape wire to a big screwdriver, clamping the end to the chassis
and grounding it out with one hand in my pocket.
I asked someone to be with me for fear of flying across the room knocking myself out...LoL
The loud crackling sound when you touch the metal under the rubber cap
with the screwdriver tip...is disconcerting to say the least!

Me too! And that CAP that's the size of a 50 gal drum spooks me too! I know there's discharge instructions here...I'll need to find them.

[shortrackskater]

From SolidSilver:

Glad I stirred it up again: I agree with the bunker man, a rare machine is worth recovering.
Will do a bit more research, this time on the technical side, to see what I can come up with.
No bets (pun intended...) but it could be fun.

[shortrackskater]

From jay:

Just getting back to the inital synopsis: Turn Machine on, static on monitor.....
This would lead me to believe that the monitor is good but no output is coming from the MPU.

Before we go down the road of discarging monitors, and throwing cap kits around it would seem to me that trying a known output source would be a valid troubleshooting step.
Ie Connect the VGA output of a laptop to the Monitor and see if anything shows up. We are not looking for picture perfect convergance, just enough to say that if the MPU was outputting something it would show up on the screen.

Are we getting any other poker noises or such and just a blank screen ?

[shortrackskater]

No sounds... no lights (there IS power to the fluorescent tubes...they're burned out). There are some transistors (I think) on the MPU with heat syncs. Those do get warm. Not scalding... but plenty warm. How do I create a VGA input from wires on the CRT? I've never done any work on monitors, ever. 

SPOILER ALERT!
Dec 2014 update: Just reading this again for fun and realized that I didn't check ALL those. One of the voltage regulators WASN'T hot - I found that out later and that ended up being the problem.

[shortrackskater]

From jay:

The VGA pin out is relatively simple.

The question however is which wire is which.

Step 1 is to identify the make and model if possible of the monitor. From there we can find a manual, determine if the input is CGA, VGA etc.

  Post some pictures - some of the guys on the forum are pretty sharp and may be able to ramble off pinouts in their sleep.

[shortrackskater]

This sounds fun! Thank you very much. I've suddenly got some renewed interest here.
I'll take some pics SOON and post. And I'll head down to Mar Vac, the last remaining true electronics store in Orange County Ca, I think. I love making custom cables. One thing I do need is a monitor extension cable again. I borrowed from from Jim but returned it, thinking I wouldn't need it again. 

I think I'll keep this machine for now... convinced by SolidSilver and Jay to fiddle with it some more, including trying to isolate the problem to determine if it's the CRT or not.
I poked around a little bit last night and I have a strong feeling it's in the MPU, and not the CRT. Reason being there is no error sound or any sound of the machine trying to work. Nothing happens when I insert a coin as well. I still feel static on the CRT so apparently it's getting power but no signal.
One thing... and this might be really silly sounding since I have no schematic or the MPU, but there are four transistors with heat sinks on them. Three are nice and  hot, as they probably should be (not burning hot). One is COLD as ice. Could this possible be the problem? The three toasty ones are in one part of the pc board, but the one above is the "coldie." I know this is NOT the way to troubleshoot but you never know. Any comments again?

[shortrackskater]

From proten:

Have you checked the caps on the board?
Can you post a good picture of the board

[shortrackskater]

From poppo:

Coming into this a little late, and I know nothing about these machines, but looking at the MPU picture, right below that Sentry battery, there are 4 voltage regulators with heat sinks. Three are 7805s and one is a 7806. You can check the voltage output of them. From the heat sink screw (ground) to the right leg you should get +5VDC on the 7805s and +6VDC on the 7806. If you get nothing, check from the heat sink screw to the left leg. That wold be your input power.

[shortrackskater]

Thanks Poppo, for posting (it's been awhile!), and everyone else keeping me alive in this! I'll get to the mpu board ASAP and check voltages and post a pic as well.

I'll check voltages soon. For now here's some pictures. There's one showing the four voltage regulators. There's one above the four. That's the cold one.

[shortrackskater]

Here's the sticker on the monitor. Do I need to post a picture of the plug to the monitor?

[shortrackskater]

From poppo:

The LM383 that is on that other heat sink is the audio amplifier. And that pot next to it (VR1) is most likely the volume control. It would not hurt to turn it back and forth a few times. sometimes they build up some oxidation on the wipers and will stop the sound from working. As is, it looks like the whole unit is dead since you have no audio or video. If there actually is sound, that might help narrow things down.[/b]


I'll check voltages soon. For now here's some pictures. There's one showing the four voltage regulators. There's one above the four. That's the cold one.

 

[shortrackskater]

From SolidSilver:

The Electrohome GO7 series monitors are one of the most common, exceptionally popular for arcade games.
Many parts available, as well as complete monitors, cap kits, and folks set up to repair.

So, if it turns out you have a monitor problem, fret not   

[shortrackskater]

Quote from: poppo on February 07, 2014, 12:30:23 PMComing into this a little late, and I know nothing about these machines, but looking at the MPU picture, right below that Sentry battery, there are 4 voltage regulators with heat sinks. Three are 7805s and one is a 7806. You can check the voltage output of them. From the heat sink screw (ground) to the right leg you should get +5VDC on the 7805s and +6VDC on the 7806. If you get nothing, check from the heat sink screw to the left leg. That wold be your input power.

Okay I checked the input and output voltages on the voltage regulators. The one (in the close up shot) that's just to the left of my home made battery (top cell) has approx 9VDC input and about .17VDC coming out. It's not hot, like the rest are! I also adjusted the audio pot and still got no sound.