Help with my IGT S Plus Reel 2 not working

[polishfreight]

Hello, I have a IGT S+ Slant Top Slot Machine. Its been working great until I changed the game yesterday. I changed the game from Blackjack to Diamond 5's. I've done this before but this time I've encountered a problem. I got the game up and running, put credits on it then when I would play it Reel 2 would not spin and I would get the Error 42 Error Code. I would open the door and close it, it would work fine again for awhile, but then after awhile it would tilt again. I would repete the process and would be ok. Then finally it just stopped all together. So I swapped the reel assemblies to see if it was that. Nope, its isolated to reel 2. I checked the connector underneath the reel assemble and appears its connected correctly. When plugged in the reel isn't stiff like reel 1 and 3 with the power on, so something is preventing power getting to reel 2, I just can't figure this one out at all. Any advice you can give would greatly be appreciated... Thank you......

[Stayouttadabunker]

Pull out the MPU and carefully remove the SS chip.
Check the legs of this chip to see if any of the legs are folded underneath the body of the chip.
If okay, re-install the chips you had previously and see if the reel error goes away.
Leave the SP chip if you didn't have to change it when you switched the game.
If the reel error goes away, the problem is with the SS chip of the new game.

Let us know if this works, if not, I have something else you can try.

[polishfreight]

Hello,
Thank you for your response. I did try that and same thing happened. Reel 2 will not work. When I turn machine on Reels 1 and 3 get energized and are stiff but Reel 2 its as if there is no power getting to it. Very strange. Machine worked great for years. I'm not sure whats going on. I took an Ohm meter and checked the resisters on the board 12345 all reading the same, and none of the 123 are burnt. I thank you for your help..

[Stayouttadabunker]

okay....leave the reels where they are but pull out the first two reel Molex connectors and swap them back into first two the reels above.

When you do this, the problem should go to the 1st left-most reel, while the middle reel becomes energized and holds it's position.


If so, then the problem isn't the reels themselves but further down the line beginning with the reel harness>>>motherboard>>>MPU.

Best way to start is by removing the reel harness from the machine ( the three reel Molexes and the motherboard reel connector Molex) and checking each end of it for continuity with a multimeter.


There could be an unseen break in one of the wires on the 2nd (middle) reel from when you swapped the game initially to the new game you were trying to install.

Take your time and make sure to follow each colored wire pin from the 2nd reel Molex housing back to the large black Molex pins that plugs into the motherboard.

Be patient, you will find the break in one of the wire circuits.....usually a ground wire towards the outside pins of the Molex housing where it connects to the second reel connector pins....sometimes people exert too much pressure on the outside wires as they try to yank/wiggle the reel Molex housing out.

Anyway, a break in the harness wiring is much easier and cheaper to repair rather than pulling out some bucks from your wallet to go buy a working MPU board or sending it out for a professional to repair a possible burned out reel driver chip.

[polishfreight]

Hello,
Thank you for your response. I did try that where and the problem is in that reel 2 connector.


So the thing is that I didn't move any wiring harness or connectors when I changed the game. All I did was pull the board and swapped out the chips and reinstalled. Never went close to any wires, so I'm not sure what could of happened.


I will try removing and try to find it. I did take my meter and reel connector 1 i was getting 8.?vdc on top pins 1 and 3, whereas  on reel 2 connector on top pins 1 and 3 I got nothing but second row of pins #3 I was getting 9.?VDC. So I don't know. Where is the Reel Driver Chip? Any way I can check that or test that? I thank you for all of your help...

[polishfreight]

Oops I forgot. Would a Ram Clear solve this? I don't have the chips anyway. I just trying to think. Thanks.

[knagl]

No, a RAM clear would not resolve this.

With the power off, remove your MPU board again and look carefully at all of the pins on it that plug into the motherboard (fixed board in the back of your machine) to ensure that none of them got bent or damaged when the board was removed and re-inserted.

[Jim]

check the pins inside the  plug on the base of the reel assembly, sometimes they get pushed back into the plug itself,  this could cause   the problem you are having.

Jim

[polishfreight]

Thank you. I appreciate your help. I will let you know what I find out. I"ve swapped games many times in the machines I had and never encountered something like this. Hope I can identify it and get it going. If its a bad reel driver chip, then I don't know how to check that or where that chip is on the board. I tested the reel resisters. All 5 are reading the same so i'm sure thats not the problem. Wish it was as simple as a motor cause I have a few of them extra, but its not. Thanks again, I appreciate it...

[Jim]

there are four wires that control the stepper motor, three control the emitter and detector optics and two are a jumper.  the four wires leave the plug on the bottom of the reel assembly and go to pins 18-19-20 -21 of J-7(motherboard),  they go from that plug to J-2 of the cpu board pins 21b-20-a-20b-19a, they go from their to IC-U2  pins 16-14-1-3.

hope this helps

Jim

[polishfreight]

It does, Thank you I'm going to check it out today. Just out of curiosity if you know. What wires on that reel 2 connector are supposed to have vdc? Thanks again....

[Stayouttadabunker]

Remember, when you initially swapped the game from to the other, all you did really, was remove the MPU to swap the chips.
However, a few things could of went wrong during that procedure.
Number one was the legs of the chips that you installed.
You could of folded a leg underneath the chip body or bent a pin went pushing the MPU back into the motherboard.
Did you change both the SS and SP chips or just the SS chip?

I was hoping you'd look for a break in the reel harness rather than look for voltages in the 4 reel motor wires.
Setting your multimeter on continuity and looking for the break would solve that problem immediately.
Finding the vdc power is okay but that needs a ground wire to work.

You really need to respond to Reply #6 about the MPU pins.
I think Knagl's diagnosis was better than my thinking/leaning towards the reel harness since you "Never went close to any wires"

[polishfreight]

Hello,
Just the SS Chip was changed out. I did look at the wiring harness from the reel shelf all the way back to the board where the mpu gets seated to. The wiring harness looks good, all wires in the connectors, and didn't find any broken wires or frayed wires. I checked the voltages to see if there was any dc power coming into that reel 2 plug. I tested continuity from the reel 2 connector back to the big connector where the other wiring harness gets connected to. Each wire tested ok for continuity.


I did check the pins to make sure none was broken off or bent, all looks perfect. Very strange. Maybe its the Reel Eprom? Or perhaps maybe something wrong with the board that the mpu gets plugged into? I may try another Reel Eprom and see if that does anything, and maybe something shorting that other board out in the back. Its got to be something. Just can't seem to pinpoint. I thank you for all your advice... I've worked on these games and can't believe this one.

[Stayouttadabunker]

What happens if you put the original SS chip back in?

[polishfreight]

Hello I tried that last night, and the same thing happens. So perhaps maybe I need to pull that back board and see if anything got behind it and maybe shorted something out. Just seems too weird that this is happening.

[Stayouttadabunker]

Try a different MPU board then.

[polishfreight]

Hello Update:
I got another MPU board and replaced it. Set the board up as the old board setting, and replaced the game and reel chips. The whole machine came back to life. All reels were working correctly. I was playing machine and Bam! Again  the same thing happened. Closed and opened the lid and that cleared it, but kept coming back and then it would not reset. I did notice that the switch behind the bill validator plate, I don't know how to explain it, but thought something might be wrong with it. I was inspecting the switch and it literally just crumbled in my fingertips. The age of it made it so brittle. So I got a new switch, installed it. Pulled the board, and chips. Then reinstalled the chips, and the board. Machine has been running fine. So not quite sure what could of been the problem? Perhaps the switch? Before I inspected the switch I thought maybe bad optics on the lid? Reels? Anyway its working. Hope it stays that way. I thank you for all your help.....

[Stayouttadabunker]

If the switch was shorted, that would cause a problem along the optic lines.

Glad you got it up and running....plus now you have a spare MPU!