IGT GameKing IGame cracked touchscreen

[ScottyK]

Hello all.


I'm in the process of obtaining a reasonably-priced IGT GameKing IGame.  If one looks at the photo, you will see that the right side of the screen has a nice crack in it.


As I'm new to this hobby, I was wondering if this is a big deal to replace, with regard to both time and cost?  The game works, and the monitor otherwise looks good; is it possible to just replace the screen?  Or am I looking at a whole new touchscreen monitor?


Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

[Stayouttadabunker]

That sucks...how'd it break?

You have to take it apart and see if the LCD under the TS is cracked also.

Touchscreens are readily available online tho not cheap.

Look at Betson.com...they have 'em.

Measure corner to corner diagonally.

[Jim]

does it interfere with the operation of the touch screen?  if not, can you live with it ??  to replace the screen :  find out what type LCD you have, manufacture should be on the back (label).  SPIN inc sells screens, Patriot Gaming had some for around 100.00,  you have to get one compatible with your LCD.  depending on the LCD and how it was made, some have a plastic housing that covers the sides of the screen , others have a black tape that seals the opening between the screen and the LCD. either case, that has to be removed. then the screen is usually attached to the LCD by backsided tape, a very thin one (maybe 1/16), you have to use a razor blade or exacto knife to cut that tape. I have replaced screens that had as many as 12 taped areas and some that only used 8. your have to un plug the screen from the controller board, usually on the side, ( a flat ribbon cable extends from the screen)  I would unplug this first before you separate it from the LCD. then reverse the process, apply the tape to the screen or LCD (not sure which way is correct) then attach it to the LCD,  seal the side openings, plug it in to the controller, double check all your work, fire it up and calibrate it.  they use a special tape to seal the opening, (black acetate tape)  I have seen people use black electricians tape, I guess its to keep dust and dirt from getting into that opening between the LCD and the screen. I know nicotine will get in there,  you may want to clean your LCD before re screening.  the black acetate tape is very expensive. 

If someone knows something else about this procedure or the how's and why's jump in.

Jim

[ScottyK]

Gentlemen,


Thanks so much for your replies.  This machine was originally listed on Ebay last week.  I had written the seller to ask about particulars, like model number, if the bill acceptor was working, etc.  He then wrote me back shortly afterward to say that he was ending the listing because after checking some things out and upon closing the door, the glass cracked!  He had it in his garage (unheated, I would imagine), but really, who knows what made it crack.  Anyway, I continued communicating with him, and still got the machine (he dropped the price further, of course; I think I did pretty well).


Upon getting it home, I plug it in and nothing happens!  Ironically, power was getting to the screen, the work light was on, and the service outlet was working, but that was it.  I figured something had come loose during transport, so I pulled every connector and reseated them, and then everything powered up.


Upon inspecting the screen, it appears that only the touchscreen glass is affected; the monitor itself is fine.  The touchscreen is not right in the area of the crack, but the game still plays OK.  Of course, you can still play using only the buttons, which is fine.  Where it's tough is when you are working in the service menus, particularly where the "exit" button is, as the crack goes right through it.


I'm going to be checking out your suggestions and do a little investigating this further.  Again, thanks so much for your guidance; at least I have an idea now on how to proceed!

[erbs]

FYI The likely reason the seller cracked the touchscreen was that the monitor was adjusted to close to the door bezel. So if you get a new touchscreen when you put it back in adjust the monitor shelf all the way back. Then close the door and see how much gap you have between the touchscreen and the door bezel. You can then adjust the monitor closer to the bezel. Leave a space between the two. If the touchscreen touches the bezel you may crack it again. Under the tray you will find the nuts to adjust.  Good luck!

[ScottyK]

Will do; thanks for the info!

[ScottyK]

I had a few moments today to pull out the monitor; it is a Kortek, model #KT-L190A-12(DT).  It has a ribbon cable coming out of the left side of the screen (as one looks at it) at the 9:00 position, and it is attached in the back to what looks like some kind of controller board.  I also measured the screen diagonally, and it measures 20.5". (I'm going to assume that this is listed as a 19", based upon the model number.)


I did a Google search and pretty much came up empty as far as what to get as a replacement for this.  If anyone with much more knowledge than I has any ideas on what I should get, I would certainly appreciate it.


Thanks in advance...

[Firebird]

refine your search to include digitech touch controllers and screens, should be able to find a replacement screen for it.

[ScottyK]

refine your search to include digitech touch controllers and screens, should be able to find a replacement screen for it.

Thanks for the tip.  I did as you suggested, and I did get a few more hits, although I had to dig a little.  I came upon the website for Gaming and Entertainment Touch Technology (GET-T.net), which had many different sizes of touchscreens.  Still not sure of which one would fit my monitor, I decided to reach out to them via email, whereupon I gave them all the pertinent info that I shared with everyone here. 18 minutes later, someone named Trent wrote back to me with their product number (3172B), which is currently on sale for $102 +$15 for flat-rate shipping.  I think that's a win.  Here's a link for anyone who wants or needs it:


https://get-t.net/product/19-83-tpk-touch-sensor-tpk-part-c11213-replaces-3m-part-17-9141-206/


I'm going to order it, and I'll let everyone know how it turns out.


Thanks to all with your suggestions; I couldn't have done it without you!

[Firebird]

I would reach out to Trent again and make sure this touchscreen will work with the Digitech board.

[ScottyK]

Well, it's been a while, but I finally have an update on this.


I received the touchscreen that I had ordered.  When I unpacked it, I immediately found out that the connector on the end of the new 3M touchscreen was designed for 5 pins, whereas it needed to plug into the Digitech controller that had 6.  I was really hoping for a plug-and-play solution to this, but it was not to be.  I then wrote back to Trent at GET-T, and sent along some pictures, showing my dilemma.  He was very understanding, and mentioned that he had an adapter cable that he would send me.  He sent some photos along of what he had, and if it looked right to me, he'd send it out.  I confirmed that it was correct, but then I didn't hear from him for about a week, despite several follow-up emails.  Out of desperation, I got in touch with someone from customer service, with whom I had some prior contact, who promised to follow up for me.  The next day, she announced to me that she was sending out the cable to me, and that I would have it by the end of the week.  Well, the end of the week came, and much to my chagrin, it was the wrong cable; it was an extension cable, with male 5 pin on one end, and female 5 pin on the other.  Soooo, now I make a phone call, and talk to Trent directly, and mention my problem.  He recalls it, and says that he would be able to send it out, but because of the shut down order in his state, it would have to wait, I'm afraid.  Well, naturally I understand that health needs to take precedence over something as trivial as this.


As frustrating as this is, at least I can still play the game using the buttons, although I couldn't change any settings because the broken touchscreen was shoddy at best.  Getting bored with playing poker, I decided to explore some of the other games.  Not knowing too much about Keno, I played a couple of the games there.  And here's where I made a fatal error.  I went to play 4 card Keno, and after making the bet, I was able to select numbers on only 3 cards; I couldn't get to the fourth because you needed the touchscreen for that, and where it was was in the upper right quadrant that was totally useless.  So now it looked like I had bricked my GameKing; it was in mid-bet with credits on it, so I couldn't do a keychip.  Everything was frozen, so now I would really have to wait for that cable in order to solve this mess.


With the time I now had, I decided to go ahead and do the touchscreen replacement at this point; this way everything would be ready when the proper cable came in the coming months.  It was a bit time consuming getting all of the old adhesive off, but I managed.  Before I could put the new one on, though, I needed to modify the monitor mount somewhat; the old touchscreen had its flex cable at exactly the 9 o'clock position, whereas the new 3M one was slightly lower, about 8 o'clock.  After removing the monitor, I used my drill and Dremel to fashion an opening for the new cable to go through (see picture).  When I was satisfied with that, I attached the new touchscreen, and sealed the edges with acetate tape.


Now I got to thinking that if Trent had an adapter cable, I must be able to get a cable on my own that would work.  I pretty much came up empty, but I did come across an article in SlotTech Magazine that explained how one could make their own cable, complete with pictures.  It showed a situation that was similar to mine, but there were a few differences with the cables shown.  This one had wired cables, which he showed could be cut and spiced together, but in order for it to work properly, the wiring needed to be flipped to opposite sides, otherwise the touchscreen would be reversed, and that pin 6 was not used anyway.  Now looking at the incorrect extension cable that had been sent to me, I started to figure that I might be able to take the female 6 pin connector off of the broken screen, and put it on the female end of the extension.  I set about removing the sockets from the connector on the extension, then the one on the old flex cable, and put the sockets into the 6 pin connector, just like in the diagram that was in the article.  The sockets didn't lock in, as they were slightly different than what was needed, but they were snug enough to carry out the experiment.  I connected the whole thing up, put the monitor back in, and nothing happened; no response at all!  How could this be?  It looked just like the diagram, but maybe I did something wrong.  I couldn't even get to the touchscreen calibration because it was still stuck in mid bet, so I soon gave up, and tried to figure out how I could un-brick my machine.  I had been wanting to replace the battery (voltage read like 2.7), so I figured I'd take the board out and work on that, as I had order a couple of new batteries.  It didn't take me long to do that task, so I put it back in the machine, powered up, and heard that wonderful alarm that you always get after doing a keychip.  As great as that was, I still was going to need a touchscreen to do the set-up, so I was stuck once more.  I was able to get to the calibration, though, so I tried that out, and while I was able to do the first dot, noting else worked, so it was back to square one.


I now went back to the diagram and noticed something odd; while it showed that pin 6 was not used on the controller, the diagram had pin 6 on the left side, instead of the right as one looked at it.  Could it be that this was presented upside down for some reason?  With nothing to lose, I moved all 5 wires over one slot, hooked it up again, and much to my amazement, I was now able to do a full touchscreen calibration!  Once I did that, I became something of a touchscreen fool, happily touching every screen button that I could.  I now did the full keychip, set everything up, and now I'm happy to report, everything works perfectly.  I couldn't be happier!


Well, it was a long journey, but I certainly did learn a great deal along the way.  Well worth it, and now I FINALLY (!) have my fully-working GameKing!