Need help... power on nothing

[rickhunter]

What are the led's on the mpu's doing?

[Tilt]

Bad news! Back to nothing... played fine even played a different game...

When I read this I thought you had another mpu with a different game on it.  Is that the case or did you mean you played a different game on the same mpu (like playing bonus poker and then switching to deuces wild or something)?  If you had two mpu boards coming up with a "pixelated" screen then the most likely problem would be the power supply.  You swapped out the power supply and checked the voltages, so that can be eliminated as a cause.  If you pull the MPU out and power it up you should get a no video input message on the monitor, so that's not the problem. 

It sounds like the MPU isn't booting up.  Is the red led on the front of the MPU blinking when it's installed?  Can you post pictures of the screen with the MPU board installed?

[Springdk]

I have 2 separate boards. And both nothing. No red lights

[Springdk]

He are the pics you requested... after about 2 minutes the bill acceptor cycles and the far right led... to the left of the test switch lights up... then an alarm

[Tilt]

Thanks for the pics.  When you described a pixelated screen I thought you had what many describe a "grey pixelated screen" that will occur when the mpu isn't booting.  That can be bad MPU, software bad or not installed correctly, or bad/failing power supply.  Yours is just blank, but from the sound of it the machine is going through it's boot up process, but the monitor isn't showing it (red/grn/blue/vio/yel screens).  Without the MPU board installed you a message that says "no video input" though, so the inverter and CCFLs are working or you wouldn't see that either.  If you can get into the monitor menu system, try doing an autoconfig.  If that fails, try a factory reset.  If neither one of those work or you can't get into the menu to execute it I'd look at replacing the A/D board on the monitor or replacing it if warrantied.

[Springdk]

Unfortunately no warranty... I can not get the lcd menu to come up with or without the board in. How can I reset the monitor?

[Tilt]

The only way I'm aware of to do a factory reset is through the menu system. 

[Springdk]

So since I cannot get into the menu I guess I will have to order a new a/d board... honestly the new lcd was used for at the most 2 hours and that would be in 30 min intervals. Here is what I meant by pixelated... also on game king between hands like as the cards are being dealt I would see it like pixels. Not sure if this is how the graphics are supposed to be?

[Tilt]

A screen similar to this is what I was thinking you meant.  Hard to say from that picture.  Looks normal to me, but if you noticed a change in the detail of the graphics it may not be. 

Check the power supply for the monitor too.  It's probably 12VDC.  You have a brick style power supply so if you remove it from the bracket it there should be a sticker on it saying what the output voltage is.

[Springdk]

No I am really confused??? Hooked up laptop and lcd works

[Springdk]

Update: now I get this eeprom recovery error on both of my games? Any thoughts? Thanks

[Tilt]

  Why didn't I think of that? Just saved yourself from replacing a good AD board. 

Well really the only thing left is the connectors/cabling from the monitor to the motherboard.  Check the pins on the back of the monitor to make sure one hasn't pushed in, and also check the wiring from the monitor shelf to J5 on the motherboard. J4 is the slave monitor, it should be empty.  Check J17. It shouldn't have anything attached to it, but the RGBHV signals go to it too.  A long time ago someone had bad colors and it was because a couple of the pins on J17 were bent to the point where they were touching other pins and caused the problem. 

If all that looks good check the motherboard for continuity of the RGBHV signals from J5 to J1.
Here's a wiring diagram to help.

[Tilt]

Well good, the monitor is working again .  What fixed it?  VGA connector loose at the AD board?


When you change your games are you changing the EEPROM on the motherboard too?  If not you will get an EEPROM error every time you swap the boards around as game (and MPU board) specific information is written to it.  If it doesn't match when the game boots it will give you an error message.  Normally you can clear it by turning the reset key, but sometimes that doesn't work and you have to clear it with a Keychip which it is telling you at the bottom of the screen. 

If you wish to swap game MPU's get another EEPROM and swap them together as a set.  Then it will keep all the credits, statistics, and will boot up without any errors.  I've found the easiest way of swapping EEPROMs out is to put the EEPROM in a socket, and then plug the EEPROM with a socket into the motherboard socket.  You can put it in and remove it with your fingers that way instead of having to pry it out with a screwdriver and bending/breaking pins.

[Springdk]

Ok thanks... what fixed it I do not know! Laptop to vga on back of monitor... took a minute to work. Then unplugged and put it back to normal... dropped it in and it worked

[Tilt]

Well let's hope is stays working!

[Stayouttadabunker]

I'm going to say an oxidized pin/s ?
Just taking the Molex connector off and putting it back onto the pins scraped enough oxidized junk off the pins to make a better contact.
He better get a can of CRC spray....

[Springdk]

Just to make sure... I ordered a keychip 40. This will fix my error? Sorry this is my first game king. Thanks

[Stayouttadabunker]

You better get Key instructions, learn it well before you use it or you'll be crying next week.
never....i repeat...never pull out an mpu or stick it in with the power on.

[Tilt]

Yes, Key 40 is what GK5.3P calls for. 

When you get it remove the base chip, install the keychip (pay attention to orientation, and be careful not to bend pins), install mpu, turn power on.  A menu will appear.  Answer YES to all three menu items.  When it completes, power down, remove keychip, install base chip, reinstall MPU, and power back up.  You'll get RAM error messages followed by EEPROM error messages, turn the reset key and follow the onscreen directions.  Then you'll be taken to the keychip menu where you can select the denominations and games you want available for each as well as the paytables for the games.  You can and should set credit limits and peripheral devices (hopper, coin acceptor, etc). There's some posts in this forum and probably some youtube videos too that you can read/watch to get familiar with the process while you wait for the keychip.

[Springdk]

Thank you I appreciate all the help. I have been reading everything I can find on it here and reading the IGT manual GAME SOFTWARE GAME KING PRODUCTS 5 Also watched some videos... I’m sure it will be a learning experience!