Bally Alpha won't POST after battery swap

[cobra617]

Hi all,
I powered up my Bally Alpha video slot. It booted into an error to call attendant. I checked errors and one of them was NVRAM battery 2 low.

I went ahead and pulled the MPU and replaced battery 2. (I only had 1 spare, otherwise, I would have done both).

After the battery swap, the system won't even POST. I just get a buzzing from the little piezo speaker just below the batteries. The lights ATX power (green) and drive active (red) lights come on and the screen shows waiting for input signal.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

[sixcardmark]

You need to clear and reinstall the game after a battery change.  I would change them all.

[cobra617]

Unfortunately, I can't clear. It won't even power on. I'll replace the other batteries on Monday (ordered new ones from Amazon). So, I'll do the 2 on the MPU and the 1 on that board that the MPU plugs into.

Thanks

[rickhunter]

remove both mpu batteries and see if the machine will at least post.  I've had issues sometimes when replacing batteries that all of a sudden the thing hangs up, probably due to cmos memory corruption.  Removing both batteries causes the system to re-init the cmos to default.

[Sunrise Side]

Could also be the particular OS that is used . Best to change the rest of the batteries including the one on the backplane.

[rickhunter]

Wrong OS does not keep the mpu from POST, which is Power On Self Test.  After POST, the screen display the the bios information etc, way before you even begin to boot off the CF.

[cobra617]

Thanks. I will replace all of the batteries tomorrow when the new batteries arrive.

[hemiroid]

I just get a buzzing from the little piezo speaker just below the batteries.

Check out this post to see if any info helps with the buzz...
http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=25522.msg134857#msg134857

[cobra617]

I just get a buzzing from the little piezo speaker just below the batteries.

Check out this post to see if any info helps with the buzz...
http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=25522.msg134857#msg134857

Awesome. Thank you, sounds exactly like my issue.

I was able to flip the rocker switch on the MPU which allows me to boot. Woo-hoo. I can actually live with it like this. I'll see if I want to go down the path discussed on that thread.

[hemiroid]

Awesome. Thank you, sounds exactly like my issue.
I was able to flip the rocker switch on the MPU which allows me to boot. Woo-hoo. I can actually live with it like this. I'll see if I want to go down the path discussed on that thread.

You want to replace all 3 batteries, clear and set your cabinet up. The advice you have been given here is good advice. Don't just do half the job...

[cobra617]

I'll try to track those parts down. It looks like I need updated BIOS, OS and clear cards to truly fix it. Specifically 317 OS to go with 807 BIOS and 312 Clear

Thanks.

[cobra617]

Thanks to the folks that helped got the problem fixed.

To summarize:
So after replacing an MPU battery, my MPU wouldn't even POST. (power up) It would just buzz. I found the flipping the tiny switch on the MPU would allow it to boot.

To permanently fix this I was able to get 317 OS to go with 807 BIOS and 312 Clear. Here is what I did to permanently to fix this:
- Replaced all batteries (including backplane) as I had only replaced 1 before.
- Booted and cleared using my previous clear card
- Booted old O/S (did this to verify that the battery swap didn't hurt anything)
- Shut down and removed MPU
- Removed existing BIOS chip
- Installed new BIOS chip
- Popped game card and installed new clear card (312)
- Booted and Cleared
- Installed new O/S (317) and popped in Game card
- Booted and went through setup.

Voila...My Bettor TiTO works fine and game is back to full functionality

[Slots4me]