Hangs at "Testing Memory"

[modessitt]

Got an S2000 here that seems to be missing the sound SIMM.  Customer says it was playing after they bought it while hitting "Max Bet", but when they hit "Bet One Credit" and pulled the handle it reset and now won't boot.


I turn it on and get "Testing Display" followed by "Please Wait...Testing Memory" and it just sits like that forever.  I've let it sit for two hours with no change.


I tested the MPU in another game and it does the same thing, so it's specific to this MPU.  I've reseated or pushed down all the socketed chips with no change.  Held the white button down on bootup. No corrosion seen.  Batteries have good voltage.


The only thing I might have left to try is a clear, unless someone has a bright idea.  Maybe I'll try swapping chips from another board...


EDIT:  Adding a pic of the MPU.  Says Model 1952-0:

[modessitt]

Interesting:

I swapped the chips from U44, U19, & U46 to another board to verify they weren't the problem and it booted past  "Please Wait... Testing Memory" to giving an alarm and saying "RAM Error".

Then I put the chips from the other board to this one and it did the same thing.

AHA! So I figured it must be a memory corruption issue and changing the chips got me past that point and now I should be able to get the same result with the original chips, do a Clear, and be good to go.

But - when I put the original chips back on this board, it does the same thing again: "Please Wait... Testing Memory" and hangs...

[CVslots]

I would suspect the software if you have Cleared the machine and it still hangs. If you want to further isolate what chip is doing it, swap the SGs with known goods, and see what happens. Could have had a little power surge or something, who knows, or maybe chip just died.

[modessitt]

Okay, I did a Clear 97 but only got the top light to go Amber, not the top 2.


But I went ahead and tried completing the Clear procedure and I get through the initial boot to "open door".  I do that and get the alarm, turn the key past that to the next boot and it just says "Eeprom Error" instead of the expected "Call Attendant".  Could this be because I'm doing this in a different machine than it came from?  Will I have to take it back to the original machine to complete the Clear and Key setups?  Or should I just go on to the Key 31 configs?

[CVslots]

Just turn the jackpot key to clear the EEPROM ERROR. It's normal since its a different machine.


You may need to repeat the Clear. Some people do a Clear 2-3 times before removing the Clear chip. Some stubborn stuff just doesn't always clear on the first go.

[modessitt]

Tried turning the key and it kept coming back to EEprom Error.

And i left the Clr97 in and tried it 4 times all with just the top led lit. Perhaps the other is bad.

[brianfink]

I know I have had this problem before and ended up just swapping the board. I haven't gotten around to trying to figure out exactly what the problem was yet, but I know it wasn't the software in my case.

I suspect the eeprom on the board is the problem.

[cowboygames]

I've got a 504 that did the same thing but swapping ram chips would take care of it for a while. I actually put a different pair in and it worked for about 6 months before failing completely. I haven't really made an effort to try and figure it out because I had a spare board.

[rickhunter]

Since it's a 50x series board, it would be a good idea to remove the green battery to avoid any future corrosion issues due to it.

[modessitt]

Which specific chips are considered the EEPROM or RAM chips?

[foster]

On 50x boards the RAM chips are the 2 chips in sockets next to the SG chips.
They could be regular DIP package chips or Surface Mount Devices on DIP adapter boards.

[RB]

These are the RAM chips. Yours are black Aries (different manufacturer but same purpose). The first amber light indicates Ram clear, the second indicates E2 clear on the motherboard after which you will have to key chip the machine & set it all up again. A clear 97 or 224 should give you both amber lights. A 96 or 223 will give you only 1 amber.

[modessitt]

I have a 97 but it only gave one light. Used it on a different board and got both lights.

[rickhunter]

Which specific chips are considered the EEPROM or RAM chips?

The ram chips are as RB posted.  The EEPROM is on the motherboard backplane. It is the little square 8 pin chip, sometimes on a socket or soldered.  It is the ONLY square little chip on the motherboard.

[foster]

I have not seen one S2000 motherboard with the Serial EEPROM soldered in place.
It is always in a socket.
It is a 24C16

[rickhunter]

You are right, it's the 044 mainboard that I have that is soldered.  All my S2000's in use and my spares are socketed.

[modessitt]

Okay - finally had time to get back on this.

This board continues to only show one led on clears (like is mentioned in another unresolved thread that has the same issue). After the clear, I can go through all the steps up to the point where I'm supposed to get the "Call Attendant/Machine Type Mismatch" message. Instead I just get the "Call Attendant" and when I open the door I get the "EEPROM Error" loop again - over and over.

I'm testing this board in another machine that WAS booting but giving me a "Open MB Door" error, but now that board also gives me the "EEPROM Error", as does a third board that is known working. I've checked that it's seating fully.

Pulled the EEPROM from the backplane and put it back in.

After that, I got one board to boot and play, one gave the EEPROM Error, and one won't get past the "Close The Door" even though the other two do (meaning the door switch is fine). But then the working board gave the EEPROM Error again, so it's most likely a connection issues to the backplane.  I might have to pull it and check it for dirty connectors or cold solder.

[cowboygames]

You might try replacing the motherboard. We had another thread recently where a bad motherboard was throwing meter errors. He had loose female pins in the sockets on the board. They had just been spread apart to much and wouldn't make good contact