Door Open M and Main Battery Low / Call Attendant on my Triple Diamond Haywire

[codeman00]

My IGT Triple Diamond Haywire has been working perfect for almost 3 years now.  I turned it on a few days ago and I was unfortunately met with the following errors after bootup...


Call Attendant
Door Open M
Main Battery Low


Of course, the machine doesn't operate with these errors. Can someone help me?  My guess it that the low battery might be causing the other Door Open M error? What battery is low?  I remember having the Door Open M error when I first got the machine and someone here helped me run a wire to keep that door switch error from happening...and I hadn't seen it since.   I never removed the Green battery on the board for fear of something else happening. 

[codeman00]

I just typed in "main battery low" instead of "battery low" and unearthed a ton of threads where I didn't get any before.  I'll read through those and see if I can't help myself.


http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=6686.msg35905#msg35905

[Amechanic]

M Door open can come from a bad board. If you did not remove the green Varta you could have acid damage to your boards traces around and under that battery. Your low battery message is coming from the small round battery in the front corner of your board. It will need to be replaced before you can clear the low error. You will have to use the reset key to clear error message that will pop up with the new battery installed. Once you remove the green battery you will need toake sure the area is cleaned of any battery acid.

[codeman00]

M Door open can come from a bad board. If you did not remove the green Varta you could have acid damage to your boards traces around and under that battery. Your low battery message is coming from the small round battery in the front corner of your board. It will need to be replaced before you can clear the low error. You will have to use the reset key to clear error message that will pop up with the new battery installed. Once you remove the green battery you will need toake sure the area is cleaned of any battery acid.

Thanks Amechanic.  I found the thread above and have ordered another battery from Raz over ebay.  I'm not sure how I'm going to replace it...it seems like it's soldered on.  The green battery has a bit of corrosion on it for the first time but not anything excessive.  I'll remove it after I get the main battery replaced.  I hope the batteries come with instructions on what to do.  (see other thread)


http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=6686.20

[qbert]

The coin battery or holder is soldered to the MPU.
If you can't do it places like Batteries+ will soldier it in for you.
If you're not good at soldering I would replace the battery with a holder that way when it's time for replacement you can just pop a new coin battery in.

[rickhunter]

Remove the green battery ASAP since it has already started to leak.  You want to clean that as soon as possible to prevent any further damage.

[Amechanic]

Qbert is correct. If your not comfortable soldering, then take it to a battery store or maybe even an electronics store. The coin battery and holders the way to go.

[codeman00]

I'm going to wait to have the main battery replaced by our electronics lab techs at work.  No need for me to learn how to board solder on my own PCB. 


I removed the green battery as instructed.  In my opinion, the board looks solid even though there was a small bit of corrosion coming off the battery. Unfortunately, now I have a "Display's NETPLEX link is down" message.  There's no sign of the "Low battery" or "M Door Open" anymore. 


What is causing this NETPLEX error?

[codeman00]

Following up...I just noticed that this capacitor on the secondary (top) board is disconnected on one side.  I have no idea what this capacitor does...could it be the problem?  I'll have it fixed with the other board.

[codeman00]

Upon further inspection, the board might have a bit of damage?  I uploaded photos below (click to enlarge).  I see a place where the copper trace is showing and it's not covered by a green layer.  Is this an issue? Can this cause a problem?

[rokgpsman]

Where I worked the green coating over the copper board traces is called masking. As long as the copper trace is intact, not broken or cut, then it will be ok without the masking. In fact, some low-cost circuit boards are made without masking.

Sometimes the masking flakes or bubbles up and falls off the board. Or something could bump the board during handling or maintenance and rub the masking off. If you look at it closely and the copper trace is ok and there is no contamination on the board in that area then you can apply a little clear fingernail polish to seal it if you want to. But there probably isn't even a need to do that. The copper trace will carry the signal or whatever is on it without the masking present.

That broken lead on the large blue capacitor definitely needs repaired. The broken lead effectively removes the capacitor from whatever circuit it is supposed to be in. A capacitor that large is probably a filter cap on one of the voltage lines, like the +5v or +12v power line but really it could be anything without looking at a schematic drawing.


 

[codeman00]

Thanks rokgpsman. 


The copper trace looks perfect as far as I can tell.  Even though my battery corroded slightly it was nothing like some of the photos that I've seen on this site. I think I'm good.  I used some of the electronics cleaner that I got at the auto parts store and the board looks fine.  I added a bit of nail polish over the bare trace and it's good too.


I'm back to work in a few days...I'll get the new main battery soldered in and the capacitor fixed....and I'll report back. Thanks for all of the help.

[codeman00]

One of the techs at work replaced my battery with a the replaceable watch battery holder that I bought.  After watching him remove the old solder and solder the new one in, I'm pretty confident that I could do that myself  .  He also fixed the capacitor too which probably would have taken me a bit more time.


After putting the main board back in, I had to reset the machine not once but twice (I found out in another thread that sometimes it has to be reset a few times).  The procedure is here in case someone needs it and they don't have to go looking for it elsewhere.  Reset Procedure:  Open the main door, alarm will sound, turn jackpot reset key 3 times, hold reset button in on the MPU by the LED lights for 3 seconds and close the door.
All errors (M Door, Netplex, and Low Battery) are gone and the machine works perfectly now!  Thank you everyone for the help!  Much appreciated.