2 new vision machines with probable board issues

[Phan000]

Picked up a pair of non working machines today.


The cleopatra one has a ram error, and a waiting message on the top display.
Some corrosion around varta, may be ruined.


When I used clear, I get stuck at close main door step.  Tested on working machine, same message.




The other machine has no lights on board, nothing on display.  When I swapped it with the ram
Error board, top display was still blank.


Thinking both boards bad & possibly one defective top display?


I could use some help identifying the boards if they need replaced.


The cleopatra has the blue battery,  the Mata machine has the green battery.




Thanks!

[lookes]

First board looks quite salvageable. Game over on the bottom one tho.

[Stayouttadabunker]

You have a LOT of acidic decomposition. 


Remove the chips...note which direction they are removed...they will go back in the same exact direction later.

Remove the Varta batteries (That big blue one and that green one) immediately...you can snip them off.

Wash the board in that area with a toothbrush and vinegar mixed with some water.

Afterwards, rinse with clear water and blow dry.

Use compressed air to remove any water hidden in locations you cannot see.

You MAY save this board.

The acid has eaten at the traces....hopefully NOT YET all the way thru!!

If they have, then you will get those errors you've seen.

Under a microscope, you MAY find the broken traces and solder some repair wire to rejoin them.

This ALL depends on your soldering skills.

[sixcardmark]

Better check the batteries on those top monitors too.

[Phan000]

Here is a closer look at the blue varta.


Might be a goner.


My soldering skills are pretty mediocre, so probably better off replacing if there is any doubt.


What # boards are these?  Anyone have a pair for sale?


Where is the battery in the top unit?


Thanks for all the input!

[Stayouttadabunker]

You're using either what everyone calls an IGT S2000 502 MPU or a 504 MPU....ask for those ones.

[lookes]

502's will work fine for those. You have a 502 and a 501.

[Phan000]

Great, thanks for the info.  I’ll pull the batteries from both and see if the blue battery board be recovered.


Looking at the EPROMs,  will lcd display show bonus features or just a welcome screen?


Also,  if there is any battery removal needed in the lcd area, please let me know.


Thanks!

[Stayouttadabunker]

Different games display different things up there display during game play/ attract mode and bonus rounds.

Up in the LCD computer, just that battery needs to be looked at really.

Hoping your lcd comes on, if not, then probably just a blown ballast....readily available online.

[Phan000]

I pulled the battery and did a small amount of cleaning.


Don’t see any obvious damage, but the door close issue did not improve.  Tested again on known working machine, same result.

[Stayouttadabunker]

Stick a multimeter on these highlighted traces and see if you have continuity.
I don't even see any metal in the black tracks....could be completely eaten away.
You have to use a microscope to see how badly they're gone.
You have to remove that red thing ( rhymes with thyroid lol) and the two black things....lol
I'm tired, it;'s late, I can't remember what they are but there's traces running under those I'm pretty you could NOT clean.
Click on photo to enlarge if needed...>>>

[Phan000]

Looks like this board is shot as well.


Stayouttadabunker, you mentioned a ballast for the top display.  How do you replace this?


Thanks.

[Stayouttadabunker]

Welll...you don't need to replace the invertor ballast it if the LCD comes on right?
It's on the left hand side when looking with the back cover off....behind the fan.

The LCD should come on even if the machine's MPU is shot...it's separate power from machine's backplane.

or

You can take it out, disconnect the three connectors plugged into the back of the LCD computer unit, remove the back cover and just plug in any desktop computer power supply's 4-pin harness power connector to start it up to check if it's okay....it's white by the way.

You can clearly see inside on the LCD circuit board where the large 4-pin connector is.

There's a 2-pin jumper behind the ram memory sticks that should be jumped so you can see what comes up (POST) on the computer LCD screen as it BOOTS up....it's just an old Windows operating system....I mean...really old but made only to play these Vision games.

[Phan000]

On one lcd it states “initializing please wait”.  Thinking this one is good?


The other is blank.  A dim flash when turned on, but nothing else.  There seems to be power to that part as the cooling fan runs and the flash on the lcd.


This is with the same main board swapped between both machines.

[Stayouttadabunker]

If I were you, really...I would sell the non-working one...cut your losses.
Use the money to buy parts for this one.
There's no way you can fix two machines in one post.
But it's too confusing to talk about trying to fix two machines with different problems.

Another option of course, is to keep the non-lit machine for parts you're going to need to get one machine going.
Once you learn a lot more about your machine, then you can try to fix the other one if you want.

Let's concentrate on the ONE machine with the working topbox LCD unit.
Does it finish the initialization and move to the next video graphic?

[Phan000]

Sounds good.


The machine with the working display goes through boot up process when jumping the post.


Bios loads, and everything seems fine, just hangs eventually at “initializing please wait”.


Waiting on new mpu, as this one seems unfixable.  Will see if anything on the top changes once the main board is operational.


I got the second machine as a parts machine and it was priced accordingly.  Still hoping to fix it, but I’ll wait till the first one is done.

[Stayouttadabunker]

It looks like your chips for Cleo are using a single line VFD display.
If you install SG380's and Version VS011GX1 chips, your VFD will display 2 rows plus the credits dollar amount.

Snip off that blue Varta battery asap...you don't need it for home use.
Cut the single tab with a pair of sharp pointed pliers then rock the battery back and forth till the double tabs break off.

[Phan000]

I got rid of both of those varta batteries, but boards are shot.


What is the part ID for the vision LCD inverter ballast?

[Stayouttadabunker]

There are several instances and replies right here on NLG about the Vision LCD inverter ballast.
Utilize the search dialog box on top of the appropriate forum topic.

[therockinelvis]

LS520 invertor