Suddenly, all optics stopped reporting as "open"

[marcbollinger]

SAVP 3.0 Platform.
Out of the blue, all of the optics seemed to have stopped reporting broken connections. For example, I can open the bottom door, top screen, cpu box, cash box and still play.

Not letters show up in the top-right showing broken connections.

Anybody ever seen this before? I tried replacing one of the optics with a known good one (the wire looked a little suspect), but no result.
This is a problem because I can't use the eKey any longer - putting the eKey in the USB slot just says, "Out of Service".

Much appreciated,Marc

[rickhunter]

Yes, had that happen to me one day while I was trying to add a game.  No switches would report open or close.  I booted machine with ekey and diagnostic and none of the switches responded.  I switched MPU's and that fixed it, but then I put the old mpu back and it was working as well.  So something when moving back and forth fixed it, I just haven't been able to reproduce it again.

Have you tried booting with diagnostic key and ekey to see if the switches will respond on yours?

[marcbollinger]

Yes, had that happen to me one day while I was trying to add a game.  No switches would report open or close.  I booted machine with ekey and diagnostic and none of the switches responded.  I switched MPU's and that fixed it, but then I put the old mpu back and it was working as well.  So something when moving back and forth fixed it, I just haven't been able to reproduce it again.

Have you tried booting with diagnostic key and ekey to see if the switches will respond on yours?

My diagnostic key is hosed, need to burn another one, but don’t have an image handy.


Yeah I’m wondering if something just got dislodged. My next step was the pull everything out, brain box, etc. and reconnect all wires and molex connectors.


Thanks for the tip!

[rickhunter]

The grey ribbon cable that goes from the backplane to the pci board is responsible for the switches (among other things).  If there's a short on this cable, you will have switch issues.  Make sure the cable has a good connection on both ends and there is no damage to the ribbon cable itself.

[marcbollinger]

The grey ribbon cable that goes from the backplane to the pci board is responsible for the switches (among other things).  If there's a short on this cable, you will have switch issues.  Make sure the cable has a good connection on both ends and there is no damage to the ribbon cable itself.

Awesome, thanks Rick. I’ll take a look at it tomorrow. Much appreciated.

[marcbollinger]

The grey ribbon cable that goes from the backplane to the pci board is responsible for the switches (among other things).  If there's a short on this cable, you will have switch issues.  Make sure the cable has a good connection on both ends and there is no damage to the ribbon cable itself.

I pulled the ribbon cable out, inspected it and did see some fraying - mostly around where it circles the brain box in the front - I think it's been catching a sharp edge.


I put the cable back in, and now everything is working correctly again. Still going to get a new cable as that fraying was very suspect.


Appreciate the help!