Bally 5500 weird error code? help.....

[Mr.T]

Hello,   I am new to this board, but see there are a lot of knowledgeable hobbyist here.  I'm hoping someone can assist me....  I'm at a loss.I have a Bally 5500 and I am getting an error message .2 P.d. then a pause, then 1.42 C.O.L.can anyone assist?   what does this mean, how do I reset/fix?Thank you

[Sunrise Side]

You may be in payout mode. Try insert coins or bills and see if it will play. If it does not accept money open the main door and puts some coins in the hopper and close the door. It may payout coins to the cointray if the cashout did not finish the payoff. It may not had enough coins in the hopper to finish the cashout.

[rokgpsman]

Welcome to NLG   

Those messages you're seeing may just be advisory messages, not error messages, Bally calls them "Credit Collect" messages. The COL stands for "Collected" and the "Pd" means "Paid".  Also, the lit decimal points indicate something has happened recently, such as a system reset, main door opened or closed, a malfunction during reel spin, a bill transaction activity. If your machine works ok otherwise then this is just the machine letting you know what's going on. As Sunrise said it may be needing you to refill the hopper so it can finish a payout. If you don't like how the machine does the hopper payouts you may be able to change some settings so your machine handles it differently when you get a winning spin.

The decimal points are a separate messaging method. With the decimal points lit at the same time as a credit collect message it can look weird. As you play the game watch the WIN PAID display for the decimal points to light and unlight as different events happen. It's covered in the Bally 5500 manual.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

[Mr.T]

Thank you for your welcome and your replies....


After reading your posts I see that the machine is giving me a notification rather than an error message; however I can not get the game to play?  It does not allow coin but does work on test credits.  I have not yet tried the bill validator, since I do not have any bills (LOL, debit card man here...)


Any suggestions?


Thanks

[rokgpsman]

I'm not a Bally expert, other here know far more, they will probably add their ideas and suggestions soon. In the meantime if you can give more info it will likely help. Is the machine new to you and it was like this when you got it, or have you had it a while and it was working fine until this happened?

If it is new to you then anything is possible from what the person that had it before you. So it might be good to post a few pictures of the machine, showing the coin acceptor inside the main door would be a good start since you are having coin acceptance problems. Someone might see something obvious. Photos are very helpful since it is kinda hard to imagine what your machine situation is from words alone.

Also, we don't know your experience level, would be a waste of time to tell you to check things you've already checked. But if you don't know much about it that's ok too, we can walk you thru the basics. There are plenty of parts available for the Bally 5500 machines if that is what's needed. So just let us know what you've done, what the machine does and doesn't do when you turn it on. The interior lights should come on, the reels should spin and then stop, that's all part of the initialization after power-up. Then when you insert a coin that matches the coin the machine is setup for (quarter is typical) the coin should drop into the hopper inside and the machine should give you one play credit.

That is good that it will play using the test credits, that indicates most of the machine is working, you probably need to concentrate on the coin acceptance part of the machine. Inside the main door is a mechanism called the coin acceptor or the coin comparitor. Please take a photo of that area and post it here in a message.

Below is an example of a coin acceptance device, yours is probably similar to this:

[Mr.T]

Hi, I am typically a pinball hobbyist, but I recently acquired a Bally 5500 Plum Crazy machine.  I do understand most parts of the machine, but just not how to clear the PD .2  COL 1.42 code so that it will accept credits, and coins.


thanks

[Mr.T]

I have had the machine for about 4 months now without issue.  my son told me the other day that the machine wasn't working right?  I investigated and the machine was in the middle of a payout.  he also likely turned the machine off during payout since there were 200 credits in it.  now is says Pd. .2 and COL. 1.42.   It won't accept credits or coins, and I have not yet tried bills.  I does accept technician credits by pushing the coin mech switch button.  and after I add coin mech credits, and hit spin, the reels still work.


Any help would be appreciated.   thanks

[rokgpsman]

Does the hopper have plenty of coins in it, so the machine can finish the payout if that is what it is needing to do?

[Mr.T]

yes, and the payout did finish... I watched it count down to zero.   after it paid out, the message started.

[rokgpsman]

Have you read reply#4 above?

[Mr.T]

Here are some pictures of my machine plus the coin comparator.

[rokgpsman]

It looks like maybe you have a gaming token installed in your coin comparitor, is that right? Whatever coin or token is installed in the coin comparitor is called the "sample coin" and the machine will then only accept the same type of coin or token. Are you aware of this and when you play the machine do you use the same coins or tokens as what is installed in the coin comparitor?

[Mr.T]

yes, I only use tokens since it is illegal to use currency in my location/area.   I use the same type of tokens as my sample.


I even tried to reset the game with the reset key after jackpot... but to no avail.

[Mr.T]

here are the messages from the machine

[rokgpsman]

yes, I only use tokens since it is illegal to use currency in my location/area.   I use the same type of tokens as my sample.

I even tried to reset the game with the reset key after jackpot... but to no avail.

ok, just wanted to make sure, sometimes people try to use a different coin from what is in the comparitor. Your hopper does have tokens in it? Have you checked all fuses, maybe one blew during the payout when the problem first happened? Also, have you checked the hopper, make sure the wheel spins freely, no tokens jammed someplace causing the hopper to not work? Is there a fuse on the hopper itself, like maybe on a hopper board or someplace? Do you know how to get into the selftest menu or procedure and see if there are any faults?


 

[Mr.T]

Have not checked the fuses.... I can do this but it seems odd that everything else works but I have the message due to fuse?   But I will check.  Also, I will see if there is a fuse on the hopper.   


I tested the hopper with the hopper test buttons, and it works fine.


I do not know how to enter the self test mode/menu.


Is there a way to reset the entire game without destroying the game?
thanks

[rokgpsman]

I'll try to look thru the manual to see what info there is. I agree that since you can press the test coin button and play a test spin that the fuses are ok, but I don't know if there is a hopper problem like a bad hopper fuse or jammed hopper.

I think a clue is that your display show a decimal point lit in the 3rd position, that means a malfunction happened while the reels were spinning. It says that when that happens the machine suspends the game and won't go back to normal until the malfunction is fixed. That would explain why you can't get it to play when you insert more tokens. I'll look to see if there is a way to reset the machine and start fresh. In the mean time hopefully someone familiar with the Bally 5500 that recognizes what's going on will chime in. You may need to get into the test procedure menu, did you get a manual or any instructions with the machine?

[Mr.T]

what may have also happened, is my son might have turned the machine off in mid-reel spin? or payout?   He is the one who alerted me to the issue, after he tried to play it.

[rokgpsman]

what may have also happened, is my son might have turned the machine off in mid-reel spin? or payout?   He is the one who alerted me to the issue, after he tried to play it.

If so that may have induced the problem, computers don't like getting switched off suddenly like that but there should be a way to easily reset it or clear the fault. 

[rokgpsman]

I misread one of your photos, thought it was showing that the 3rd decimal point was lit. So disregard my previous comment about the 3rd decimal point indicating a malfunction during the reels spinning.