No Video - IGT I-Game? Maybe Game King?

[TehPhreak]

Long time reader, first time poster. Thank you in advance.

I have an IGT Cleopatra machine. Circa 2003 or so. Model number is 96432700. I have no idea beyond that. It has a 19" screen LCD screen. I have attached a photo.

Machine has run great for many years, even with the TiTo and ticket printer. I have two different MPU boards (one for Cleo, one for MultiGame). I always just swap out the personality chip at U4 on the mainboard backplane, keychip (Key 40) and I can switch between the two.

Been a while since I fired it up, so I changed both batteries on both of the MPU's (coin type) with fresh ones and re-seated all the chips to be sure. Turn it on, and no video. no test colors, nada. With either MPU.

All amber lights on the MPU. Oddly, right after powering up it will make the "tilt" noise and that goes away when I turn the attendant key but still nothing on-screen. Normally I would not see that until after the full screen color test (red, green, blue, yellow, purple, etc.) The light is on the board atop the LCD, but pressing the menu, sel, up, down or auto scale buttons do nothing.

In the past, I thought I had done some troubleshooting by running a standard VGA cable out of the video card behind the screen (Kortek KT-LS17E8)and I would get a signal to the external monitor. Nothing. Verified I was getting 12VDC to the video card.I can faintly see the backlight coming on the monitor but its hard to tell.

My question is does this sound like a video card issue, some other issue or is it perhaps an inverter issue? I am leaning away from inverter because I cannot get a signal to an external monitor (which I think I should be able to do, right?)

 

[Tilt]

It's a 17" monitor.  The reason you're hearing the alarm is because after you change the battery you'll get a RAM error message, but you can't see it because the monitor isn't working.  Just FYI, you don't need to change them until the machine tells you "Main Battery Low".   To display the machines video on an external monitor you'd need to connect the external monitor to the cable that plugs into the back of your LCD.  The connector on the A/D board on your LCD is a input, not an output. You won't get anything if you plug the external monitor into it.  If you have a laptop with a VGA output it's easy to connect the laptop up to the machines monitor and see if a signal is displayed or not.  Inverter boards are a pretty common failure item on these monitors.  My bet would be on it being bad.

[TehPhreak]

I think perhaps this picture would give a little better idea of what I am dealing with.
The only VGA connector I have is the one coming out of the cabinet and I have no way to send a signal to the monitor for testing...

There is another connector on that board that is a male DB15. What is that for? Is this just an A/D converter? If that was the case, perhaps I can give it some input from a male-male DB15

[TehPhreak]

Well, another update. Found a 15-pin gender bender and hooked the cable coming from the cabinet and it (sorta) worked.

That board behind the monitor must just be an A/D converter.

Getting a display now, but a constant RAM error that will not go away. But that is another matter.....

I guess I will have to wait until the room is pitch black and turn the machine on to see if the LCD backlight is working. At that point, I could probably say its the A/D board, right?

Touch screen is working, but its a real challenge to coordinate your fingers to an external monitor... LOL

[Tilt]

Yes, the board in your picture is the A/D board.  The DVI and other VGA connector are probably additional monitor inputs would be my guess.  I doubt the A/D board is bad, I think you'll find that the inverter board is based on my experience working with them. 

When the alarm goes off and the machine shows RAM error turn the jackpot reset key on the side of the machines a few times and follow the instructions on the screen.  When it clears and the game boots you'll get a message saying Options verification required.  Touch the OK box and it should go away and the machine will be ready for play.

[TehPhreak]

Thanks everybody. I am going to try and find an inverter.

Just FYI, I was experimenting doing further testing and the DVI connector on that board is another input, just like the female DB15 VGA.. the third male DB15 is an output.. plugged an external monitor into it and it worked just fine, while the main input from the machine was plugged into where it normally goes..

[TehPhreak]

Inverter fixed the issue... Now two differnet MPU's with different games showing just scrambled video. Another topic I guess.

[Tilt]

Glad the monitor is working again.  Feel free to start another topic for the other problems.  Please post pics of the scrambled video if you do.