Dammit...I killed my X-Files

Fatsquatch

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Well, maybe not "killed" exactly, but it seems pretty bad:



So, I was replacing a G.I. bulb around the filing cabinet (from underneath), and I let the bulb housing get away from me, touching something around the filing cabinet's optical boards and causing a spark. (Yes, the machine was on; lesson learned.)

After that incident, the game will no longer boot up. In fact, when powering on, it makes no sounds whatsoever, and the DMD doesn't show a thing. On the I/O Power Driver board, the L204 LED is blinking, and the G.I. Relay is clicking in unison. (The playfield lights also flash in unison.) The other 4 LEDs on the board (L203, L200, L202 and L201) light up solidly, except for L202 which dims a little when the G.I. Relay clicks.

On the CPU/Sound board, the L201 (+5v) LED is lit solidly, but the L200 LED is dead.

I have pulled every fuse in the game to check for continuity, and they all check out fine.

I am bummed out. What a silly little mistake... :(
 
hmmm wow! I have never seen anything like that before. You where just changing a light buib?

I have learned too never change a light builb with the machine on you could blow a fuse.
 
Wow that sucks and I learned that lesson too myself doing some light socket testing using alligator clips. I had a few bulbs which I replaced but still wasn't lighting up so I was told it was probably the socket base which needed to be replaced. In the end I was bummed out when all the GI lights went out and luckily it turns out to be a fuse.
 
Man, I never seen a machine do that before have you tried to reseat the connectors to the boards,display?
 
Check out your 12vdc....which go to the optics and also to your display. Does your game have a coin door interlock switch and was it on (closed) when you were changing the lamp?
 
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I don't have any experience repairing Whitestar systems, but I'm just thinking out loud about what I'd check first. Have you checked the output from the power supply to be sure that you are getting proper voltages to the other boards? The best case scenario would be something on the power supply was damaged and the game can't boot because it isn't getting the power it needs. But that is probably wishful thinking and unlikely seeing as how the relay is triggering and the LEDs are lighting up.

Next I'd try isolating the power driver board by removing connectors coming from the playfield, etc. and see what its behavior is.

Then isolate the CPU/Sound board from the power driver board, see if it boots by itself.
 
Man, I never seen a machine do that before have you tried to reseat the connectors to the boards,display?

Yeah, I gave that a whirl, but to no avail.


cbuschief said:
Check out your 12vdc....which go to the optics and also to your display.

Will do.


cbuschief said:
Does your game have a coin door interlock switch and was it on (closed) when you were changing the lamp?

Yes it does, and the coin door was closed when the short happened.


stangbat: I haven't tried any of that yet, but will. Thx.
 
I powered the game up to have another go at it, and noticed that there weren't as many lights on the playfield lighting up every time the relay clicked. I had a look at the I/O Power Driver board and noticed that the "L202" (+18v) LED was no longer lit up. (It HAD been lit up previously, and would flicker a little bit every time the relay clicked.) I checked the 18v fuse (which the manual indicates is for "Controlled Lamps") at location F22 on the I/O Power Driver board, and sure enough it was bad.

I'd like to think the fuse at F22 is the whole problem, and that even though it tested out fine last night with the multimeter, it was still somehow damaged -- causing the entirety of the problems I'm having. (I'm doubtful such a scenario is even possible.)

So now, on top of the original problem, maybe I have a new issue with something causing the fuse at F22 to blow? :(

I'm gonna have to go buy some fuses...
 
Update

Here's a brilliant update on my X-Files situation...

I ended up having to take the machine to my tech, and here's what he found:

DMD = Dead
DMD Driver = Dead, but repaired
CPU Board = Dead and "unrepairable".

With the work he's already done, plus a new DMD and new CPU board that he has in stock, I'm looking at a little over $600 in repair costs. I told him to wait on me to make a decision before doing anything else. (I'm thinking I may just 60-in-1 that bitch.)

Clearly, when I make a mistake and blow shit up, I do it REALLY WELL.
 
Try to find out exactly what "Dead and unrepairable" means. There's not much that isn't repairable. His "unrepairable" could simple mean "I just don't want to mess with this anymore."
 
Here's a brilliant update on my X-Files situation...

I ended up having to take the machine to my tech, and here's what he found:

DMD = Dead
DMD Driver = Dead, but repaired
CPU Board = Dead and "unrepairable".

With the work he's already done, plus a new DMD and new CPU board that he has in stock, I'm looking at a little over $600 in repair costs. I told him to wait on me to make a decision before doing anything else. (I'm thinking I may just 60-in-1 that bitch.)

Clearly, when I make a mistake and blow shit up, I do it REALLY WELL.

I don;t know your tech and I mean absolutely no disrespect here, but while it may be possible I find it highly unlikely that your DMD is dead. I also find it hard to believe that you shorting a bulb would knock out the DMD driver board either.
I would agree about the CPu board being faulty but once again unrepairable to me means he likely is incapable of fixing it. That error on the CPU is VERY common and when it happens there's typically no fix posted about it. Call Sterns tech support. Seriously, this doesn't seem quite right.
 
Try to find out exactly what "Dead and unrepairable" means. There's not much that isn't repairable. His "unrepairable" could simple mean "I just don't want to mess with this anymore."

I think that's really what he was saying, as it seems the board got completely hosed. He said several chips on the board needed to be replaced, and at $20 to $30 each, that would get rather costly between parts and labor.

He's offered to give me some trade-in credit on my bad board for the brand new board he has in-stock. The new board will cost me $350.
 
I don;t know your tech and I mean absolutely no disrespect here, but while it may be possible I find it highly unlikely that your DMD is dead.

After the short incident, the DMD would show a few dots when the game was first powered on (for a couple of seconds), but then it would go dark.

He put his new CPU board in the game and said it played fine, but that even with the DMD driver board repaired, the DMD showed nothing.

This whole thing just sucks. :(
 
I think that's really what he was saying, as it seems the board got completely hosed. He said several chips on the board needed to be replaced, and at $20 to $30 each, that would get rather costly between parts and labor.

He's offered to give me some trade-in credit on my bad board for the brand new board he has in-stock. The new board will cost me $350.

Trying to choose my wording carefully here. So, I'd like to define exactly how many "several chips" actually means.
If it was lets say 5 chips @ $30 a piece it'd be $150 + now add an hour labor.
I am not a whitestar guru by any stretch of the imagination but I also find it tough to believe one chip would cost $20-$30.
Egads man - I feel so bad for you and your situation. My gut feeling is there's some hefty greed going on here. If your board trade in is still costing you $350 in cash .... well I think that's a whole lot unreasonable. Is this tech by chance someone on RGP?
 
Hey Fatsquatch. I contacted you when I had a similar problem happen with my Whitestar LOTR. I ended out frying the PAL chip on the CPU board. Had that replaced and the game was running fine. Problem is that when pushing the game back into place, I caused the same issue. My tech thinks a spike is happening on the 5 VDC line. I'm dropping it off to him again next week, with a handful of PAL chips, to hopefully trace down why this is happening. You can read about my game here http://www.villagebbs.com/forum/index.php/topic,8159.0.html

I will keep you updated. Good luck with the game.
 
Do you still have the game in your possession? If so check all the fuse current and voltage ratings.

The ONLY way that you could do that much damage would be if there was a fuse that was replaced with a much higher amperage value.

I think you are being bs'ed by your "tech"...
 
Egads man - I feel so bad for you and your situation. My gut feeling is there's some hefty greed going on here. If your board trade in is still costing you $350 in cash .... well I think that's a whole lot unreasonable. Is this tech by chance someone on RGP?

He's worked on a couple of my machines before and I've never felt like I was being played, so I'm not inclined to think that's going on now. But, it's one of those things where I don't know enough to feel great about the situation. All I know for sure, is that it's gonna be too difficult to pony up that kind of cash on a pin repair right now.

I'm just gonna have to go pick up the thing and deal with it later on down the road.

(If he's on RGP, I don't know about it.)
 
Sorry for your loss. :(
I would send that MPU to coinopcauldron or ksarcade and see what they say. Yeah its a $35 charge if they can't fix it but then again, it might be repaired for a lot cheaper than $350. Rhetorical Q: Why would he want the old board if it was unrepairable?
 
Here's a brilliant update on my X-Files situation...

I ended up having to take the machine to my tech, and here's what he found:

DMD = Dead
DMD Driver = Dead, but repaired
CPU Board = Dead and "unrepairable".

With the work he's already done, plus a new DMD and new CPU board that he has in stock, I'm looking at a little over $600 in repair costs. I told him to wait on me to make a decision before doing anything else. (I'm thinking I may just 60-in-1 that bitch.)

Clearly, when I make a mistake and blow shit up, I do it REALLY WELL.



hell, we may be related...
 
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