Devils Dare Startup Problem

cpyne

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Hi,

I'm having a problem with my Devils Dare not starting. When I turn it on, everything will come on normally for a second or two and then the displays will suddenly go blank and coins switches and start switch won't respond at all. Sometimes the displays will also go to a bright, locked on digit in a few of the positions. If I hit the coin switch during this initial 2 seconds, it coins up fine. If I then try turning it off/on again, it will go immediately to the locked up condition and skip the initial 2 normal seconds. If I then unplug the power to the CPU, the next power on will have the initial normal two seconds. Voltages on the power supply seem ok and at least initial voltage checks on the CPU board seem ok. I've tried it with every combination of connectors unplugged, but the behavior is the same.

Does anyone have any suggestions what could be wrong here?

Thanks
Charlie
 
Hi,

I've tried it with every combination of connectors unplugged, but the behavior is the same.

Does anyone have any suggestions what could be wrong here?

Thanks
Charlie

The biggest problem is it is a Gottlieb, I know that don't help.

It is never a good idea to unplug stuff and fire up a Gottlieb.

Is there any signs of damage around the battery?

A problem in the SLAM TILT circuit may cause that type problem, what does the +5 read on the MPU Cap? without more info just shooting in the dark.

Have the Grounds been beefed up?
 
All the mandatory stuff that was listed on pinrepair.com was been done except for replacing all the connector pins which has been on my to-do list forever, but I think they are in ok shape. I did replace the CPU to Driver cable with one of these since there was connectivity problems there and I've been too lazy to replace pins...

http://bayareaamusements.com/Mercha...n=PROD&Product_Code=HA-GS5A1J4&Category_Code=

I did replace the big orange capacitor about 3 years ago. This was the original note from pinrepair...

"The original capacitor can be tested (but don't bother, just replace it!) To test the capacitor, turn the game on, and set the DMM to AC volts. Put the leads of the DMM on the leads of the filter cap. If after a few seconds (after the voltages stops fluctuating) there is more than .2 volts of AC, this capacitor is bad. Again, if using the original orange filter cap, I would highly recommend replacing it regardless of its AC reading."

My replacement one reads .25 volts. It seems weird this one would be bad after only 3 years and I have no idea if the test is exactly the same on this slightly different on I ordered from GPE. Any opinions if I'm on to something here or heading in the wrong direction?

Thanks
Charlie
 
The biggest problem is it is a Gottlieb, I know that don't help.

It is never a good idea to unplug stuff and fire up a Gottlieb.

Is there any signs of damage around the battery?

A problem in the SLAM TILT circuit may cause that type problem, what does the +5 read on the MPU Cap? without more info just shooting in the dark.

Have the Grounds been beefed up?

Voltages are 5.09v at the power supply and 4.94v at the MPU CAP. Ground mods have been done, Battery had leaked originally, but was removed and many corroded parts were replaced. It had been working fine for about 3 years up until now.

This all started after about 6 months of not playing the machine at all. I finally got that replacement cable I mentioned in my previous post, installed it, and then had these issues. I tried putting the old cable back, but same results.

Could 6 months of inactivity have done something?
 
Voltages are 5.09v at the power supply and 4.94v at the MPU CAP. Ground mods have been done, Battery had leaked originally, but was removed and many corroded parts were replaced. It had been working fine for about 3 years up until now.

This all started after about 6 months of not playing the machine at all. I finally got that replacement cable I mentioned in my previous post, installed it, and then had these issues. I tried putting the old cable back, but same results.

Could 6 months of inactivity have done something?


Voltages are good and it worked 6 months ago and now problems sound like that battery corrosion may be getting you, also the plug contacts can get weak from corrosion fumes.

You can look down into a plug and check to see if they all have a little spring action and look that they are all out far enough to make contact. Assuming you have cleaned the edge connectors.
 
Getting closer

Hi Everyone -

A friend was nice enough to loan me a working System80a board, so this has been on the back burner for a while. I finally had a chance to do some more digging into the bad board and I think I have it narrowed down a bit. I followed the pinrepair guide and discovered that there is no IRQ signal at the CPU when the game powers up. I read that this can often be caused by bad 6532/RIOT chips, so i desoldered all 3 of them and reinstalled them with sockets. I tested each of them first in the working board and they seemed to work fine.


The pinrepair guide suggested that the input and output chips that go with one of the 6532s can also cause no IRQ. (Z11, 12, 13, 14, 15). I have no idea how to really test these. Is there any way to test these or should I just swap them and see what happens?

I also swapped the game roms between the two boards and confirmed that wasn't the problem.

I also noticed that the 6502 CPU is slightly hotter to the touch on the bad board. It's not much hotter, but you can notice a slight difference. Could this be bad?

Thanks
Charlie
 
To test those 14,16 and 18 TTL chips....Try this
1. put your meter on diode test.
2. put the RED lead on the ground pin of the TTL chip .
3. put the black lead on each pin of the chip (except for the
+5 pin). again, you should between .4 and .8 for each pin.


*This is not full proof. You can also do the "touch test" on these.
If these guys are hot, chance are it's bad....
 
I just tried the diode test on all the TTL chips. The only one that seemed to be out of range was Z26 which had an open connection from pin 13 to ground, (.002 reading). The good board reads .7 in this same spot. I swapped this chip, (7404), but it didn't seem to fix anything. From looking at the diagram though, it doesn't appear that pin 13 is used for anything.

If these pass the diode test, is it safe to say they are ok?
 
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