F&F, Deal or no Deal, motherboard problems

uriahsky

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I have a ICE game, Deal or no deal redemption/arcade game that has a bad motherboard. I think these use the Raw Thrills computer system. A Lynux system that first boots with Free DOS. I tried another different motherboard just to see what would happen but it hangs with an error relating to Nvidia driver not finding the hardware. Can anyone help me figure out a way to modify the boot files on the restore CD so that i can use other motherboards? Or, is there a generic mobo configuration i can use as a replacement. It had a Biostar Tforce 6100 AM2 that had died. It did this a year ago and after replacing some bad caps it worked until the other day. ICE wants almost 1K for a new computer. I would like to see if i can modify the boot/restore process in case i have problems in the future or with other Raw Thrills computers. Thanks, Russ
 
I got a few of these restored with various Geforce 6100 or 6150
motherboards. The key is they need to have an NForce 430
chipset. You also need the most current version of the restore software
or the sound won't work.

I'll check at work later. I am using a current Zotac board to keep my
Fast and Furious games running and it should work on a DOND as well.

JD
 
This is the board I am currently using in Fast and Furious (Original,
Drift, Superbikes).

ZOTAC GF6100-B-E

I should probably be keeping this my trade secret. All the other
boards I've used are no longer available. You need FnF 2.02 software, Superbikes 2.64
and Drift 1.20 or higher.

It -should- work with a Deal or No Deal but I have not tried
it on that machine yet. I too was in partial shock when ICE told
be they'd gladly sell me a new computer for $1K.

JD
 
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The OS is pretty standard stuff, the only encrypted data are game assets, sitting on a separate partition. The OS partition is raw, unencrypted goodness, and they even threw in kernel sources and the installer for the USB dongle driver. If you know your Linux you can make it run on pretty much anything, though I would stick to nVIDIA GPUs to be sure you've got a stable driver that supports everything the game needs.

For what it's worth, I had input issues with the new board, where they would "strobe" when pressed and occasionally trigger on their own, as if there was some interference going on. I couldn't figure it out before management got tired of it and bought a whole new computer, which conveniently required a new software version (which it came with), so we'll never know if my hypothesis about old software was true or not, but that did fix it.
 
I wonder if the DOND software would work on a Dell OptiPlex740? Its got an nVidia mobo and works with most of the newer Raw Thrills software. F&F was updated to version 3.00 to support sound in the Dells.

I've been pitching all of my MicroTel PC's and installing Dells in my games. I've got a few MicroTel PC's that I'd get rid of cheap if you want to experiment with them.
 
Technician

PCJohn: Thanks for the info on the Zotac motherboard. Ebay has a few of them and I ordered one. I will post if it works or not.

Roothorick:
I have been looking through all of the files on the CD and on the hard drive and it is quite a puzzle. If I have any luck figuring out things I will try and post the details. I think it is only fair to us owners of these over priced games to give us a fighting chance at not going broke in parts and service.

GameFixer: I would like to get a back up computer for either the DOND or my F&F. Why are you switching to Dells? Is it because of possible future problems on the Micro Tels? Do you have the complete setup or just the Mobos? I am interested could you PM me with details.

Thanks everyone.
Russ
 
GameFixer: I would like to get a back up computer for either the DOND or my F&F. Why are you switching to Dells? Is it because of possible future problems on the Micro Tels? Do you have the complete setup or just the Mobos? I am interested could you PM me with details.


Russ

I hate the MicroTel's. Seems no matter what you do to them they are dead within a year. The Dell's usually last 2-3 years before they crap out and its usually just a bad video card when it does.

PM headed your way.
 
I hate the MicroTel's. Seems no matter what you do to them they are dead within a year. The Dell's usually last 2-3 years before they crap out and its usually just a bad video card when it does.

PM headed your way.

I've had a lot better luck with the Dells. They are far more reliable
than anything else being used in the PC based games.

JD
 
I've had a lot better luck with the Dells. They are far more reliable
than anything else being used in the PC based games.

JD

I bought a pallet load of Dell 740's from a guy out of Vegas. I dont even bother with the MicroTel's anymore. When one fails, it gets scrapped and the dell gets dropped into the game. Problem solved.
 
I've had a lot better luck with the Dells. They are far more reliable
than anything else being used in the PC based games.

JD

Bay-Tek is switching over to almost exclusively PC-based hardware now, and they do away with the case entirely -- they mount the motherboard on standoffs drilled into the wood like you would a JAMMA board, mount the power supply nearby, and put the game software on a USB stick plugged into the back headers. It sounds like a dirty hack, but to be honest? I've never seen one of these unprotected boards actually die. Our old Bass Wheel that got downright abused and had all sorts of mechanical issues, that computer NEVER gave me problems. Maybe RT should dispense with the case entirely and just mount the board laying bare inside the machine...
 
Deal or No Deal I/O Connect failure

I put in the Zotek motherboard and it booted and ran but I got the "Connect I/O" message. After double checking everything I can't quite figure out if it is the I/O board or the computer. I called ICE Game and their suggestion for determining which one was at fault was to either order a new computer or a new I/O board to see if that fixes it. Does anyone have any clues on how to determine if the I/O board is not functioning or not? What is the computer looking for from the I/O board and how can I check that.
Thanks
Russ
 
I put in the Zotek motherboard and it booted and ran but I got the "Connect I/O" message. After double checking everything I can't quite figure out if it is the I/O board or the computer. I called ICE Game and their suggestion for determining which one was at fault was to either order a new computer or a new I/O board to see if that fixes it. Does anyone have any clues on how to determine if the I/O board is not functioning or not? What is the computer looking for from the I/O board and how can I check that.
Thanks
Russ

What version of the software are you using ?

The DonD needs two connectors for the IO to work - one USB and the
other parallel port. The parallel port should be set up in the Bios as
Standard or Bi-Directional.

JD
 
Deal I/O board

The software version is V.01.04.04

In the BIOS the parallel was setup for SPP but I tried the Normal and I tried a few of the other ones.

When you say USB do you mean the USB Key? That is plugged into the computer.

Any idea on what the computer is looking for from the I/O board? I would think the signal would be coming in from the parallel port cable, because that is the only cable going into the computer from the I/O board.

If I press escape during the boot process it will show the boot process and the last thing before it hangs on the "Connect I/O board" is a bunch of ModProbe messages.

I just want to be a bit more sure of either the computer port not working or the I/O board not working. There is nothing on the I/O board as ways of LED's or?? I took the boards home and have been doing this on the bench after it failed at the location.
Thanks for the help.
Russ
 
When you say USB do you mean the USB Key? That is plugged into the computer.

Any idea on what the computer is looking for from the I/O board? I would think the signal would be coming in from the parallel port cable, because that is the only cable going into the computer from the I/O board.

You're missing a connector. There's a USB cord that runs to the smaller green I/O board in the bottom half of the main cabinet. That's what he's talking about. If the dongle was missing you'd get an "INSERT DONGLE" message.
 
chances are good that the I/O board gets its power via USB so that would explain why its looking for it. Its not powered up...
 
chances are good that the I/O board gets its power via USB so that would explain why its looking for it. Its not powered up...

There's actually TWO I/O boards, the USB one that does most of the main cabinet stuff and ticket handling and etc. and an additional parallel port board that handles most of the buttons. It'll boot without the parport one but throws a fit if there's anything wrong on USB.
 
I got a few of these restored with various Geforce 6100 or 6150
motherboards. The key is they need to have an NForce 430
chipset. You also need the most current version of the restore software
or the sound won't work.

I'll check at work later. I am using a current Zotac board to keep my
Fast and Furious games running and it should work on a DOND as well.

JD

This possibly explains why one of the op's I deal with is having issues with some of the refurb computers from Betson losing sound. They are using Make Vision replacement monitors and they have to revert to the first gen software in order to have the computer output the proper signal or the monitor will error out (Over Range). Install old software and the sound dies.

I need to look in to this more - good to know.
 
This possibly explains why one of the op's I deal with is having issues with some of the refurb computers from Betson losing sound. They are using Make Vision replacement monitors and they have to revert to the first gen software in order to have the computer output the proper signal or the monitor will error out (Over Range). Install old software and the sound dies.

I need to look in to this more - good to know.

Interesting. I thought this game was VGA. Our Drifts have D9410s which, according to WG, do in fact go up to SVGA. (Huh! News to me.) So maybe the new software runs SVGA and the older ones only VGA?
 
Those Makvision monitors are crap but they should be able to at least display 800X600 so you think they would be OK. Not always the case though. I've tried to use them in Super Bikes and get that "over range" error all the time.
 
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