Help! Godzilla does not boot up & all lights are flashing

CykoMF

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It's time... to wake... Godzilla!

I just picked up this super clean Sega Godzilla machine 2 days ago.
Played a couple test games at the guys house and it seemed fine.
Was very careful moving it. No major bumps getting it into my basement.
Set it up today and played for about 20-30 minutes and now it's freaking out.

In the middle of a game, just after the ball drops the screen went blank, all the table lights start flashing and I there's a relay clicking in time with the lights. None of the controls respond, not even the buttons inside the coin door. The fluorescent light stays on steady during all of this.

Cycle the power switch and it reset OK, came back up and started another game. Few minutes later it goes out again, only this time cycling the power switch doesn't reset it.

I dropped the back glass to peek at the fuses and boards, re-seat connectors etc... Don't see anything obvious, a little evidence of old corrosion on the battery pack but that's it. I did find the weight from the tilt switch rolling around in the bottom of the cabinet. Don't think that would have caused any problems while in transit.

Turned the power on and the 4 power supply LEDS all light up. There's another LED located on the I/O Power Driver Board labeled 'Blanking' that flashes with the relay and everything else. Sometimes the relay stops making sound but the lights continue to flash. It sounds like a short or a power supply problem so I don't leave it on for more than 1-2 minutes, just in case.

I am totally out of my league with these newer computerized machines and have no manual for it. Is there anything simple I should check before I call this guy this guy out?
 
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Progress???

Today I discovered after letting the machine sit unplugged for a few hours, it will still boot up and run, for a few minutes anyway, before it cuts out again. This is promising because the overall system seems functional until it wigs out.

Also, the problem(s) occurs even when the machine is sitting idol in attract mode. It's almost like the 'bulb flash' mode has been activated, except that the dot matrix screen is blank and all controls are dead.

When it cuts out during a game, the music continues to play uninterrupted. All controls fail to respond and the only thing to do is kill the power.

Something else I noticed is the 18v diagnostic LED flickers slightly in time with the flashing playfield lights. Most likely the result of the overall load on the system. I've found and checked about a dozen fuses in the back and under the playfield, all test good.

Could this be a thermal issue?
Any ideas? Anyone?
 
Check your power supply output voltages and the voltages on the boards, especially the main PCU. It sounds to me like something is overheating and causing the power to drop. The most likely culprit of overheating is either a bad (cold) solder joint or a burnt connector/pins on a board.
 
Thanks for the advice:

Reseat all the socketed chips.
Did this already, first day. All the connectors look good too, no burnt ones at least.

Check your power supply output voltages
I don't have a schematic and this machine is a bit more complicated than I am accustomed to.

Is yellow still +5 VDC?
I at least know enough to not jump in uninformed.

Get this: I scrubbed down what was left of the corrosion on the battery contacts, popped in some new batteries and when I plugged the machine back in, it started up! Everything had been reset of course, but it ran for a good 30 minutes with no problems. I wanted to test it longer but need more time to do so. Don't believe it was as simple as that and fully expect the problem(s) to return. Planning on replacing the battery holder with a new relocated one. Will report back more later after more testing.

Anyone have a quick rundown of the wire colors > expected voltages?
 
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It's Baaaaack....

Machine worked fine for a couple months of 'testing' and now suddenly it's flashing again. Not sure why. It hasn't been moved or even opened for all this time. Got back from a road trip and fired it up last night, within 10 min the thing freaked out. Seems a little quick to be overheating dosen't it?

I tried cleaning the terminals and replaced the batteries (again) but it didn't do the trick this time. Will replace the battery holder and relocate it as planned since I'm in there anyway.

Wish I knew what's causing this.
The machine just goes dead, all the table lights flash on and off in time with a relay in the box. Will also check PS voltages once I find my meter.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
 
sell it, it sounds like a money pit,


ps. id love a project godzilla

Ir has to be a heat issue somewhere, maybe use one of those temp readers like what you can put on a RC car to see where the heat is. If you ever get tired of it, let me know though as i would be interested in it, working or not (prefer not)

troy
 
I don't have this machine but sounds like the game is resetting similar to what you see when you activate the tilt switch and the game resets...The machine will not respond for a little while before it resets.....have you checked the tilt switch inside coin door...make sure its adjusted or just disconnect it...I had similar issue that was caused by this and the machine would do same thing...
 
I wondered about the 'tilt mode' thing myself, but cycling the power clears it for 10 seconds then it's back with no movement whatsoever. S'pose the wire could be shorting someplace.

After we moved it in, I'd found the weight was disconnected and bouncing around inside the cabinet. Wondered if someone else took it off for the same reason perhaps? I rationalized that it probably just fell off from the (minimal) bouncing around on the trailer.

Still looking for my meter but I'll let it flash for a little while and see if it resets on it's own. Not expecting much tho...

Thanks for the replys!
_)
 
OK, this is driving me nuts, and I didn't really need a ride.

Yesterday I went to check this machine out, powered it up and it worked fine. So I let it sit for about 20 min and still no problems, played about 8-10 games and still no problems.

All the high scores had been reset, volume level and things like that all reset too. Probably because I'd changed out the batterys with the power off.

But the machine didn't act up at all and I have no clue why.
Will try and look at it again soon and see if I can figure out whats up.
 
my maverick is resetting in the middle of the game

it will imediately start a new game, and reset during play i cant get past 100 mil due to this

it seems to be sensitive to the right flipper, im thinking my issue has to due with a connection or wire shorting

yours seems to be a overheating problem, maybe try installing a computer style fan to see if that makes it go away? but even then something is causing it to do that ,

like others have said check voltages first, if you voltage drops it will shutdown,
 
me?
id take each board out one by one and reflow any cold solder joints i find especially
check the bridge rectifiers and the header pins where the connectors slip onto
also
id test the capacitors with my ESR meter and replace any that test more than 10% low
meanwhile
id look and even test any resistors, transistors that look like they might have gotten hot/burnt
look for any obvious problems while you are in there. get a close look at the chips and sockets. look at everything and try and detect a fault

test the transformer is putting out the right voltage and test while the problem occurs
then id test the boards are getting the right voltages on the board
check the ground are tight and clean

if the board is getting the proper voltages to run and still have reset, might have to send it out to someone or buy new CPU
 
It's still acting up on me and I haven't had time to do much on it.
The problem starts almost immediately now and flipping the power switch does not reset it anymore.
Visual inspection looks like new, nothing looks out of place or toasted. Connectors are all very clean and tight.

I have no schematic or voltage pin outs for this machine. There are several rectifiers on the main board. DVM to check voltages at a couple of them and noticed their voltages change in time with the relay/lights cycling. Figured the problem must be up stream.

Can someone tell me what voltages I should be reading at the transformer?
 
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I'm not having much luck finding a manual for this machine.
And I am not very familiar with these new fangled computerized units.

Another guy here is having the same problems with a similar machine, it stopped when he swapped out the CPU board, I'm going to go over mine again to see if I missed anything.


Is it possible that the flashing could be some kind of diagnostic error code?
Or is there an area in the 'Portals' menu system that would list errors?
 
CykoMF Sent you some scans that might help. Also figured out my problem (same as yours). Turns out it was contact problem at pin 2 from the game rom on the CPU board. I guess it was a bad socket, might have been from a little battery acid, but not sure. Replaced the socket with a new nice expensive one and everything fired up. No more flashing lights or clicking relay. Now I have sound, now I have a working display and a working game! Good luck with yours.
 
A big honkin' THANKS! to you MES.

Once I get my basement cleaned up from the flood I'll make some room to tear into this thing.

At last check, it's booting to an "OPEN THE DOOR" message, then becoming possessed again after a min or two.
Stay tuned...
 
Finally got this thing uncovered again. Turned it on and it played for about 2 min before going clickey on me.

Not sure I have the time for another project right now.
Can anyone recomend someone to send the board(s) to for repair?
 
I would mark all your connections and unplug everything to the boards. Take each one out and check all your solder joints. I would look at the back of the boards where the connecters are. I also would check the wiring for the tilt slam switches. It sounds like a tilt problem.I would try this first and go from there
 
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