Just Scored a TX-Sector by Gottlieb

Stinger357

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Ok I knew this would happen but not this quick. I purchased a TX-Sector from a good friend for 200 bucks. I currently own a Mario Andretti and love it, but back to the TX-Sector. I was told it would not boot. When I powered it on the GI lights come on and the translite comes on, BUT I can smell a electric burning, so I immediately turned it off and unplugged it. My tech guru will come out on thursday to look at it, he says if the System 80b board is not booting then a coil could be stuck energizing and getting hot which in turn would cause the smell of burning. What do you all think? I know I will not power it on again until it is checked out by a professional. But I noticed the system 80b CPU LED was flashing fast when it was powered on. Could it be a simple thing as a fuse or we looking at a CPU eprom issue possibly.

Also there is a battery holder installed and no acid damage to see anywhere. I am hopeing it is an easy fix to it to get it back running again and not to smell like burning electronics. The cabinet is a 9 out of 10 and playfield is a 10 out of 10. it was made in 1988. Any tips on what we I can tell the tech guy to look for would be helpful. I can't wait to get this pin fired and up and playing again. Pictures will come shortly.
 

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bust out your DMM and test everything you can. pinrepairs website has lots of links to show you the what and how.

You will get that as the stock reply from the people in the know when you buy a new pin and it is sound advise. (I do not include myself in said group or people in the know btw)
 
Are the solenoids and coils the same thing? If so would it be the same fuse and I could look at the card to see which fuse it is and pull it. Would it damage the machine at all without the fuse. any possibly would the cpu boot then?
 
Common problems with these machines are

a. battery damage... you said yours has a remote holder and no battery damage, so you may not have an issue there

b. ground issues. Gottlieb couldn't figure out how to make all the metal parts in the backbox ground together. I don't now why since every other pinball company pretty much got it down pat in the 70's, but bless their little hearts Gottlieb kept doing WEIRD SHIT with their grounds and it causes all kinds of strange things to happen. There's some simple ground mods you can do if you have these problems. One of the things that often happens if you have ground problems is when you turn the system on, a coil locks on like yours may be doing.

c. The power supply on the System 80's had a really flaky adjustment pot, that causes all kinds of issues too. If the board gets the wrong amount of voltage and it's not pretty close to 5v, it won't boot. If the system doesn't boot, sometimes a coil locks on when you turn it on.

A lot of people hate the system 80's, but personally I really like Gottlieb's games. They can be reliable too if you do the ground mods and get everything up and running like it should be. The sound boards are a pain in the ass though and hardly anybody works on them, I've got two out to a guy right now who tinkers with them a little bit, but some of the parts are no longer available.

With all that said I've never even heard of this pin, but it looks pretty cool. I like that "Damn, that thing looks dated as hell" look on pins, it's like your little secret because you know most of the civilized world has never even heard of it either, LOL.

Good luck when your pin guy gets there!
 
Ok I pulled the f4 8amp fuse for the solenoids and system would still not boot up. So any other ideas I can try...I need a DMM so I can check to see if I am getting 5vdc to the cpu, but I need to wait for my tech guy to do this. I guess I will leave it until he can come over to look at it. But thanks for the idea of pulling the solenoid fuse worth a try I guess.
 
Nice score! I have a TX myself-paid 300 for mine....That smell is from a coil that is being locked on. I would say check the coils but you don't have a dmm. Lyons hit it on the head with issues for Gottliebs/Premier machines. That aside, they are pretty fun and underrated that's why I have 3 myself and trying to get a 4th this year!
 
Ok I pulled the f4 8amp fuse for the solenoids and system would still not boot up. So any other ideas I can try...I need a DMM so I can check to see if I am getting 5vdc to the cpu, but I need to wait for my tech guy to do this. I guess I will leave it until he can come over to look at it. But thanks for the idea of pulling the solenoid fuse worth a try I guess.

They were telling you to pull the fuse, because it would stop the coil from locking on and burning up something. It won't make the board boot, but chances are you have a problem with the power supply like you're thinking. There's a little adjustment pot on there you can use to change the 5V, but the thing is a piece of crap. I had a game that wouldn't boot, and even though it measured out 5v, everytime you turned it on it was sending something different, all the way up to almost 7v! The pot couldn't hold a steady reading, so I replaced that little pot and the thing gives a rock solid 5v everytime you turn it on now, and it always boots.
 
Well today is the day my tech comes out at 4:00pm CST to fix my TX-Sector. Wish me luck and hope it is something simple to fix.
 
You'll love when it's working! Messing around with mine today, fine-tunin it....She's about 98% complete sans one ramp socket that quit on me!
 
Come to find out the power supply driver is not working. I need it to put out 5vdc and it is putting out 12vdc...does anyone know of a power supply driver for a gottlieb that I can buy in the dallas dfw area? Or does anyone have one I can buy off them?
 
Update: Eron my tech guy found the part at fry's...omg I might have my tx-sector up and running tonight!! I am so stoked
 
For System 80b games you don't have to use the original power supply. In one of mine someone put a computer power supply in there and works perfect!
 
Up and running. Video's To follow. All works perfect now...no smelling of electronics. All plays well. I love my tech guy he is a genius.
 
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