Weird Ice Ball Bootup

[Marvelvscapcom42]

Hi, I am looking for a schematic for the first revision (I have seen images but can't zoom in). My ice ball ice booting up, plays attract music and makes coin up sounds when coins are put in but the display just shows "8." in a random location and the game never starts when you push the start button. I noticed LED "D12" is flashing but not sure if that is normal as it's been a while since I looked at the board while it was on. Tried searching around for another board but they seem to be in short supply.

 

[Marvelvscapcom42]

So after looking at the board and comparing to the PCBs on ICEs website it looks like this is a Dunk an Alien board with Ice Ball Roms installed. The flashing LED may not relate to the issue after all.

 

[Marvelvscapcom42]

After watching a video of a repair on a Dunk N Alien game, it looks like the flashing D12 is normal. I went ahead and ordered a replacement PCB from ICE and will swap the ROMS over when it comes in so hopefully that clears up the issue. We had some lightning in the area that caused some of our breakers to trip right before this issue so might have had some voltage hit the board.

 

[batmanrobin]

A flashing "8" is a Dunk N Alien error for the motor position sensor. So, if that board is in an ICEball, ICEballs don't use that motor. So, it sounds like your on the right track.

 

[Marvelvscapcom42]

I ordered an updated power module and both have shipped out now so should have a more definitive answer shortly. I did have an issue with a Star Wars Trilogy game that had a power module start acting up and would periodically put out too much voltage and damage the PCB so just trying to make sure the issue doesn't happen again.

 

[Marvelvscapcom42]

Received the power board and main PCB. Connected the power board to the game and powered the old PCB. Same bootup as before. Thought that maybe confirmed that the issue was the main PCB but made the mistake of connecting the new main PCB to the old power board. Same bootup as before. Checked the voltages on the old power board and the 5V was putting out close to 17V! Well that was the problem. Should have checked that first but didn't think about that the power board may have caused the main PCB to go bad in the first place. Anyways, will see if there is anything to be done for the two damaged PCBs but ordered a new one to get the game up and running. Old power board removed and replaced with new board (they changed boards but it gets the same job done). Hopefully anyone else that runs into this can learn from what I have done.

 

[Marvelvscapcom42]

So, figure I would close the loop on this since I had a chance to finally work through the issues. The culprits for the issues showing up were the following: 1. Main display was not spreading out the characters (everything was displaying on a single digit of the display so it always looked like a weird "8.", 2. The ball count sensor was dead. I couldn't see the "Error 8" until I replaced the main display and then it showed up. Got underneath the ball track and sure enough I couldn't get the sensor to register anything so ordered a replacement and that cleared the issue. 3. Original PCB had issues with U12 and U13 chips. ICE added sockets and replaced chips.

Once those items were corrected game plays as it should. Guessing the random issues were from the lightning storm that preceded the game going down. Hopefully if anyone else has similar issues this can help provide some answers.

 

[bsmith21_2000]

Received the power board and main PCB. Connected the power board to the game and powered the old PCB. Same bootup as before. Thought that maybe confirmed that the issue was the main PCB but made the mistake of connecting the new main PCB to the old power board. Same bootup as before. Checked the voltages on the old power board and the 5V was putting out close to 17V! Well that was the problem. Should have checked that first but didn't think about that the power board may have caused the main PCB to go bad in the first place. Anyways, will see if there is anything to be done for the two damaged PCBs but ordered a new one to get the game up and running. Old power board removed and replaced with new board (they changed boards but it gets the same job done). Hopefully anyone else that runs into this can learn from what I have done.

Hi, been nice to read through your experience in working on your Ice Ball game. I was just wondering if you happened to still have an extra main PCB, even if damaged. I would be interested in buying it off you if so...just let me know. Thanks!

 

[Marvelvscapcom42]

I ended up with the repaired PCB and a new one and I want to hold on to both in case we end up with any further lightning issues (I have the game unplugged unless we are playing it now since the surge protector wasn't protecting it well enough). The Ice Ball game is a big favorite in our house and I like to have backup parts on hand if there are any issues. You can still order the PCB from ICE last time I checked. Just make sure you order the right board and they normally will get one to you within a few weeks.

 

[bsmith2000]

Hi, I was just curious about your original post. You mentioned a flashing D12 on the main board when you were troubleshooting...did you find out if that was normal or not? I finally got some parts to get mine to boot up, but I have error codes 9 and 10 for coin disconnect and ticket disconnect. I was hoping I could bypass these somehow, but anyway, I just wanted to see if the flashing D12 was normal or if I also have an issue with the power supply or main PCB board. Let me know if you get a chance, thanks!