New Life Games Tech Forums

 hi my machine was working fine and then in just went in to start up screen but it didn't start this time on the screen it says

CPU cheak ok
DRAM error!!
epron checksum ok
SRAM cheack ok
DRAM emuldor found
2khz timer ok
startup tests failed.machine locked


if someone has any ideas to help me that will be grate  :

It looks like the ram is faulty or more possible corrupted. Have you tried to do a Ram Clear ?

no how do you do a ram clear?

Hi Shane

Is you machine from Oz or US ?. I think for the US version you need chips. The South African SW that I am familiar with works as follows (As far as I know OZ versions are the same)
Power down - remove processor board and remove the 3 batteries for a few minutes. Replace batteries, replace processor and power up. Machine should start up and display an error to the effect of 3 way memory error. Machine will display on screen to press 2 buttons to clear the ram. Once this is done you can select the operator menu and chosse your options relevant to your machine.

Ian

thanks for the reply Ian

my machine is from oz i did what yousaid pulled out the main board but there is only one battery so i took that out for a few minutes replaced it powered on and still the same message

CPU check ok
DRAM error!!
epron checksum ok
SRAM check ok
DRAM emuldor found
2khz timer ok
startup tests failed.machine locked

i appreciate your help on this if you have any more ideas or troubleshooting methods I'm willing to listen


thanks Shane

Hello Shane

Pretty shure the mark 5 board also has 3 Batteries. Could you maybe post a pic of the processor board ?

Ian

ok here it is

i hope it helps

Hi

My Bad - Its the Mk6 that has 3 batteries. The 3 chips above the batteries are the RAM chips (as per attached).  Have not tried to actually repair these before. They are multi layer PCB and mostly surface mount so you would need fairly specialized equipment to do a repair. The only other possible problem I can think of is that the battery is flat.

If its not that you can try these guys for board repair/replacement - http://www.tektronikenterprises.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=89&sort=20a&page=3&zenid=3a3459d320a8f431e42a3af57451b93d

Ian

thanks again for your help Ian i put a new battery on the bored and still the same so do you think the memory needs to be replaced

Hi Shane

Found a OZ Mk5 manual - It is the MK5 board that uses 3 batteries. Your option however only needs the one.
The DRAM's are marked on the attached diagram - I dont have board level repair experince on these but i dont think its the actual DRAM's.
The only other advice I can give you is to check the Jumpers next to the LED's. Maybe the EPROM size selector jumper came off.
Also remove the 4 EPROMS and check the sockets - Sometimes they get damaged.
What are the staus LED doing when you power it up?

Regards
Ian

Cant Add attachment to an edited post - Here is the correct board layout for your mach. The one I posted previously is for the US model and seems to be different.

hi Ian


my LED'S just flash red once on start up (all four) did all you said with eproms with the size selector jumper is it only a small black cover that goes on top of two pins?
if so its still there i really appreciate your time and expertise that you have shared with me maybe its time to get it repaired or time for a new one


just 1 more question is there anyway to unlock the machine?

thanks Shane

Hi Shane

Unfortunately it does seem to be a board problem - What do you mean by unlock the machine ?

Ian

CPU check ok
DRAM error!!
epron checksum ok
SRAM check ok
DRAM emuldor found
2khz timer ok
startup tests failed.machine locked

thats what is says on the screen, how do you unlock it

Hello Shane

That will only clear if you have a functional/repaired board.

Ian

so if i get a new board with a different game am i able to play my original game by changing the chips?

Yep - Although usually  you wont get chips with the processor board. If you do bonus you can swap out if you get bored with current game.

Ian

one dram or more are damaged, four-ready changes

OK my machine is working with different board and game i tried to put different game chips on my new board and it went a bit crazy saying that i change chips

what do i have to do to play other games?

do i just have to put in the numbers of other game chips?

Hi
Have attached photo from US 500 MVP manual.
All my Australian / New Zealand MVP Mk5 boards have 3 batteries and the board components are in different places.
I thought the board may have been US as it only had one battery but it is different to your photo.
A NZ MVP MK 5 Series 2 board photo is also attached
cheers

Hoppy I think you are confusing the issue, Shane HAS an aussie machine/board. The pic he has shows exactly that. His board is a classic mark5 series 1 board used everywhere around the country. - They only have 1 battery. (the newer MVP aka mark5 series 2 is a newer revision of the board but other than that it's the same).

Just so you know, the NZ mark5's all have 3 batteries because thats what the 'international' version has to cover the paranoid jurisdiction issues. NZ & Aussie machines are pretty much the same, even programs will work in each others boards, however if you run a NZ program in an aussie board it will check for 3 batteries and error, you can clear/reset the error and run the program for a bit, bit it's annoying as it will warn about battery low 2,3 etc.
Also NZ Programs don't use the 'comms' board, if this is installed it crashes before full bootup etc. But an aussie program without the comms board won't even try and boot.

Now, The USA mark5 is different even more, while it's in theory 'really the same', it has too many little changes (possiblly on purpose) that make it impossible to run USA programs on Aussie/NZ boards. The USA platform is overall is different, they use a whole different backplane, an all in one driver/comms board, they have annoying 'set chips' and the game setup is totally bloated. Most programs use 6 - 8 eproms, but the aussie version of the same program uses 4 eproms.

So Shane, when you said the machine 'went crazy' when you put another game in the working board, this is normal with a game change, you just need to follow the setup instructions such as resetting the static ram and then going into machine options and setting things there.. save changes and close the doors etc.

Once you do this a few times you get the 'knack' of it and can do it pretty fast.

Cheers!

PS

Shane your original board seems to have issues, these boards are getting pretty old now (mark5) and anything is possible with these boards, we are talking about 10 - 13 years old. Repairs might be simple if you know what your looking for.. but you have a working board now, then that's really all you need. :)

Great Info - K+

You sound like you are very familiar witht these - Can you recommend a source for board replacement/repair for both MK5 and MK6 boards.

Ian

http://reelgames.co.nz/ (http://reelgames.co.nz/)
Ask Mike in NZ, He might have a 5.2 board to sell.
Cheers.
Jason. :88-

I recently purchased several MKv and MKV1  Atronics  and the aristrocrat 540's , I am looking to hire a phone tech to help me get these set up and running.  If you might know of any one that would be interested it would be greatly appreaciated.
thanks   

oppps phone number is 419-522-3777

Hi

You can Skype me. Not in the US so phoning will be expensive and we will have to work around time diffs. Familiar with all these platforms although not so much with US software.

Ian