New Life Games Tech Forums

Greetings- I have been searching around the board for a while trying to solve my problem, but at this point I need to reach out for some help.  :)

We have an IGT S+ "Spin Til you Win".  The game had been working fine, but now will not play.  The symptoms are:

1)  Reels will not spin upon power up.  Reels are getting power, they are rigid when game is powered on, spin freely when power is off.

2)  Will not accept coins- they drop straight through.

3)  Game never seems to fully reset.

Winner Paid shows '1', coins in shows '6'

Sorry, I know none of this is very specific at this point.  Other things that I have noticed before the game went unplayable:

Bill validator very noisy.  Every minute or two would cycle as if trying to accept a bill
Reel #3 growing noisy after extended continuous play.  Suspect bearing or motor, but not sure.

Would appreciate any help that could be offered- I am not an electronics wizard by any means, but usually have a little better luck than this.  (I'd try to read the manual but don't have one.)  :)

Thanks in advance- and please let me know if there is any other info that I can provide.

you may be in the test pages.. try pushing the white button till it resets

Welcome to  :nlg- -- we'll help you get your machine back up and running.

You've provided some great troubleshooting information already (stiff reels, etc.) -- clearly you've already read some of the other posts.  That's great!

In addition to what Brianzz suggested, make sure your door latch is closing all the way and visually inspect the optics to see if they appear to be damaged or mis-aligned.  I'm almost wondering if the machine isn't seeing the door as closed...

Hang around here for a while, these guys will make you a "Slot Wizard" in no time :)
No reel spinup..strange...
can you get it into test mode?
thinking program is not running properly...
Check the motherboard to make sure it's seated all the way in and while you have it out, check the Game and reel PROMS to make sure they are all the way in their sockets...

Kirk

Hi mitymouse! Welcome to NewLifeGames! :3- :3-
Hey, Look at this page...this will help you a lot!>>>

http://www.newlifegames.net/faq1/ (http://www.newlifegames.net/faq1/)

While you have your door open pressing the white button, I would pull out your cash can and reseat.
If it still cycles then I would loosen the two thumb screws on the front, lift and remove the bill head and then reseat it.

Wow- thank you everyone for all the suggestions.  I didn't have a chance to look at it again last night, hopefully I'll have a chance tonight and I will report back.

Thanks again!

OK- I've tried the suggestions thus far, but I don't think that I've made much progress yet.  :)  Behavior seems the same, and I don't think I've been able to enter test mode.  Simply pressing the self test button and releasing does not cause the display to change at all.

1) It seems that the door latch is working properly-

2) Optics don't appear damaged, and alignment seems good too- I think I found a thread earlier about checking the optics leads with a multimeter, I'll see if I can find that one again

3) Pressing and holding white self test button for 1 second causes all of the front panel display to go dark for approx. 20 seconds, then comes back with the '1' in 'winner paid' and '6' in credits

4) I pulled the MPU board and reseated, and checked game and reel proms to make sure they were fully seated.  All looked good there.

5) I pulled the cash can and bill head and reseated everything, didn't notice the cycling again but may not have had the machine on long enough.  (I'll be optimistic on this one for now and say it's fixed until it proves me wrong)  :)

6) Jackpot reset key behavior is as follows:
  1st turn: 0 and 1 cycle in 'coins played', no other display lit
  2nd turn: 2 in 'coins played', no other display lit
  3rd turn: 9 in 'coins played', 999 in 'winner paid', and 9999 in 'credits'
  4th turn: 3 in 'coins played', no other display lit
  5th turn: 3 in 'winner paid', 4 in 'credits', no other displays lit
  6th turn: 0 and 1 cycle in 'coins played', 888 in 'winner paid', 8888 in 'credits'
  7th turn: seems to reset back to initial state with 1 in 'winner paid' and 6 in 'credits'

That's the update for now.  Thanks again!

You can't get into the "test " mode if there's credits on the machine...there may have been credits on it before this problem.
1) The latch  knob sticking out of the groove must go right to the very bottom in that said groove when the door is properly closed.

2) There's no way you can tell if the optics are any good with the human eye unless you see clearly that there's a broken wire.
     Use a video camera on the door side optics...through the video camera, it will be blinking.

3) Pressing the white button and everything going dark for a few seconds is good.
    That's when you shut the door and activate the door optics...if activated and working right,
     the optics will make the "Coins Played" number change to whatever amount of coins that
     was played the last time the machine was working...1 coin,2 coins,3oins,etc..

4) Never, ever pull or insert the MPU bard from or to the motherboard while the power is on....
    if you are not sure if the power was off at anytime you removed or seated the MPU...
    then it's possible you blew the optic controller component on the MPU.

5) The cans usually doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the board "boots" up or not.
    Heck, the machine doesn't even NEED a bill acceptor to work.

6) Turning the reset key only puts you into "Accounting" mode primarily...

I'd like you to press that little white test button for a long 4 or 5 seconds until you hear the speaker go "Ding!",
close the door completely and turn the reset key briefly.
If you get a different code when you turn the key briefly, open the door and press the white test button again for about 4 or 5 more seconds then wait about no more than 15 seconds for the reels to spin...
if the reels spin, close the door completely and you should be good to go!
If the reels do NOT spin, post back here and we'll take it from there...

What events led up to the machine not Playable.?  what actions did you take to try and solve the defect?  From what you describe it sounds as if the machine is working as it should, e.g.  you can cycle thru the book keeping mode,  when you do close the door do you notice that all the displays should go out, including the insert coin lamp,then after a slight delay they should come back on, if this happens then your door optics are probably working, if not, then I would suspect the door optic loop is open somewhere. A likely suspect could be the cash can door switch.  The display  numbers indicate that maybe the machine had 8 credits on it and it payed out 1 and stopped working for some reason. Anyway if you could answer the questions above and observe the sequence with closing the door we may have many more suggestions.

Jim   

Thanks for the detailed reply.  :)

regarding #1, it does fully slide to the bottom
#2 - Emitter on door is getting power, and glows white through video camera.  However, it is on steady and not blinking if that is important.  However, I think I am on hold until I get a new optics receiver- upon closer examination, one of the wires has broken off flush with the metal base.  Not sure if this is the entire problem, but from everyone's comments it certainly is A problem.  Need to get that resolved first.

#4 - No problems there.  I always power down before pulling any of the components, but still - wise advise.

#5 - this one wasn't so much related to the machine being unplayable, more to the noisy acceptor that was cycling.  Thanks for confirming that it doesn't require this to play, I was going to ask if it could be disabled if the noise continued.

Pressing the white test button for a long time- held for over 10 seconds, machine never made a sound.  Still tried closing door and turning reset key quickly, however no difference- machine still displayed '1' and '6'.  Reels do not spin.  I should note that I tried this before noticing the wire on the optics.  Sounds like the optics would be job 1, right?  I recall another post where the optics were 'tricked' by completing the circuit using two lengths of wire to the proper connections.  Do you recommend to give this a try and see where we get?

Thanks again for the help!

Hi Jim-

I actually wasn't right there when the machine went unplayable- friends were playing at a gathering, and came and found me when it stopped working.  This was actually some time ago, and I'm fuzzy on what the display actually looked like at the time.  I do recall trying to check through the known tilt codes, and could not find anything that matched the display.  I started searching this forum, but couldn't find anything exactly like what I'm facing.  As far as other steps to resolve, I'm really just starting that process, and working through what others have posted in reply.  I'm keeping this thread up to date with the results of the suggestions.

When the door closes, the display does not change at all.  The '1' in winner paid and '6' in credits are the only lit values on the display, and stay lit whether the door is open or closed.  I've observed what you describe as proper behavior before when the machine was functioning normally.

As far as the cash can door switch- it appears that the previous owner has removed the switch functionality.  There are two green wires in the vicinity of a (I'll call it a microswitch, not sure if the term is correct) on the inside right wall of the cash can enclosure.  However, the switch is not connected, and the two green wires are tied together with a wire nut, which would keep the circuit closed (assuming the two green wires are normally connected to the switch).

In the post above I noted that the main door emitter is on solid (not sure if this is an issue), however the receiver has a broken wire.  I'm sure I need to get this corrected before I can make any progress.

Thank you, and please let me know if any further info is needed.  I'll do my best-

The cabinet-side receiver optic definitely needs to be repaired or
replaced before the game will "boot" up and allow the reels to do their "maiden spin".
If you want to get the machine up and running until you get a new set of optics,
you can make a "Optics Bypass" harness for now and
use this to "fool" the MPU into thinking that the door is "closed">>>

I think you have solved your problem, I'm almost certain that when you replace the optic that the machine will reset, and you will know what is causing the problem. I still think it is hopper related, usually a hopper payout defect cannot be overruled, that is , it has to be repaired before the machine diagnostic menus can be used.( white test button will have an effect on the displays,e.g. change to different tests) You can purchase the optics from the vendors on top page, Jim @ blueridge usually has these. 
As "bunker" stated the bill acceptor is a separate unit, it contains three basic units: the cash can, the transport/ head, and the power supply. The intermittent cycling of the unit is usually caused by the transport not seeing the cash can in place. the cause is the connector plug, the one that usually gets hit when you open and close the door or something in that optic loop. if their is a problem detected, the machine will disable the unit (yellow sign is not backlite) but you can still play machine using coins.

Jim

As others have said, if your optics are not working correctly than the game will not function correctly.  Once you get the optic with the broken wire replaced, you should be good to go.

In my experience, the optic does not always appear to blink with a digital camera or camcorder, but does glow blue/white like you said.  Also, only one side of the optics will be glowing (the sending side, I believe).

I suspect your machine will start working normally as soon as you get that broken optic replaced.

Ok, I will get the optics switched out (or try the test harness) as soon as I can.  I can't believe I don't have any wire around the house... I knew I shouldn't have had that garage sale.  :)

I may also be able to borrow an optical receiver from a known working machine- do the optics have to be in a matched pair (receiver and emitter matched somehow), or are the receivers essentially all the same and will work interchangeably?

Thanks for all of the assistance so far- I'll get this next step taken care of and let you know.

Don't use S2000 receivers in a S+...I think the wiring is crossed.
Basically, keep green with green...those are ground wires.
Or black with black and red with red....
any other colors (white, pink, yellow, whatever) are different.

Well, I'm afraid that I may be facing more serious problems...  :(

I switched the bad optics receiver with a known good one from another S+ machine.  The 'Spin til You Win' didn't behave any differently at all with the 'good' receiver.  We tried adjusting the placement, and even holding the emitter/receiver lined up by hand with no results.  Put the good optics back in the working machine and it continues to work fine, so I know that the optics from that machine are still working.

Is it starting to sound like the controller on the MPU board? 

Thanks for any advice/info/suggestions...

Could it be a short in the harness or did you plug directly into the Molex ?

Did you check to see if the replacement optics that you tried were solid or blinking using your camera? If they are known good and were still solid, that would point to a board issue.

The known good receiver was attached using its molex connector- so there is a chance that the harness itself (further inside the machine) may have an issue I suppose.

I did not change the emitter and receiver- just receiver only.  I can see if I can borrow both, switch out the emitter and receiver with the two known working parts, and check if the emitter is blinking or solid. 

I'll let you know- thanks again everyone.

Remember,
the receivers wire colors should be red and white
and mounted on the cabinet-side of the machine.

The emitter optics wire colors should be black and red and
mounted on the door.

FYI - I've used the same set of optics (transmitters and receivers) in both S+ and S2000 machines - they are exactly the same.

Dan #2

Have you checked all three fuses? visual and with a meter!  did you observe the display when you changed out the optic? was there any change?   If not, then look at the link and it will help you find the source of the problem related to the optics.


http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=4571.msg39193#msg39193 (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=4571.msg39193#msg39193)


Jim

P.S.   are you sure you are out of the book keeping mode? 

Oh okay, thanks for clearing that up dan!

I just thought I'd seen different color wires once that's all...

Greetings, back again-

Sorry, with Thanksgiving and the Holidays (plus work!) I haven't had much time to investigate since my last post.  Today I decided to find some time to get back into the troubleshooting.

I do know that the optics are bad- however, I created a wiring harness to complete the circuit.  I checked the harness with a meter, I know that I have continuity throughout the harness, and double-checked that the connections are going to the proper places.  Even with the harness in place, the behavior is the same, unfortunately.  (The '1' in winner paid and '6' in credits are the only lit values on the display.)

I have checked all three fuses with a meter, they are all fine.

What should the voltage be at the optics leads?  I have 10 volts DC at both the door and cabinet optics leads.

Just for fun, I powered down and removed the MPU board and checked that all chips are seated.  Replaced the board and powered up, still no luck.

Any suggestions on where to possibly go from here?  I do have access to another working S+ machine (double diamond deluxe)- is it possible to temporarily swap the mpu boards to see if this is where the problem lies?  Is there any risk to the working machine in doing this? 

Thanks again!

Finally- the game is playable again!

A big thanks to Blue Ridge Slots for sending a few key parts my way- placed the order late on Wednesday, and everything was delivered on Saturday.  Great service all around- they can count me as a very satisfied customer!

As it turns out, the MPU board was the culprit.  Switched that out, and all is well again (and replaced the door optics while I was at it- but the MPU was the root of the issue).

Thanks again to everyone who posted in the thread to help me along- it is much appreciated!

One last question- could anyone please point me to the PSR pages?  I've searched but cannot find anything on the site (or google for that matter).   This machine has a SP625 game chip.

Thanks again!!

We don't have a permanent repository of files. When a member needs and requests a specific file, other members can share the file from their personal collections by uploading it to the Submit a New File area. It is always best to get the file right away, as the files there are deleted regularly.

SP625 seems to be elusive, but I uploaded a copy of SP611 for you. It is for type 0, 1, 4, 5, 12 (Spin 'Till You Win is type 4) and should work the same way that your chips does for all practical purposes.

I have a PSR for SP626, but it is missing crucial information about the numbers that you should be seeing in the LED windows, so I skipped that one.

Don't forget the song change option!  :199- The respin games play a song during the respin feature, and the older SP chips like yours allow you to select from several songs. The SP731 has seven songs -- I don't know how many your SP625 has, but it's probably the same. Changing out the songs is half the fun!  :71-

Enjoy

SF :31-

Thank you very much StatFreak!  I've pulled the file down, and I'll see what I can get into next...  :)

Thanks again for the help- much appreciated!