New Life Games Tech Forums

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I HAVE A BIG BANG PIGGY BANKIN MACHINE THAT THE DOTMATION SCREEN IS BLACK. I PUT A NEW 450 WATT ATX POWER SUPPLY IN AND THE DISPLAY STILL WONT COME ON. CHECKED ALL VOLTAGES AND GROUND AND ALL ARE GOOD. ON THE DOTMATION CONTROLLER BOARD BOTH LED LIGHTS ARE ON (GREEN AND RED LED). BOTTOM BOARD RED LED LIGHTS ARE ALL ON EXCEPT THE FAIL LED. NOTE WHEN I TURN THE SLOT OFF THE DOTMATION SCREEN FLICKERS. I CHECKED ALL WIRING...EVERYTHING LOOKS GOOD...ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED...WHAT NEXT?????

Well,first off...Welcome  :88-
Second,explain the 450 watt ATX power supply that you installed? They say a picture is worth a thousand words,but in this case I would say 125  :89-

does the game play "blind?" that is, the game works just
there's no dotmation? reels spin, sounds are produced, etc.
if the front door is open the game shuts off the DMD.
but the display will be on when the game does it's
initial bootup (with the power-on "bong") regardless
of the front door status.

I will upload a picture of the power supply this evening. The slot will play with the door closed but the dot display will not play. After an hour or so the machine will lock up and I have to open and close the door for it to play again.

Before I fixed the power supply problem the dotmation board would not play and the bong sound would happen.  Now that the power supply problem is fixed there is no bong sound and the slot will play blind.

Are you sure you connected the data cable that goes between the Dotmation display and the circuit board to the correct output?  As I recall, there are two places where the display can plug in on the circuit board -- perhaps you attached it to the wrong one?

Also, you said that the game 'locks up' after an hour and you have to open and close the door to resume play.  Is there an error message of any kind on the red LED displays (credit and win meters) when the machine locks up?

I connected the data cable on the bottom connector on the dmd controller board (connector next to the green led...same connector originally removed from). Yes there was an error message...stupid me...I didn't write it down...I will check it in about an hour or so. I have a manual for the 40x machines but I can't seem to find the codes in the manual. Is there a different manual for all the codes??

 knaql is probably right the data cable is loose or not installed correctly. I had the same lock up problem with my piggy bankin only mine would lock up when i got three blanks and a coin dropped into the piggy bank. Open door...shut door game played fine. It started right after switching DOT screens and I failed to get everything as tight as it should be.  

Also may not be a big deal but 450W sounded high to me so I looked at a spare DOT power supply I have and it states  "output 80 W Max" It could be the power supply is overheating your DOT display

I thought the same about the 450w....which I originally had a 250w atx ps and it did the same thing...so I used a 450w thinking it wasn't  supplying enough power...but still having the same symptoms.

I also removed data cable from the mother board and controller board and checked continuity in each wire of the cable and cable tests good...noticed when plugging in data cable to the mother board when cable is plugged into controller the dot screen flickers...leading me to believe a connection problem exists...Also noticed when plugging in data cable at mother board I noticed that it archs inside the connector as if there is a power surge. Not sure if that's normal.

Not the case...
The top display will PULL what it needs to operate, no such thing as too much "Amperage"
The power supply will just run cooler.
ATX supplies are rated at xxx watts of TOTAL OUTPUT POWER. This means if it's producing 5 volts at 30 amps (150 watts) and it's a 250 watt unit you have 100 watts at 12 volts or around 8 amps available. Works the other way too...
If your using 15 amps at 12 volts 12 X 15 = 180 watts of power, then you have 70 watts of power available at the other
outputs. Read the sideplate and ADD all outputs together and you will see it adds up to the TOTAL amount of "power' it can produce.
Power is equal to VOLTAGE TIMES CURRENT....

Kirk

 :99-  MY CODE APPEARS AS FOLLOWS...UNDER CREDIT 40237 WIN 399 BET 5... ALSO I NOTICED THAT MY MACHINE WILL NOT REBOOT UNTIL I TURN OFF THE POWER SUPPLY AND DISCONNECT THE 12V AND GROUND WIRES FROM THE POWER SUPPLY TO THE  DOT BOARD. AFTER  IT REBOOTS THE BOTTOM HALF OF THE MACHINE WORKS...I THEN RECONNECT THE 12V AND GROUND SUPPLY FOR THE DOT
BOARD AND STILL HAVE A BLACK SCREEN...SEEMS LIKE MY DMD CONTROLLER TOOK A CRAP BUT IM NOT VERY LITTERATE WITH COMPUTER BOARDS ....ANY IDEAS????

Did more testing...found when I disconnect dotmatrix screen game plays and all sounds work...seems like I have a bad dotmatrix screen.  Anyone know where I can get a new one????

Well I found the problem. Had a bad solder point at the dotmation control board for the data cable. The top monitor works!!! The only problem I am having now is the machine will freeze up after thirty minutes of play and I get a code on the door reading under credit 40237. Win 399. Bet 5. And the only way I can get it to reboot is by disconnecting the power supply from the dotmation display and controller board. After that the bottom of the machine will play but I have no dotmation.