IGT S/PLUS Quartermania throwing a 63 error (Processor tray open)

[xanadu]

Hi guys,

I picked up a IGT S/PLUS Quartermania slot machine today.

After repairing all of the damaged wiring from the last yahoo that had at the machine and replacing the battery I have it up and running and passing all of the self-tests, etc.

However it throws a 63 error on power up (Slow-fast candle blinks). I've taken out the coin counter and removed the Processor board, while there is a somewhat elaborate locking housing there is no lock in place, nor is there any wiring, switches or optics that I can see... how do I clear this error?

I did notice that there are a few un-used connectors on the external wiring PCB that the Processor board locks into, J12, J13 and J14 don't have anything connected... am I missing a harness?

I am missing the base stand that the machine was mounted on and I haven't connected up the external bill validator as of yet, just in case those two things might be contributing factors.

Photo showing the unused connectors + locking mechanism:

Many thanks,
-X

[leapyearguy]

the black box at the bottom. there should be optics inside. move the lever to trip the optic.

[xanadu]

the black box at the bottom. there should be optics inside. move the lever to trip the optic.

The lever is spring loaded and won't stay in place.  I put a large screwdriver in there and powered up the machine with the lever toggled over are far as it can go and there is no change in the behavior.

I can't see any wiring or optics at all, I suspect they are missing, is there a pinout schematic available online somewhere where I can trace the wiring?  Can I just jump the pin headers?

Thanks,
-X

[xanadu]

I went back and double checked, there are no optics whatsoever in that locking housing, nor are there any wires or mounting holes that I can locate.  It is complicated a bit by the fact that the outside is covered with the residue of a security sticker.

The edge cable connector on the outside of the PCB housing has one molex that doesn't have a corresponding cable connected, it has a hand-written "P" on the outside of the connector.  Is this where the optics for the Processor tray would be connected?  Can I just jump a couple of the wires to bypass this error and continue troubleshooting this machine?

Thanks,
-X

[leapyearguy]

if I remember right, the wiring runs under the mother board. you will for sure have remove the mb to take out the lock assbly. check J2 for card cage detect

[xanadu]

Thank you for the pinout schematic, that helps immensely, is the whole thing available online somewhere that you know of?

After drilling out a couple of rivets I found the optics under the housing and indeed the 4 leads are fed *under* the PCB back to the J2 header.

I've powered up the machine and looked at the optics and the IR emitter LED through a video camera and it is indeed working, is there a test I can perform on the receiving side of the unit?

Is it possible to jump the optics or is the system counting pulses?

I took a quick look online and found the door switch optics readily available from a couple of sources, can't seem to find a source for the optics set on the Processor tray.

Thanks,
-X

[TZtech]

You can unplug the optic and put a jumper over pins 4 and 5 of J2
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=11936.0

[xanadu]

You can unplug the optic and put a jumper over pins 4 and 5 of J2
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?topic=11936.0

Hm, well that's no good, I have a jumper between 4 and 5 (even tested continuity) and I still get the 63 error.  I am starting to think the problem lies elsewhere. 

The manual doesn't explicitly state how to clear an error 63, or does it just clear itself once the problem has been addressed?

[leapyearguy]

it should clear after the door is closed

[xanadu]

it should clear after the door is closed

I found that the door receiver optics had a pin sheared off, now that the replacement part arrived and I've installed it the machine cycles as though it was just turned on when I close the door.  However, the error 63 persists.

I've tried unplugging J2 and jumping pins 4-5.
I've looked at the optics while plugged normally and can see the emitter side glowing.

Should I try jumping 4-5 while J2 is still plugged in?

Any other thoughts on troubleshooting this error 63?

Thanks,
-X

[knagl]

QuarterMania was an IGT Wide Area Progressive game and likely had extra security stuff in the software. Most SP chips and games don't care if there's a card cage switch installed or not. Is there perhaps some standard S+ software you can throw in there to just work around the issue all together?

[xanadu]

Well that would certainly explain things, maybe I'm not insane after all!

Where can I buy a replacement set of S+ software?  Is that en aBay type of thing?

Thanks,
-X

[knagl]

Where can I buy a replacement set of S+ software?  Is that en aBay type of thing?

For any slot part related purchases, I'd always start with the NLG Classifieds Section or some of the reputable vendors who frequent this site, before going to an external source like eBay.

Can you please tell us what SS and SP chip numbers are in there now, as well as a photo or two of the paytable glass so we can figure out what the paytable/theme of the game is to find you chip numbers that will work with your game?

This link explains how to find the SP and SS chip numbers in your current machine, although if you're stuck with an error it might not work.  Hopefully the labels are still intact on the chips in the MPU board in the GAME PROM and REEL PROM sockets.

[xanadu]

Is it possible to just disable the progressive side of things to get around the error detection?

Here are the ROMs:


Here is the readout:



Paytable:


Thanks for the info!
-X

[knagl]

Hoo, boy, a 4-reeler with built-in progressive stuff?  Yikes.  That may have put an end to my thought of finding a similar compatible SS chip.

Have you tried just shoving a piece of cardboard into the card cage optics area to simulate the board being latched into place (in other words, blocking the optics as the metal latch that would have locked the board into place presumably would have done)?

Pure speculation, too, but perhaps the game was designed to throw the error once the tray had been unlocked, and required some kind of special process to clear the error (as a security feature to prevent someone from putting rogue software into the machine and then re-locking the board).  As I said, pure speculation, but we're in somewhat uncharted waters with this.

Out of curiosity, how are the progressives running?  Is there a Mikohn ChamII+ or similar behind the top glass?

Absolute worst case, you could put a different kit in the machine and change it to some more common software, although there aren't a lot of 4-reel S+ games or kits out there.

[leapyearguy]

Hoo, boy, a 4-reeler with built-in progressive stuff?  Yikes.  That may have put an end to my thought of finding a similar compatible SS chip.

Have you tried just shoving a piece of cardboard into the card cage optics area to simulate the board being latched into place (in other words, blocking the optics as the metal latch that would have locked the board into place presumably would have done)?

Pure speculation, too, but perhaps the game was designed to throw the error once the tray had been unlocked, and required some kind of special process to clear the error (as a security feature to prevent someone from putting rogue software into the machine and then re-locking the board).   

thats exactly what the lock assmly does. it secures the board from tampering because of the mega jackpot. there was also a serialized tamper proof evidence tape pasted over the lock and a seal that resembled a tie wrap that had a tab with another serial number on it that attached to the board and the card cage frame. I don't know if another sp chip would work and it is quite possible that with that software even if you do get the 63 to clear the the game will give you a 64 code. that code would be a comm error because the game isn't attached to a ccom (that was a controller that hooked the games together via a fiber optic loop and in turn connected via modem back to IGT to link all the casinos together.

[xanadu]

Yeah, I've tried everything I can think of to clear the Tray Open error:
     - Jumped 4-5 on J2 to close the circuit manually
     - Verified that the emitter is working on the optics by looking at it through a video camera
     - Removed the optics from the cage all together and put a piece of tape between them to close the circuit manually

Nothing is resetting the error.  I found that the optics in the door switch were bad and have replaced those and that did change the startup sequence, but it still always lands on the error 63.

Progressives - no idea, I am new to slot machines, I've always dealt with arcade games in the past so this is all new to me. There is a largish PCB behind the 4 reels that might well be the progressive side of things, but I can't really get a good look at it without disassembling things.

Thanks, hopefully we'll find a way to work around the progressive issue.
-X

[xanadu]

Hoo, boy, a 4-reeler with built-in progressive stuff?  Yikes.  That may have put an end to my thought of finding a similar compatible SS chip.

Have you tried just shoving a piece of cardboard into the card cage optics area to simulate the board being latched into place (in other words, blocking the optics as the metal latch that would have locked the board into place presumably would have done)?

Pure speculation, too, but perhaps the game was designed to throw the error once the tray had been unlocked, and required some kind of special process to clear the error (as a security feature to prevent someone from putting rogue software into the machine and then re-locking the board).  

thats exactly what the lock assmly does. it secures the board from tampering because of the mega jackpot. there was also a serialized tamper proof evidence tape pasted over the lock and a seal that resembled a tie wrap that had a tab with another serial number on it that attached to the board and the card cage frame. I don't know if another sp chip would work and it is quite possible that with that software even if you do get the 63 to clear the the game will give you a 64 code. that code would be a comm error because the game isn't attached to a ccom (that was a controller that hooked the games together via a fiber optic loop and in turn connected via modem back to IGT to link all the casinos together.

Yes, the locking mechanism for the cage has the "void" residue from a security sticker all over the outside, it looks like it was plastered over almost the entire lock.

So, sounds like my only route is to replace this game internals with something else eh?

I am glad I only have $100 and some change into this machine, might be easier to just junk it

[leapyearguy]

it's remarkably easy to change from a 4 reel to three reel on that game. remove the reels, change the reel shelf, jumper the the 4th reel molex, new soft ware glass and reel stips and you're good to go. the reels may need to change to wider, I really can't remember. and yes that is a mikhon progressive.

[xanadu]

it's remarkably easy to change from a 4 reel to three reel on that game. remove the reels, change the reel shelf, jumper the the 4th reel molex, new soft ware glass and reel stips and you're good to go. the reels may need to change to wider, I really can't remember. and yes that is a mikhon progressive.

Very cool, so could I swap in something like a Double Diamond (my wife's favorite) into the machine?

Are there full kits listed online somewhere?  I just need to learn the right terminology so that I can search efficiently. I'll go browse the classifieds section here for a while...

Thanks,
-X