Assistance in repairing a IGT PE Plus Slant Top Video Poker Game

[PaulN]

Dear Forum:

I am trying to repair a IGT PE Plus.  I purchased it about 10 years ago for my parents who live in Cleveland.  It has not been working since 2009.  My dad had told me that the monitor was not functioning.  Yesterday I turned on the machine.  The monitor turned blue but no game was visible.  My dad had played with the monitor settings which would change slightly but again no game.  At this point I do not think that the monitor is the problem.  I pulled out the MPU and checked it for any sign of damage etc...  I did not examine the motherboard mounted on the back cabinet wall.

I think it is something in the MPU that is causing the game not to work.  I spent several hours last night on line looking for replacement MPU or at least someone who could examine the MPU that I have to determine if this is where the problem is.

This forum appears to be very helpful and has helped me determine that the machine I am working on has a standard motherboard.  The Eprom chip was a JB 6/5.

Any help on what to test or who to contact would be appreciated.  The machine is located about 30 minutes from my house, so I will have to schedule my time to work on it.  My mom nd dad are in their late 70's, and love video poker.  I know it was a great game when we purchased it for them years ago.

Thanks

[jay]

There are a couple of ways to skin this:

1. Get another MPU board as you have alluded to:
- You can pick up a MPU for $60 and under - usually without game chips or the metal tray that the board sits in. Check out Ebay
- Call the vendors listed on our home page - they will be happy to help you. Make sure they know you are a NLG member
- IF you go into the NLG classifieds there is a person selling a parts complete SlantTop PE+ for $60.00 (yes the whole thing). I am sure you can convince him to send you the MPU for that price and toss the rest away. IF I was scavaging I would have him send me the montitor, buttons, cash can, bill validator and what not. Always good to have spare parts. Basically whatever your willing to pay for in shipping.

2. Diagnose the problem.
The first step of any diagnosis is to ask "What Changed ?" the stock answer is nothing..... but if it was working 5 min ago and now its not. Something did change. We just need to hone in on what it is.

- Blue is generally a good sign as it means that the MPU is working at some level. Turn off the machine, pull the MPU. With it out turn on the machine. Is the screen still blue or is it now black ? It is possible that the screen was black and your dad just screwed with it until he got a blue background (which is not good) but this will determine if the machine is seeing the board or not.

- My gut reaction especially if the screen is still blue is that you probably have a fuse that is out. Within the machine there are several fuse holders. Twist the nob out pops the fuse (small glass tube with a wire in it). Usually but not all the time -you can see a bad fuse because the wire is broken. The best is to use a multimeter (set to resistance) to test the fuse. On the metal end of the fuse it will have a number like 2A. These fuses of the same size can be picked up at Radio Shack for a buck or two. If you don't have a meter - as I mentioned you can usually visually see that the fuse is gone. If you have one but don't know how to use it. Ask back.

Assuming all your fuses are good......

- There is a small white test button by the power supply. Press the button and see if it goes to different screens. This of course won't work if a fuse is gone.

- When you pulled the MPU board - simply put it back in and reseat it. I have had this blue screen problem with my upright. I have a couple of trays that were modified and when the board isn't sitting right I get the blue screen. You can also check out the edge card on the MPU and using a white eraser give it a once over on both sides to clean the contacts. Your unit is 20+ years old corrision happens (this is why reseating the board sometimes is all that is needed).

- The chips on the board - you have a Program Chip, MXO, MRO,MBO,MGO and a small chip called a CAPROM. Pull these chips out and reseat them. Be very careful not to damage the pins. Use a small flat screwdriver wedged between the chip and socket and gently lift one end just a smidge and then do it from the other end. Repeat so the chip for the most part is lifted up equally from both sides. When putting the chips back in. Please note there is a notch or small circle at one end of the chip. This matches up with the small notch on the circuit.

Post back and keep us in the loop. We are happy to assist.

[PaulN]

Dear Jay:

Thank you.  My dad said he replaced all the fuses but I think I need to pay special attention to that area.  I will reset the MPU sometime this week when I go over there again.  I will take some pictures if these diagnostic steps don't work.

Again thank you for the quick and informative reply.

I will keep you posted.

[PaulN]

No luck with the fuses.  Seem to working fine.  The screen is what went 3 years ago, slowly rolling picture until no game.  Guess it may be the monitor.

Will look at buying all the parts from the classified you mentioned.

Any other thoughts ?

Thanks

[jay]

Did you turn off the machine and pull the MPU ?
The turn it on ? Did you get a black not blue screen ?
How many fuses did you check ? The reason I ask is that they may not all be in one place.

[PaulN]

Yes on the MPU.

Got a black screen first and warmed up to a blue screen

checked 3 fuses mounted on top of the MPU.

Thanks

[jay]

With the MPU out the screen should not be blue. It is possible your monitor is shot.
I could have sworn that there were 5 fuses but I just double checked mine and I have only 3.

Cenronix does have a monitor replacement program. You send yours in, they fix yours or ship you a refurbished one. $45.00 (see warranty link below).
The monitor is socketed so its an easy swap.

Here are some links
http://ceronix.com/
http://ceronix.com/monitors/1493.htm  CPA3005 $377  (This is a LCD Replacement monitor). You can probably replace the whole machine for $400.
http://ceronix.com/products_warranty.html


CERONIX, Inc. offers a two-year (2) limited warranty on all of our CRT monitor assemblies and printed circuit board assemblies; and a four-year (4) limited warranty on all CERONIX, Inc. LCD Monitors. When a CERONIX assembly falls outside of this warranty period, there is a "Flat Fee" repair cost of $45 per assembly with the following conditions:

LCD Repair: Cost excludes physical/mechanical damage to the LCD panel and Touch Screen
CRT Monitors: Cost excludes physical/mechanical damage to the CRT and Touch Screen. Additionally, "Burn In" of the CRT is not covered under warranty.

[PaulN]

Jay:

The screen is not blue when the MPU is not connected, it is blank.  Wondering if the battery on the MPU is dead.  I can put a meter on that.  I am thinking maybe the battery died and needs to be replaced.  I think it is 3.6v but not sure.

Wont be able to work on it until this weekend.

Thanks for all the good suggestions.

[jay]

When a battery dies you get a message on the screen that says battery low ...
Your getting no text at all.

Other common error messages that are associated with that are
Game CMOS Error
Game TYPE
Eprom Memory Error

While the text of these sound pretty horrible they are not. They are cleared with the self test button or the jackpot reset key etc.
Basically when the battery goes low/dead the computer forgets about its setttings and you get these sorts of errors.
We can cross this bridge when we get there. Even a board absent a battery would give you a message.
3.6v is correct. You can get replacement batteries at Radio Shack but they do not have the tails on them and trying to solder a tail onto a battery is not too fun. Your better to buy the industrial version with the tails and they just easily solder to your board.
Any of the slot dealers on our home page would have these available.

What you have told us so far is that you have a black screen without the MPU and Blue with the MPU.
This is good as it means the system is seeing the MPU board.

Depending on your board - if its the basic board you have a program chip and if its a super board you have two chips side by side that are Program and Data.

The other chips of MXO, MRO, MGO, MBO control your graphics along with a small chip called a CapRom.
If your MPU is a superboard the chip will have a label on it like CAPX731 and if its not it will be like CAP721
Note the X makes it a CapX for a superboard.

If you pull your MPU these are all labled and easily identifiable on the board.

The fact that you have no text on the screen (or cards or anything) is either the graphics chips or going back to your father having done something to the monitor and you can't see the text. The latter is less likely. Even if he has messed up the contrast or colors you would likely see something faint.

Going back to my earlier post I would suggest you take each of these chips out and put them back in.
If you pickup a used MPU (ebay or otherwise) you are going to need to transfer these chips to the new board so its at least good practice.

In my experience the blue blank screen is indicitive of the Cap(x) Rom either being absent or dead.

Caproms are of a somewhat older nature. The other chips are Eproms like 27c256, 27c256 and most eprom burners can read these chips and burn the contents onto new chips. You can pickup an eprom burner for <$80 and blanks from any of the electronics houses like Jameco, Mouser etc.
Most modern eprom burners cannot burn caproms. The chips are not manufactured anymore and the chip voltages etc are not compatible.
To make a long story short, caproms are a bit more rare so you need to buy them programmed from one of the slot vendors. Sometimes when you buy a game kit (chip set for your PE+) they don't always include the caprom.

Now the point of me telling you this is that I have about 8 boards with different games in them (saves me swapping a bunch of chips around) but I have only a few caproms that I do have to move when I change a board. On occasion I have slipped a board in - which is currently absent a caprom and I have gotten the blank blue screen. Problem is easily resolved by populating the board with the appropriate caprom.

This makes me think that your caprom may have died or its loose, or just grew corroded (20+ year old machine with a casino life exposed to smoke, booze and other contaminates). Reseating it may help.

[azgamingslots]

i have had a few pe+ with bad eeprom (usually gives bad eeprom message on screen upon start up)  eeprom is located on back plane (motherboard) small 8 pin chip 24co2 i think, unsolder remove and solder in chip socket, then press in new eeprom chip.

[jay]

I agree, and I have seen bad CMOS chips where the machine can't keep its brains however in each of these cases there is something written on the monitor. Her screen is blank so this is why I am focusing on the graphics chips.

For all the efforts of unsoldering I would just swap the motherboard <$20

[KirknDee]

I have the same problem. I have a IGT slant muti poker machine. I turnrd it off and then back on a few minutes later and had a blank screen. Fuses and chips seem ok. I can play the game but I have no screen. Is the CRT power transformer on the main board and what are the voltages?
Regards,
Kirk