Error Code 12 Frenzy!!! (FIXED!!!)

[stayouttadabunker]

Something is causing your battery pack to drain too fast.
I agree with the suggestions made earlier but because
your platform has been known to drain batteries,
I'd go with rick hunter's mod with the purple battery!
uh,....buy a few extra...

[Yoeddy1]

Yeah, I guess I'm wondering if the batteries are draining or if something else is shorting out somewhere blitzing my batteries.  Usually a power cycle and/or just opening and closing the door will resolve it.  Could the game chip be bad?  I posted a request for one to try out.

[Buzz]

  Why are you wondering if your battery's are draining, take a multimeter and check the voltage, any thing under 3 volts you have a problem. I have never seen a battery recharge it's self,  if it gets low enough to give you a 12  opening and closing the door will not recharge the battery and make the 12 go away. Did you ever have a flashlight that you knew had good battery's but it would not work unless you beat it on something? I think you have a 200 pound flashlight. first thing I would do is either use sandpaper or a file or if your wife isn't looking her finger nail emery board  and clean the ends of the battery's real good. also clean the battery holder terminals.  2nd make sure the wires are soldered on the board real good, only place left is the board plugging into the mother board. I may be wrong but I think you can unplug every connection inside that machine and not get a 12 error. someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that one!  If you  don't have a multimeter?  try Harbor Fright 10296 Fairview Boise not the best meter made, but will get you by, and you will use it more than you think. Damn I'm Windy today,been around Stat to much I guess !!

[rickhunter]

The game chip would not cause a battery drain situation.  These chips have built-in security, if they are not 100% kosher, you would get an invalid eprom error of some sort.  If the game boots and plays, the chip cannot be bad.

[Yoeddy1]

Ok guys.  Here's another piece to the puzzle.  So I go out and purchase a AA 3.6 volt Lithium battery today.  I desolder the battery pack and solder on the new battery.  As I'm plugging in the three connectors back onto the motherboard, I noticed that one of the larger connectors had one pin that was pushed out a bit.  In other words, if this pin was out, I wonder if it was making partial or no contact with the connector.  I grabbed some needle nose pliers and pulled the pin in line with the other ones.  The problem is that I'm not sure if this just happened today or if this is something that I've overlooked in the past.  Guess we'll see.  

At any rate, I guess my solder job worked out.  I've been playing it, power cycling it, and trying to get it to error out with a 12 code...so far so good.  

This AA Lithium battery is a 3.6 volt battery, whereas each of the Lithium batteries in the old pack were rated at 1.5 volts each, giving 4.5 volts.  Is the 4.5 volt pack better under normal circumstances or should it really matter vs. the 3.6 volt single battery that the factory uses?

Btw...there were some brownish hot looking spots on the bottom side of the board, so I'm going to assume that this could ultimately be the problem if the new battery and pin out of alignment doesn't help.  Is it normal after 20 plus years for a board to have brownish spots due to heat and years of play?

[stayouttadabunker]

Oh yeah,
Brownish spots are basically joules upon joules of heat coming out of various board components...
It's fairly normal...
someday, take the MPU out and look at with a very bright bulb behind it...
You will definitely see brownish spots where the reel resistors are located and
under the big diodes near the capacitors.
That small bunch of 5 resistors are the ones that were "holding/freezing" the reels in place
for years and years in a live 24/7 casino when no one was playing the machine.
The big diodes were fighting all the jolts of electricity struggling to fly backwards...
almost sounds like there was a heavyweight title fight going on while no one was playing...lol

[CaptainHappy]

  Why are you wondering if your battery's are draining, take a multimeter and check the voltage, any thing under 3 volts you have a problem. I have never seen a battery recharge it's self,  if it gets low enough to give you a 12  opening and closing the door will not recharge the battery and make the 12 go away. Did you ever have a flashlight that you knew had good battery's but it would not work unless you beat it on something? I think you have a 200 pound flashlight. first thing I would do is either use sandpaper or a file or if your wife isn't looking her finger nail emery board  and clean the ends of the battery's real good. also clean the battery holder terminals.  2nd make sure the wires are soldered on the board real good, only place left is the board plugging into the mother board. I may be wrong but I think you can unplug every connection inside that machine and not get a 12 error. someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that one!  If you  don't have a multimeter?  try Harbor Fright 10296 Fairview Boise not the best meter made, but will get you by, and you will use it more than you think. Damn I'm Windy today,been around Stat to much I guess !!

Buzz,

 

I am guessing that it is not a comment about the results of chili or mexican food!!!!

  I could't resist!!!  MADE ME DO IT!!

CH

[StatFreak]

...or a file or if your wife isn't looking her finger nail emery board  and clean the ends...
...
Damn I'm Windy today,been around Stat to much I guess !!

 

  I could't resist!!!   MADE ME DO IT!!

CH

CH --  



SF

[Yoeddy1]

Day 2...so far so good.  In theory, how long should a single Lithium 3.6 volt battery last...if everything is working right?

[CaptainHappy]

...or a file or if your wife isn't looking her finger nail emery board  and clean the ends...
...
Damn I'm Windy today,been around Stat to much I guess !!

 

  I could't resist!!!  MADE ME DO IT!!

CH

CH -- 



SF

SF

Somehow I knew I would be getting pie in my face for that one!!! Only problem is that I could not tell what flavor it was!!! 

CH

[Buzz]

Day 2...so far so good.  In theory, how long should a single Lithium 3.6 volt battery last...if everything is working right?

Jason  look at reply # 9 of this thread and you will have the ans.

[StatFreak]

SF

Somehow I knew I would be getting pie in my face for that one!!! Only problem is that I could not tell what flavor it was!!! 

CH

That's the beauty of the internet: the pie can be whatever flavor you imagine. Make mine banana cream, chocolate, or chocolate MOOSE (with extra antlers).

[Yoeddy1]

Day 2...so far so good.  In theory, how long should a single Lithium 3.6 volt battery last...if everything is working right?

Jason  look at reply # 9 of this thread and you will have the ans.

Thanks Buzz...it's been troubleshooting mania.  *fingers crossed*

[Yoeddy1]

Ok guys...this topic has been to the dead horse saloon, but I just wanted to let everyone know that my game is still running strong and has not errored out once.  It must have had something to do with the previous battery pack that was installed.  Soldering the AA Lithium battery to the contacts on the board seems to have done the trick.

Thanks again for everyone's help. 

[jay]

You have come a long way from wanting to do a hot cut of your batteries as not to loose the configuration....... to soldering onto the board...... good job.....