Aristocrat 540 Not booting?

[hqrsyd]

Hi all I'm new to this forum hello from Sydney Australia!

I have just brought a Aristocrat 540 Australian NSW Poker Machine for $50 aud, I have searched the forums and have found nothing that may help my problem

Now I have checked all the Chips on the PCB, The fuse and all the ribbons etc.


The problem: When I turn on the machine everything lights up, Belly lights, a few Buttons, 3 led power indicator lights and the screen comes up but no game or booting log nothing just a dull screen, Oh and theres no sound. (The machine is not booting).

Could the backup battery Cr123A be the reason why the machine is not booting? I think this machine was sitting around for a few years!

The backup Battery is not soldered to the PCB anymore it just sits on he board when aligned it does indicate its there by the LED under the PCB.

So Could the battery be the problem? Should I go and get one first before I try more?

Thanks

[palindrome]

What model is the machine ? Look on the side for the manufacturers plate.

It appears to be a Mark IV to me.  If you don't have a manual I can provide you with one
which may help you with the troubleshooting.

Could you also take a shot of the main board , just to ensure that you have all the chips
you need.

[hqrsyd]

Thanks! Yes it is a Mark IV 1995
Here is a picture of the main game board, I hope you can not see any missing chips!

thanks

[palindrome]

There should be three leds on the mains power supply. Are they all on with the mains power switch on ?

Check the video monitor loom socket and the loom cable too.

[hqrsyd]

Yes like I said in my first post the 3 poewr LED's are working, The looms are fine..

Oh well thanks for your help!

I will have to try a new battery

[palindrome]

If you suspect the battery then you can enable the jumper on L19 which is the Low Battery Disable.

[hqrsyd]

I have taken the jumper off the L19 still no go!

There could be a number of things wrong with my machine atm, Ive got no idea,

I guess ill try to get a tech from my local club to come over and have a look.

Thanks palindrome for your info

[hqrsyd]

Thanks very much for that 540 manual, I could not find it anywhere, I could not find it in the submit new file section,

Anyhow I'm reading it now and will inform of any progress,

I would also like a manual for my aristocrat MK6 if possible that machine works 100 per cent!

Thanks Tacman

[hqrsyd]

  OK I can not work out why my machine is not booting up, I have taken some Jumper Tabs off or arranged them according to the 540 service manual, Still no go!

I may have to change the artwork and the game board, But before I do that I would like to have a good reference picture of someones game board, At least I can try to match the Jumpers with the picture (S) I receive.

Could someone who has got a Aristocrat 540 machine working (Mk4) game board, Please Email me some clear pictures of the board!

hqr_au@yahoo.com.au

Thanks

[palindrome]

I think you need to configure it into Mark 2.5 software mode. Page 274-275

Just by having a quick look at your mainboard, all of your links except for Link 18 appear to be configured in mark 2.5 software mode.

According to the manual, Link 18 must be off if configured in 2.5 mode which is the combination page 0 select. So remove link 18 and try running the game.

Link 13 should be linked.. this is the mode select for 2.5 software to run the CPU at 1.5 Mhz instead of 3Mhz.

The other jumpers appear to be set correctly in Mark 2.5 mode but I can't really see them all clearly so check with the man.

[hqrsyd]

   OK palindrome, IvE GOT THOSE ALL SET UP, THANKSl

What are the correct DIP settings For SW1 and SW2???

I can't seem to find any rea info in the manual for those

Thanks

[palindrome]

The SW1 & SW2 DIPs are not critical. Just leave them the way they are for now until you get the game working.

But if you can't resist the need to tinker look at table E4 on page 300.

[hqrsyd]

  HI,I still cant get the machine to boot, All the jumpers seem to be OK,  As per 540 manual  Configured into Mark 2.5 mode.

The screen comes on with green every so often and fades away leaving nothing on screen!

If the screen was not working, I still should get some sound that door open etc, So I say its a board problem that I cant work out.

For now I will stop wasting time on it and see if I can get a tech to have a look at it.

thank you everyone who have tried to help!

[palindrome]

If the screen was not working, I still should get some sound that door open etc, So I say its a board problem that I cant work out.

I would look at the screen too, fading out is not normal.

[hqrsyd]

I have tested my screen and it is OK!

I have been told that my Game board is not repairable and does have some corroding around some Rom chips!

I am thinking of buying a new Game board its a different game, Will changing the EPROMS Etc over work for my game or will the new USA Board not work on my AUS Machine, Will also have to change the coin mech?

Thanks

[hqrsyd]

P.S. The new board!

[palindrome]

Now that you mention it I can see what appears to be corrosion on that board. Perhaps caused by an old leaking battery. Its always a shame when that happens but there isn't much you can do as the PCB is multi layered.

There should not be a problem running Black Rhino on your new board, provided there is nothing wrong with those old roms. For the most part its identical to your old board...

You don't need to swap the bipolar rom U71, as you can see that was from a White Tiger rom set and they all seem to have the identical code on them anyway.

[hqrsyd]

works thanks Hoppy For the spairs, Mine was missing some roms.

Everything works fine now except the gamble button and the Take win button, the gamble button Played max bet and the take win button played Automatic play. Whats causing this Dip settings?

thanks

[hqrsyd]

Everything works fine now except the gamble button and the Take win button, the gamble button Plays max bet and the take win button plays Automatic play. Whats causing this Dip settings?
it looks as if i was missing 2 rom chips.
Thanks Hoppy for sending me some spair parts...

Thanks

[palindrome]

Great to see you got the machine working.

Try SW1 , bank 8. This turns off/on auto spin.

[hqrsyd]

 :47-Ok Guess what. Its working now, Take win and Gamble is working and auto spin is off now! thanks Palin

My next job is to Try to fix the Boards Backup Battery, What are my options for fixing the battery to the board as I can not find one here that does have the 3 lugs attached to it, Should I solder some pins to the board and blue tac the battery to the pins?

[palindrome]

It appears you're using the bare version. The CR14250SE-FT is the one you need , this is the tabbed version with three-pin polarized solder tag. You can find them on ebay. Jaycar might have them..

http://cgi.ebay.com/CR14250SE-FT-3V-850mAH-Lithium-Computer-Battery-/130166197452?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e4e828ccc

Cylindrical batteries are slowly being phased out so if you're handy with a soldering iron then you could hook up a 3v coin style lithium battery for easy replacement.

Securing the battery with blu-tac is really dodgy btw.