Re: Paragon Problems

On Jan 23, 9:33 pm, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 23, 8:10 pm, btrip <bryont...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:





On Jan 23, 6:56 pm, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 23, 6:54 pm, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 23, 3:37 pm, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 23, 2:32 pm, btrip <bryont...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 23, 1:28 pm, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 23, 9:10 am, "Dr. Dave" <davidsarc...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Q15 is bad and or it's driver chip on that board is bad.  The jumper
is a work around and It makes the flippers always active even in
attract mode.

DR

On Jan 23, 9:27 am, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 23, 7:47 am, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 22, 8:11 pm, frenchy <mf101...@xxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jan 22, 5:31 pm, Chuck <chuck.oberfr...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I am a Noob with some basic electronics skills.  The machine seems to
work great above 70 degrees, it is in our basement.  Sometimes the
displays don't fully function but that comes and goes and it seems to
be temperature related. >>

Depending on how your displays look when they are doing this, could be
that you aren't getting a full 190v to them, take a measurement of the
HV at the two test points near the adjustment pot on the solenoid
board.  I think the top TP will be the unregulated HV, and the one
below it is what is going to the displays.  Adjustment pot may be
dirty or misadjusted causing low voltage to the displays.

Q1, anyone know what would cause a temperature related issue??>>

Among other things, dirty or loose connector pins, or solder cracked
where the male ones are mounted to the board... socketed chips with
dirty/loose pins or chip not fully pushed in.  Might want to just pull
out the socketed chips on the MPU board and push them back in to clean
the pins off a bit.

Q2, when you talk about the LED blinking, is it a mostly lit with a
tiny bit of blink, not fully on and off??>>

Though you may have a problem with the led circuit or a weak led, make
sure u do the test in complete darkness so you can observe it well for
now.

Q3, is there an easy MPU replacement solution if that turns out to be
the problem??>>>

There are brand new and improved MPU boards available for around $200
bucks, but don't give up on yours just yet  : )

Thanks for the info.

I checked the voltages on the 3 test points and they all check out.

I will check the other voltages you mentioned today, thanks again.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

One more question, any idea why the previous owner would have a jumper
between Q15's heatsink on the Solenoid board and Ground????  Seems to
make the flippers work when jumped?? THANKS- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for that explaination!

One quick note, the machine fired up a couple of times today, had the
back open so maybe it got a little warmer, not sure. It also stopped
booting after a couple of plays. Interesting machines!- Hide quoted text -

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Reseat the connectors on the displays.  Sometimes if these are bad
they can hold down a data line or something like that and the MPU LED
will be lit on the 5th flash.  This has happened twice on myParagon.

Also not a bad idea to reseat the U10, U11, and ROMs on the MPU
board.  Be careful not to bend the legs though.  Use a small flat head
screwdriver and gently pry one end, then the other, then the other,
etc.  Or the preferred method is to use an IC remover.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks again to all of you for your suggestions. I will try them all.
It started again this afternoon and when it does, you can clearly see
the LED blink to 7, then it stopped again and the LED is on but the
blinking seems dimmer and it does seem to stop around 5 when it does
not boot.

Most of the pins on this machine look really clean but the IC pins do
seem a little "black".

Thanks again!!!!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Latest

Took the MPU board out tonight, pulled U9, U10, U11 and U8 and cleaned
up the contacts. Cleaned up all of the harness connector pins also.
Put the board back in the machine
and no flashing LED. LED is lit but no flashes at all. All the IC's
are oriented the correct way according to page 21 of the manual.

Pulled 8, 9 and 10 again to reseat just to make sure, still no
flashing, just solid LED.

All the solder joints on the back look really good.

One step forward, two back!- Hide quoted text -

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PS, still have the correct voltage I had before on the 3 TP's?!?!?!

What about the game ROMs?  I believe onParagonit is U2 and U6?

Maybe taking the board out and reseating the chips caused one of the
ROMs connections to flake a bit.  I'd reseat those as well and see if
it works.  If not, I would reflow the solder on U9, U10, U11, U2, and
U6 and see if that helped (be sure to take the chips out when doing
this so you don't overheat them with the iron).

Be sure U10 and U11 are the 6820s or whatever they are and U9 is the
CPU chip (6800?).  I can't remember the numbers off the top of my
head.

If none of the above works I recommend getting a hold of Chris
Munson.  He is a miracle worker when it comes to Bally/Stern MPU
repair.- Hide quoted text -

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UPDATE:  Don't laugh, once I took my contacts out, I noticed more
corosion around the missing battery than I thought I had.  The ground
traces on the front and back are pretty corroded. I reset all chips as
suggested and it still did not work until I pushed on the board,
actually the LED, then the machine booted.  I reset U11 and pushed a
little extra hard on I think pin 1 of U11 where the trace looks a
little corroded from there to ground, also where the LED transistor
goes to ground and now it works fine.

My hopefully final question is, can I flow solder on both the front
and back traces to complete the ground traces????
   Should I do this or not??

Thanks again for everyone's help and support and great suggestions, I
could not have done it without all of the help!!!!- Hide quoted text -

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Be sure to clean the corrosion up first before doing this. Use a
solution of equal parts vinegar and water and scrub with a
toothbrush. Cleanse that area with 91% or greater rubbing alcohol and
let dry (the alcohol will really speed the drying process). Then you
can reflow the solder. It can be hard to reflow solder if the pads or
solder has corrosion on it... but if they are clean, reflow away!
Also, no need to reflow the top of the board, just the bottom. The
solder should sort of be "sucked" up through the hole to the top.
Something called the "capillary effect", I don't know :P
.

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