Chained, incidental failures and complications.
When you go out to cut the grass but you realize you need to sharpen the blades first. While sharpening the blades, you trip the garage GFI and end up at the hardware store buying breakers and new outlets to totally rewire your garage. Leaving the hardware store you get a flat and realize you loaned your floor-jack out to Tim, down the street. Before you know it, you are coming in after a 16 hour day covered in dirt, grime with cuts on your hands and knees and receipts for $250 worth of receipts in your wallet.
You never did get around to cutting the grass.
My latest adventures in Ice Cold Beer, have spiraled into one of these scenarios. My game PCB is back in the capable hands of Mr. Chris Hibler. He’s busy and might not get to it until sometime around September. Thing is, the PCB has plenty of repairs on it already, plenty of oxidation & hot-cold strains on the board, it may not be salvageable. So I’ve had my ear to the ground for a replacement (better) PCB.
Finally, the heavens opened to reveal a $400 opportunity to get a “tested, with warranty” Ice Cold Beer board from a reputable source. I jumped on it. Seemed a lot for one board but I saw it as a shortcut to finally get my game going.
A couple of weeks later, proverbial Christmas Morning! The new board arrived in the mail. As part of the purchase I was offered the option for the free play rom and said “yeah, that sounds awesome.”
Unfortunately… my game has a different logic error now and that has set me down another chain of failures and complications.
I reached out to the source for the board and he advised that it might be that ROM and that I should do a ROM swap with our loaner PCB to see if it clears it up. Problem is, I don’t have access to any other PCB’s now. But hey, no worries - I have my trusty Pocket Programmer 3.
I got this. :/
At this point in thinking I can foresee two potential EPROM causes for a logic error related to U24 or U23. One would be as simple as a squirrelly hexedit job in the free play rom hack that could be resulting in this reboot. The other, could be stuck bit(s) on the EPROM itself. There are times when you can write to an EPROM and some bits don’t take the new code. Sometimes you can UV-Erase or partially address the buffer around those stuck bits but usually it is a trash-bin situation. Get a new / different chip.
I can also think of a number of non-game-rom related potential causes. A sketchy circuit on one of the scoring digits, a switch problem on the impacted hole, a problem with the controlled-lamp circuit for the next lamp (Hole 7). But for now we are going under the assumption it is game-rom related.
I’m no EPROM expert but I do tend to get excited when I find a use for this $269 tool. I’ve written some pinball sound roms and used it to validate some arcade roms in the 2 and half years that I’ve had it. I came to this particular EPROM programmer by recommendation of The Broken Token Pinball & Arcade Podcast.
The EPROMs in U23 and U24 are Mitsubishi 2764’s. I happened to have a couple similar chips on hand in the parts bin. Generally speaking, I’m not a fan of Mitsubishi sillicon, when I can - I try to use EPROMS and ROMS from ST Micro. I find them to be less.. fidgety and bonus points for having the programming voltage etched on them and lower programming voltage requirements. 2764 is a 8x8 (64bit) ROM. It is interchangeable in most applications with 27c64 which is still being manufactured, today.
The stars are lining up…. I have the tools, we have the technology, I have the relative know-how, I have the ROM files - time to go to work!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC SWELL)
WOMP WOMP WOMP
I noticed that the Pocket Programmer software had been updated since I used it last. The update process includes a firmware write to the device, which apparently has failed. Son of a….
However, the pocket programmer is still being recognized by the software (and with the updated firmware version) so I thought I would be clear to proceed. The first problem showed up as I read the buffer from the chip into a file (dumped the rom). That file - was 2k. It should have been 8k.
I then dropped the original ROM into my crappy chinese made UV eraser. After multiple attempts, the Chip wasn’t reading as erased… I ASSUMED this meant my crappy UV eraser was too crappy (it does have a fidgety drawer interlock). Time for better tools, I tell myself..
I find a BK Precision Model 851 EPROM eraser as an open-box deal for $120 off regular price and jump on it.
“MAIL CALL!” - It arrives… and the first time I use it the control knob (which it turns out did not match this device) breaks off.
I will not be beaten by plastic.
So, I designed a better knob and 3d printed it on nearly indestructible nylon.
So, now I can erase the ever-lovin’ crap out of a metric butt-ton EPROMS. Unfortunately, I’m still not able to get a clean programming or erasure cycle out of a couple of these Mitsu 2764’s. After experimenting with some known good 27c64’s and ST Micro 2764a’s, I land on the conclusion that my little Pocket Programmer 3 is indeed Fubar’d.
… and their email is no longer valid. Are we having fun yet?
As one does, I reach out to their support with a well detailed email, offering to pay for replacement or repair assistance..
Just to Recap
So, my ICB PCB has spent more time in the mail or in repair queues than in my game, working. I bought a umm….. replacement PCB w/ a 1 year warranty to act as a shortcut for $400ish. It crashes the game after counting the bonus on hole 6. At suggestion of the PCB repair / warranty holder, I attempted to replace my game rom. The EPROM programmer software bricked my EPROM programmer with a failed firmware update. The half-bricked EPROM programmer in turn has bricked (3) 2764 EPROMS. There was a small UV eraser ordeal. My $269 EPROM programmer is in the mail for a $120 repair job to a company that I’m not even sure is still in business.
If you’ve made it this far, I know what you are probably thinking:
Dude, just get some game ROMS preprogrammed from someone already.
Well…. that IS a good idea. So, that’s why weeks ago before any of this I reached out to my usual trusted source for quality pinball game ROMS. Unfortunately, he thought Ice Cold Beer was a video game. No help there.
Also, ordered 2 ROM sets from a seller on eBay weeks ago. I guess that they are coming to Alabama by way of Shangri-La on the back of a mule. Estimated delivery date is August 11th & no tracking is available.
Asked about ICB Roms, got this back. No help there.
Ice Cold Beer game roms from an eBay source.
All of these ROM/ EPROM shenanigans and there is a definite non-zero chance that the situation that is tripping the WatchDog timer and bouncing the machine is related to power transfer somewhere else on the PCB. Scoring digit circuit, hole flasher, etc..
Next up and because there is apparently no limit on my AMEX when juxtaposed with my impatience, I ordered a GQ-4X because I’m relatively certain it will be weeks (or more) before I hear anything about my PP3. I’m hopeful once it arrives I’ll be able to get the game ROM settled…. but this is 2020…
8/6/2020 Update - The stars sort of aligned on 8/5. The eBay acquired EPROMS, the GQ-4x AND the loaner / test ICB PCB all landed in my lap to help to do some troubleshooting.
Gq-4X FTW
First up a nod to the GQ-4x4. It arrived on time (though shipping to the US from Canada is really expensive right now). Have used both the Pocket Programmer 3 and the GQ-4x4 I have to say I much prefer the GQ-4x. The software on the PP3 is a bit more barebones, minimal and feels like a DOS app that is running in a Window through some compatibility layers. Because, well - it is. I had gotten used to the PP3 software and it was familiar to me having grown up in tech through the DOS/BBS days, Pascal and ASM programming, etc.
But… the GQ-4x software seems to be a bit more Windows-native. It still doesn’t look like a modern app but it will be more familiar to some folks that grew up in the Win95/98/2k Reich. It installed easily and worked immediately, for the most part. It seems like the GQ-4x had a more comprehensive or at least more helpful device list. It has a favorites-list which I think is a nice touch.
One caveat, though.
The GC-4X didn't include the power adapter and even though the documentation implies you don't need it if you are using a powered USB hub - you probably do need it for some chips. Some of these 2764's take 21v for programming. Hard to get that out of a USB hub.
Specs for that are: 9V output, Center Positive, Anything over 400mah
- (Incidentally it is the same power brick as a Sega Genesis if you have any retro consoles laying around.)
So on one hand I wasted a ton of time on EPROM stuff with this game but on the other hand, I have the capacity to erase the EPROMs for an entire village at one time if the need every arises and I shored up my toolset a bit, so I guess some of this is tuition, right? right..?
Back to the task at hand
Armed with a known good EPROM reader / writer, some known good chips and a loaner PCB I was able to do more troubleshooting and situational inventory. I found that my PP3 was really borked. Many of the chips that didn’t read as erased, were in fact erased and reusable. I got verified Erase-Write cycles out of all but one. I found that of the 2 sets of ROMS I ordered from the eBayer above - one of the sound ROMS arrived blank. The chip was fine, though I was able to restore a sound rom dump for ICB back to it.
More importantly and perhaps depressingly, I was able to determine that my ICB PCB’s hole-6 restart was not related directly to logic in the Free-Play ROM. The 6th hole restart persisted on this board between the factory ROM and the ROMS from the loaner PCB. Further, the loaner PCB let me run through ten holes without a restart. I sent back the ICB PCB for further testing and investigation.
My suspicion is that the U39 WatchDog Timer is tripping following the bonus counter on hole 6. At first I thought it might be related to the playfield display board and voltage required to light an additional digit but watching the video, I didn’t go from 800 to 1200 on hole six, the thousand digit was already lit by hole five. With a little less frustration and clarity, I’m guessing the problem exists in the circuit for hole 7, specifically it is a controlled-lamps power issue… maybe….?
Looking at that schematic, assuming I’m reading it correctly, maybe there is a D7 that could cause. it. But I honestly can barely make this out / don’t remember what it looks like.
Looking at that schematic, I guess it could be U15 or a bad leg (2 or 15) on U15. Could also be C80 or C19, I suppose. The Ferrite Bead wouldn’t be bad I wouldn’t think but maybe a disturbed trace along the way. I’m not seeing a resistor in that schematic but I suspect the blinking action occurs as the result of a 1/4watt resistor paired with one of those caps and maybe a drive transistor somewhere. Hopefully it will be something simple and repeatable and not a “in this cabinet only” sort of bug. At any rate, it is headed back to the hands of a capable professional and I have faith he will find and settle the 6/7 restart.
In the meantime
While I’m board-less I’m going to spend some time redoing the edge connectors with fresh leaf pins, so I can eliminate any edge-to-card connector voltage shenanigans for future problems. I’ve noticed some issues with engagement that seems to change depending on the orientation of the PCB in the cabinet. Might as well eliminate those potential future problems while I wait..
