What's new

(Fixed, thanks!) TZ won't power on after installing pinsound

bethamari

bethamari

Registered
Joined
Oct 16, 2016
Messages
422
Location
Harrogate
Hi all,

Hope everyone's well!

I've just added a ColorDMD to our TZ which worked well and then have done a Pinsound.

I followed all the instructions and labelled all the cables up correctly, and took lots of photos so I'm confident that the wiring is okay.

The first time I powered on afterwards, the DMD did the line display so I turned off and double checked my ribbon cables across the boards.

Now when I power on, the ColorDMD has no display (but you can see its on rather than off), the start button doesn't come on, the back box doesn't light up, none of the playfield lights come on, machine doesn't seem to be on.

The only things that light up are Robby the Robot and gumball light mods. The ColorDMD is turning on but has no display. You can hear the pinsound come on and work.

I've checked against https://www.pinball.co.uk/pinball-problems-2/wpc-leds-explained/

D19 never goes off after 3 seconds, so D20 never comes on. D21 is lit.

Any ideas of what I could try to do to fix please?


Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Bummer. Is it worth putting it back to stock and seeing if it still boots OK?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
FWIW I'd have original TZ audio over Pinsound any day of the week. I've had pinsound in lots of machines, I only ever found a very limited number of good replacement soundmixes - and in this case even if it's the Chris Granner DCS mix, it sounds different, but not better. The only pinsound upgrades I kept were GNR and IJ (WMS). I have a pinsound in my STNG but run the original DCS score.

Hope you get it working, likely something simple given it's usually a straight swap and plug in.

Are all your boards Williams, I think I had a similar issue once when a Rottendog board was used in conjunction with Pinsound.
 
That's really helpful @pinballmania. Thank you! So without them both in, the playfield lights up. After plugging back in the first one that runs across the pinsound card at J506 and J601 connectors, there's no lights. With the second cable in that goes to J602, there is.

So I guess the ribbon cable that isn't working is probably seated wrong somewhere? I'll take it off and put it back on again. I've kept it the right way with the pink/red line facing towards the very top of the back box and I labelled where to plug it, so I think it's right but potentially not seated fully?
 
I’m going to guess that you’ve ran out of power somewhere with all those extras - I had a similar issue with ToM when I put pinsound in (which was to deal with a hum which it didn’t help so I backed it out). I sort of agree with Spadge unless you upgrade the speakers and to a sub then pinsound is very very good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Or it could be dodgy ribbon cable or connector!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
@pinballmania, I've tried reseating the ribbon cable at points J506 and J601 a couple of times but it still doesn't resolve the issue.

I made sure to only remove it from the ends, so hopefully I've not damaged it as I've not pulled on the cable itself but I noticed when taking it off that it is really dusty.

Without it, all the lights come on the playfield, DMD turns on but no display (because cable is missing?)

@Neil McRae, we have added quite a few mods on to this. We don't normally bother with them and our tables, we're normally stock but ChrisB sorted comets for us on MB and SS after we saw how amazing they make TAF - they make the tables look brand new. However with TZ, we saw such a nice example at Play Expo - we've been aiming for that really!

List of mods below in case it could be power related or anything I could try:
led strip down ball launched lane, slot machine scoop and shooter lane scoop are lit, camera mod, Robby the Robot mod, gumball light mod and led strip for the back box which is currently disconnected as I needed to use J116 for the ColorDMD.

Got the TV on order and the spiral fitted but that's not drawing power :D
 
My TZ was pretty loaded with mods and didn’t have any power outs or problems. I think I had an issue with pinsound (ages ago) and it was down to a rotten dog board iirc.
 
Okay, original sound board is back in again. But I'm having the same issue unless I unplug the first ribbon cable from the CPU board.

It was working fine earlier before I tried adding the Pinsound in:

IMG_20180128_160351.jpg
 
Last edited:
Make sure you are putting on the ribbon cables correctly not missing out any pins or a row of pins also make sure you haven’t bent any pins
Pin sound is a waste of time in tz
Every time you put a mod on you are putting more and more strain on the 12v which is already maxed out on a tz you often get re set issues due to this on heavily modded games I have done I always re build and upgrade the 12v on the driver board
 
Is there a good tip for the ribbon cables? I’m trying to watch as closely as I can when seating them to make sure that they are all aligned but it’s quite hard to see
 
@chris b, I’ve got the ribbon cable in from TAF now, which is a lot straighter than the cable I took out. But still having the exact same issue. With it in, it’s making a sort of clicking noise and machine now turning on properly. Without it the machine turns on but no DMD, which looks to have power as it then on but no display (as cable is out?)
 
Also I have an unused 12v supply that you can drive mods from, plugs into the supply in the front right cab, then there’s a couple of alternative 12v points.

I hated swapping over ribbon cables.
 
bethamari said:
@chris b, I’ve got the ribbon cable in from TAF now, which is a lot straighter than the cable I took out. But still having the exact same issue. With it in, it’s making a sort of clicking noise and machine now turning on properly. Without it the machine turns on but no DMD, which looks to have power as it then on but no display (as cable is out?)
Click to expand...

Hmm fuse in top left of power board, F115 or F116 (can’t recall offhand) that sounds like the fuse that used to go and pull the 12v down and dmd on my stng. Check it.
 
Tried swapping the other ribbon cable as well, I thought it was fine as with it plugged in but the other out, it was still powering on and that’s resolved it! Thanks so much to everyone for their help.

Would people not recommend a Pinsound in TZ then? We want to keep the original music but thought it would sound a lot sharper as both our TZ and MB sound a bit tiny and like a weak sound so we wanted to give it a try as we’ve never used one before
 
bethamari said:
Would people not recommend a Pinsound in TZ then? We want to keep the original music but thought it would sound a lot sharper as both our TZ and MB sound a bit tiny and like a weak sound so we wanted to give it a try as we’ve never used one before
Click to expand...

No, stick with the original, you’ll learn to love it - pinsound is sharp but doesn’t have the character.

Consider fitting an external driven sub rather than the cabinet speaker, that would work better imho.

Same with MB, btw.
 
It was the original audio files that I had loaded onto the pin sound, sharper is what we’re after :) will give it a go fitting again tomorrow to see what we think as it’s only a quick job
 
bethamari said:
It was the original audio files that I had loaded onto the pin sound, sharper is what we’re after :) will give it a go fitting again tomorrow to see what we think as it’s only a quick job
Click to expand...

Ah ok, only issue I had is that it doesn’t synchronize the samples always which is why I’m putting the dcs back in my stng.

Did you check f116 the lone fuse in the top left of the power board?
 
better to upgrade the speakers - even with that it sounds better!
 
Going to order some new ribbon cables as we’ve taken them from TAF now. I know that one is obviously the 4 seater connection but what’s the other long one with two connections called please? There seems to be a few. It’s the one that goes from the bottom left board (CPU?) to the top right board - the one that’s also home to the super skinny ribbon that goes to the DMD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom