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Complete Stern Meteor

AlanJ

AlanJ

Site Supporter
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
7,771
Location
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Alias
Alan
Picked up yesterday, ebay purchase. Came complete with a new unfitted Alltek MPU Board - BONUS!
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Filthy inside cab:
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Fuse looks blow under pf:
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Someone removed the on/off switch and botched the wiring:
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But, there is a bag of used parts in the bottom of the cab, all sorts of playfield switches, targets, and....... an on/off switch. Looks like someone got a load of spares from another machine. I'll test the on/off swtich to see if it's a working one, or, is it the duff one they removed?
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Speaker wires disconnected. Is the sound card ****ed and making a horid noise? Hope not, but why would you disconnect the speaker otherwise???
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Knocker also disconnected - it's rusted up and plunger doesnt move at all!
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Seller says stopped working 4 years ago, he bought new MPU board but never tried fitting it. I would bet even money he did try fitting it and it didn't work!

Usual other issues, header connectors messed with, burnt pins on the rectifier board. No key plugs in the 3 to the rectifier board, and so not sure they are plugged in the right way round. I'll check those carefully:
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Looks like red and white on the left hand top connector are transposed according to manual - but a/c feed. so might be ok?
 
Jeez, that's some project. Good luck with it, way out of my comfort zone
 
I think that you could be labelled a pinball conservationist mentioned in the same context as David Attenborough or Greta Thunberg
 
Tuning in. If you need any photos Alan let me know and happy to take them.

Alan, I'd seriously consider selling the altek board and getting the weebly one because the altek board code can't be changed. I'm about to place an order for one with the new Meteor rom in it which is really worth while - Andrew is going to burn the ROM with the updated code below. The weebly board is $160 and probably $20 for the Rom I'd guess he hasn't quoted me for that but he did my nine ball and its fantastic.

triple zero quash in 7 digit version
faster replay level setting (ok this is minor, but it takes FOREVER with the stock interval to get >1,000,000 for settings)
add function in outhole to test if the spinner is stil spinning to avoid losing score
add dip #19 to turn on/off free play
add dip #17 to turn on/off 25k drop sweep bonus (any rocket bank 1-2-3 you sweep gives you 25k extra)
add sound nvram clear to bootup (see pinside discussion linked above)
player add after score zeroes previous player displayed score (see pinside discussion linked above)
added spinner counter similar to big game's mod/dragonfist (this is REALLY cool.... I've gotten almost 90 spins a couple times)
bug fix for collect all rockets (see RGP discussion as well as pinside discussion both linked above)
test drop banks at ball launch, only reset if targets down
dip 16 on=pay 3 specials for hstd, off=pay none (15 freed for future use)

And, as an added bonus, if you don't need/want to update your meteor to 7 digit displays, the above goodies can be compiled into the 6 digit codebase.
Click to expand...

I'm sticking with 6 digits for the time being.

Cheers,
Neil.
 
Probably the worst thing you ever want to find in the coin box of a pinball machine:
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Now, on to something you DO like to find in the bottom of a pinball machine @pinballmania :
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A note on the back of the card makes some reference to a replacement switch from a bally machine. I guess this is referring to the bag of spares including a mains power switch.
I tested the switch and it's working perfectly well, so:
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In it goes, all wired up.

Tested mains fuse, cable and wiring to line filter all ok - machine transformer converted from 110v to 240v already, looks ok. Removed the plus to cab and backbox off the rectifier board. The other plug needs to be there as that is the mains power in to the transformer as well as some outputs.
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Switched on - no drama, nice quiet transformer hum. (I'd checked all fuses were ok) - All voltages there on the test points, but the 43v seemed a little on and off.

Got to check out the Soleniod driver board and other boards before going any further.

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Not familiar with the Stern sound boards as this is my first Stern SS machine. Interesting they use the large connector at the top of the MPU board.

This is mentioned in ipdb about meteor:
"Some games pictured in this listing have a sticker on the lower apron identifying this game as "selected for tournament play". Designer Steve Kirk was founder and president of the Pinball Association of America, organizing major tournaments since the 1970s. Reportedly, these stickers, his idea, were installed on each apron starting at some point during the long production run."
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One way to introduce HSTD feature:
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Aim as with other machines is two step - get the thing working, sort out all the minor issues and have a playable game. Then decide if it's a keeper or not, if so, do the cosmetics, cab refurb/re-paint, coin door refurb, new legs, new playfield, plastics, backglass?

I've reconnected the loudspeaker. Checked all other wiring. Looks like some of the header changed. One onto the MPU is split in two and looks like there needs to be a 1 pin gap between the 2 parts - I'll check the wiring diagram first.......

MPU board looks ok, but I'll get it out on the bench and see if it boots. I created a nice little power supply that gives out +5v, +11v, +43v - which are all needed to get a successful boot on a bally or stern MPU.

More later............
 
Neil McRae said:
Tuning in. If you need any photos Alan let me know and happy to take them.

Alan, I'd seriously consider selling the altek board and getting the weebly one because the altek board code can't be changed. I'm about to place an order for one with the new Meteor rom in it which is really worth while - Andrew is going to burn the ROM with the updated code below. The weebly board is $160 and probably $20 for the Rom I'd guess he hasn't quoted me for that but he did my nine ball and its fantastic.



I'm sticking with 6 digits for the time being.

Cheers,
Neil.
Click to expand...
Cheers Neil. If I can get original MPU going I will, if not then I'll use the Alltek.

For 7 Digit upgrade I prefer the XPIN 7Volution system - a plug in board and a set of 7 digit displays. The beauty is no wiring changes. No new rom - it handles it all itself. Pretty neat. Means you can remove and go back to 6 digits if needed.

Might have a bash at creating my own...........
 
MPU board is knackered. This is a stern not a bally board but should operate almost the same. On initial power on there is no flicker - the led just goes straight to a blink - so is that a long flicker or blink #1, then I get 3 more blinks. So Im either at 3 or 4 blinks. Swapped out 6821 PIA's U10, U11, then swapped out 5101 Ram U7, 6810 U8, and a load of other faffing about. Nothing.

Gonna throw the board on my mounting pile of duff MPU boards and have a go with the Alltek. I should know by now that there boards are a pain and you can spend hours and hours on them and still get nowhere!

Ha - the Alltek board is a short board and the J1 header pins now lower and hard to plug in cos of the location of the Stern sound board on the left hand side of the cab. Have to plug in the connector before screwing the board into place.

Switched on - 7 flashes, needs to be 8 on alltek - something wrong somewhere........................................... 43v missing???
 
Managed to sort the 43v power issue. Got the alltek booting. now a ton of other issues come to light.
Flickering score displays 1.2.3 players. solenoids not working. usual plethora of lights not working including many feature lights. game starts but clocks up scores all the time, hopefully switch stuck somewhere. pops not working. only one sling working. No sound.
Got a load of stuff to look at.....
 
Fixed up most of the issues. now almost got the thing working.

mpu board not remembering the credits and high score properly. even though battery pack correctly installed. weird one. it’s an older alltek board the latest ones don’t have a battery at all. anyhow minor problem.

still got all the bulbs to replace.
 
Screwdriver on the points wakes them slings up.*

*Mileage may vary
 
Is it random scoring and not 000000 when powered on?
 
AlanJ said:
Fixed up most of the issues. now almost got the thing working.

mpu board not remembering the credits and high score properly. even though battery pack correctly installed. weird one. it’s an older alltek board the latest ones don’t have a battery at all. anyhow minor problem.

still got all the bulbs to replace.
Click to expand...
After 4 years of not being charged up, I would expect the battery needs changing...
 
Understand @Neil McRae 's comment about the CPU board (you can not change code on Altek).

But these new boards - how rock solid are they Neil? Have you had one in yours for a while?

Considering using them on future repairs but most the time - you install an altek it lasts, and is rock solid.
 
now running weebly on my nine ball and meteor, got boards for Ali and QS to go in. I won't go back to altek which I've had some blips with.

on stern the boards have a free play mode also but being able to use code as well as the shipping code and universal code for tons of games is great.
 
Fixed it. the board came with an off board battery holder that plugged into a pp9 type battery connector that is then soldered onto the board via two flying leads. the connector had a loose contact in it.
 
Pick Holder said:
Understand @Neil McRae 's comment about the CPU board (you can not change code on Altek).

But these new boards - how rock solid are they Neil? Have you had one in yours for a while?

Considering using them on future repairs but most the time - you install an altek it lasts, and is rock solid.
Click to expand...
@Pick Holder . FYI. We have been using Andrew’s cpu boards for 4+ years now on our full restoration Bally / stern ss commission’. They are only “new” as Andrew at weebly had to withdraw them from sell whilst they received official license from planetary Pinball. His board also has huo codes for games like Fathom and Skateball that talk you through the rules via the insert lights similar to modern wms games. Also some slightly different rules. Highly recommend them.
If that counts for anything anyway!?.....lol..
AlanJ said:
brand new set of 3 aa batteries. and battery power ok to the board so a bit of a strange one
Click to expand...
Silly question....but are your jumpers set to the left, necessary for most sterns on an alltek mpu.
Great work by the way Alan. Really enjoying this thread and the hgot😍👊🏼💥
Cheers all. Keef.
EDIT. ahh you fixed it in the time it took me to type this...🤣🤣🤣Alan, are you Man or machine?
 
Hi Keith - yes jumpers to the left, thanks. Fortunately I read the manual first !

Interesting you use the weebly boards too. I'll try one someetime..... In the meantime I'll torture myself to death and try to repair this pile of original MPU boards.
 
This machine is up and running, I need to replace the drop targets - all 4 banks need doing, so ordered a set from USA, also got stencils from pinball pimp to do the cab up.
 
I'd missed this thread, Alan,

But Stern must've been using poor quality power switches at the time. Both examples of Ali that I owned had the switch broken and by-passed. And I now recall that another for auction at the Poa show in 1988 was the same; the lad I'd bought one of mine from asked to refer to it, as it was at the event. Hang on, though, maybe that was a Meteor, but there was yet another broken switch.
 
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