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In Progress Aerosmith Pro

Devil-Mish said:
I can confirm going node 8 to 8c, back to node 8b does work. So node 8bs passthrough is dead, but node 8cs is fine. đź‘Ť

Although still nothing from node 8b to node 8d.
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Ok so on 8b how many dead /non working leds? Can you properly identify them in a list. We should e able to fix the pass through /buffer part with an ic change

8d is most likely a dead serial ic or the watchdog ic so thats an option for this one to.

The motor driver board i think we can bench test at the same time and work out which serial ic is dead to

So i would just send all 3 to me for diagnosis. I will dm you the costs etc but its gonna be way less than 2/3 new pcbs plus shipping & vat etc.
 
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myPinballs said:
Careful, the early spike 2 version doesnt work with all games...

'This #509-1004-01 board is an earlier version of board #509-1003-01. It works in any Stern SPIKE 2 machine with the exception of Batman '66 & Aerosmith, the first two SPIKE 2 machines.'

Version 509-1003-01 is what he needs and thats $600 plus shipping, vat and import fees etc. Or get a proper export version..

Not sure though if its a hardware thing or just some firmware change
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For the record, I did some research and it seems the only difference is they depopulated some connectors like the SATA and UART. In addition to the 1003 and 1004 part numbers on the PBL website, the AS manual has a different part number (509-1000-00), and the board in the above photos yet another (509-1001-018) !

I wonder if the alleged "incompatibility" is the CN15 connector which feeds the LED boards on either side. Later titles don't have these and the CPU isn't enclosed in a metal box.

In any case, @Devil-Mish got the $400 one (1004 part nr) and it seems to play just fine so the incompatibility clearly isn't something blatant.

I'd also say to get a proper export version, except the only one I could find online is over €800 and has a 12 week lead time... Maybe I'm not looking in the right place?
 
As @Fubar mentioned above, I now have a new CPU, as well as a whole new slew of boards running in the machine (2 new playfield node boards, 1 new cabinet node board, new CPU and new trough boards).

Everything that was originally in JP is back in and working over there.

I still need to splice the PDU to CPU cable, and the monitor 4-pin 'backlight' cable from CPU to monitor but other than that the machine runs completely on its own now.

The node 8b and 8d have been sent off for @myPinballs expert review, I'll have some more pictures and updates likely when they come back in and I'll show off the new boards and such then.

It's on my priorities to sort out the cosmetics next once its playing well on its own and will continue to update here.
 
Hey @myPinballs ,

Pictured below:

Toys in the attic: Faint, but working
Love in an elevator: Working
Rats in the cellar; not working
dude looks like a lady: not working
back in the saddle: not working
Sweet emotion: not working
Walk this way: not working
Same old song and dance: Working
Last Child: Working
20260105_082250.webp
 
A small yet major update to the project.

Aerosmith is now fully functional on its own! Spliced cables were a mess to fix, so they don't look pretty, but they work.
20260111_114144.webp
20260111_114152.webp


First time ever I've been able to get Jurassic Park, the donor / parts machine and Aerosmith functional at the same time.
(Ignore the Vewlix which has been moved purely to serve as a workbench for the project!)
20260111_114354.webp
 
Devil-Mish said:
A small yet major update to the project.

Aerosmith is now fully functional on its own! Spliced cables were a mess to fix, so they don't look pretty, but they work.
View attachment 297346
View attachment 297347


First time ever I've been able to get Jurassic Park, the donor / parts machine and Aerosmith functional at the same time.
(Ignore the Vewlix which has been moved purely to serve as a workbench for the project!)
View attachment 297348
Click to expand...
if you dont need those early side led board anymore i'd just get rid of them now you have this other cpu board installed.
 
myPinballs said:
if you dont need those early side led board anymore i'd just get rid of them now you have this other cpu board installed.
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Yeah that's the plan, I've left them for now to see what it looks like with the cage reinstalled and if it's worth trying to get the boards running separately, or if I alter the cage to help some light through from the new PCB, or if I look at alternative lighting solutions.
 
I've noticed in your photos that one of the 3 pop bumpers is illuminated a different colour to the other 2. Something isn't right there, as they should all be the same colour
 
Davey D said:
I've noticed in your photos that one of the 3 pop bumpers is illuminated a different colour to the other 2. Something isn't right there, as they should all be the same colour
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I think they're RGB right so they display different colours at different times? Could just be a timing issue when I took the picture, or could be something with node 9a too as that's apparently the one that drives that... There is some odd intermittent lighting throughout still like things flickering, I wonder if it's still a power draw issue from somewhere I haven't quite gotten to the bottom of.
 
Devil-Mish said:
Yeah that's the plan, I've left them for now to see what it looks like with the cage reinstalled and if it's worth trying to get the boards running separately, or if I alter the cage to help some light through from the new PCB, or if I look at alternative lighting solutions.
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I would just forget about the cage to
 
Yes the pop bumpers are RGB, but normally they all display the same colour at the same time

I removed the cage from mine, as i couldnt fit something for the insider connect. Can't remember if it was the usb wifi dongle or the extra microSD
 
Ok Lamp update.

I have fixed the first pcb, the 8B one. After quit abit of research and realising some stern schematics have wrong part numbers on them ..

Doesnt bode well for other boards, as this first one (8b) had leds locked on and some off, so an led on at boot , or on solid in attract/game does not mean its working, it means the chip controlling it is dead and randomly locked on either off or on. Both serial shift registers were dead on it, so i have changed both and bingo all working again.. And also thank god the tiny final buffer ic (which would almost be impossible to change) is ok so we are getting serial data out of the second connector again. :) (So in summary all 16 outputs on this board were broken)

Video of attract mode from my ghostbusters spike 1 test bench setup.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com


IMG_2256.webpIMG_2263.webp
 
myPinballs said:
Ok Lamp update.

I have fixed the first pcb, the 8B one. After quit abit of research and realising some stern schematics have wrong part numbers on them ..

Doesnt bode well for other boards, as this first one (8b) had leds locked on and some off, so an led on at boot , or on solid in attract/game does not mean its working, it means the chip controlling it is dead and randomly locked on either off or on. Both serial shift registers were dead on it, so i have changed both and bingo all working again.. And also thank god the tiny final buffer ic (which would almost be impossible to change) is ok so we are getting serial data out of the second connector again. :) (So in summary all 16 outputs on this board were broken)

Video of attract mode from my ghostbusters spike 1 test bench setup.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com www.dropbox.com


View attachment 297563View attachment 297565
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Thanks Jim, brilliant news!

Thanks for updating to the thread here for all to see your updates too :)
 
Also from research during fixing these, the best test is the attract mode patterns as they strobe the leds individually and in differing patterns . The stern built in tests are not very good. The all lamp test for example can give false results..
 
2 steps forward, 1 step back.

So got both the boards back today, plugged them in and Node 8, to the new nobe 8b, perfect, to 8c (untouched), fine, to the new 8d... Nothing.

Swapped the cables to go from noode 8, to 8b, 8d, 8c, 8e to exclude 8c, and all lights work fine, but the 8e motor still doesn't run or show any sign of life.

But man, when all the lights do work, from Jim's new boards, it's bloody spectacular in comparison to what I'm used to now!

I'm still dubious about node 9a, the subboard at the top which controls the light as the lights are working, but static for the most part which makes me think the controller on node 9a isn't working as expected.

@myPinballs, expect a PM to see if you can look at these 2 boards, and I feel I may aswell send you the motor board at the same time which will then mean there's not a single board in this machine that hasn't been tampered with, or completely replaced at this point!
 
Devil-Mish said:
2 steps forward, 1 step back.

So got both the boards back today, plugged them in and Node 8, to the new nobe 8b, perfect, to 8c (untouched), fine, to the new 8d... Nothing.

Swapped the cables to go from noode 8, to 8b, 8d, 8c, 8e to exclude 8c, and all lights work fine, but the 8e motor still doesn't run or show any sign of life.

But man, when all the lights do work, from Jim's new boards, it's bloody spectacular in comparison to what I'm used to now!

I'm still dubious about node 9a, the subboard at the top which controls the light as the lights are working, but static for the most part which makes me think the controller on node 9a isn't working as expected.

@myPinballs, expect a PM to see if you can look at these 2 boards, and I feel I may aswell send you the motor board at the same time which will then mean there's not a single board in this machine that hasn't been tampered with, or completely replaced at this point!
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Please share or send me directly some videos of the game in attract so i can check 8c and 9a. If you have static lights then that means's the board controlling them is likely broken to.as i said above. ie in attract they should flash and strobe with the full patterns.

I suspect 8c is not ok and 9a well thats anyones guess but if node 9 was fried then its likely dead aswell

And 8e will be dead to i think
 
While not the most exciting update, the other sub boards have been packaged up and sent to Jim for review.

In the meantime, here's the video I sent him of the current attract mode, with his new boards in. Bloody hell the colours in this game are awesome, can't wait to get the rest of it all back together with hopefully all of those other boards following suit:

Also picked up new glass from Andy at Retroids (thank you again!) so nice to get the old glass replaced.

Aerosmith pro translite is still on its way from Cointaker, has been to almost every state at this point but finally got a Royal mail tracking number today so hopefully by the end of this week if Jim's had a chance to work his magic we could be in a much better place with the machine.

Still need to work out some of the bulbs that are out towards the bottom, and why they flicker when the coils are engaged, hoping those 2 are related but its right down the bottom of the priority list!
 
I've been meaning to check the attract mode on mine, as something didn't seem right on yours. It looks like the pops, lane arrows and multi ball lock numbers on yours aren't working quite right.

Are those lights controlled by a different board compared to the rest of the playfield?

Here is what it should look like:

 
Davey D said:
I've been meaning to check the attract mode on mine, as something didn't seem right on yours. It looks like the pops, lane arrows and multi ball lock numbers on yours aren't working quite right.

Are those lights controlled by a different board compared to the rest of the playfield?

Here is what it should look like:

Click to expand...
Hey Dave, thanks for that, much appreciated... Can't wait to see mine lit up like that!

Yeah those are all controlled by the node 9a board, which Jim has in his hands as we speak so fingers crossed he can work out why the colours are off, looks like most of the LEDs on that board are functional for the most part, just not controlled properly by that node board.
 
Been a couple weeks, finally got around to cabinet dismantlement day! Found a local place thatll supposedly give the powdercoating a try, will try get it out to them soon.

I'll be honest this was a much bigger pain than I thought, all the rusted bolts stuck in, a number of them needed drilling out, or a lot of WD40 / elbow grease to pry apart but it's done now!

I have the new backbox sides and art already, will find some time to put all of that together soon, but no rush until I get the powdercoated parts back anyway
 

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