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Data East Jurassic Park won't boot up

Stazman

Stazman

Registered
Joined
Jul 13, 2021
Messages
26
Location
Northamptonshire
Hi guys,

I'm new here and hoping I've found the best place for some help with my machine please?

I wonder if you could help me and point me in the right direction to diagnose a fault with my Data East Jurassic Park machine, it started not booting up on power up, I just get a click sound, lamps on and nothing else with a slight humming coming from the speakers. If I powered on and off sometimes it would come on, now though it just stays in that state. Does this sound familiar and is there anything I can check like certain capacitors which are known to cause this problem. On the board only 2 of the 3 leds light up if this helps? I have a volt meter if I need to check voltage.

Thanks in advance.
Carl
 
I will do, I did open it up and as far a I could see there was no battery damage, I only replaced the batteries last year as I'm aware of leaving old batteries in and the damaging effect they can have.
 
Stazman said:
Thanks I'll try this, I must admit I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to this, any advice would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

The board on the top left of the backbox has four little loops.


The black wire in the right is attached to the ground loop (do that first), then you can attach to one of the four loops on the top left board. Ones 12v-, 12v+ and 5v
Set multimeter to DC and record the readings.

For example in my photo my 12v+unreg is showing 10.76v

Always attach ground first... And remove from the test points first. Don't touch anything metal on the pin when doing this. 20210713_135215.jpg
 
Thank you this is really appreciated, I'll do this first of all and let you know my findings. I notice you have the colour display, is it worth the upgrade? I would love to LED mine and get the colour display at some point. Have no idea of cost to do this yet though.
 
Stazman said:
Thank you this is really appreciated, I'll do this first of all and let you know my findings. I notice you have the colour display, is it worth the upgrade? I would love to LED mine and get the colour display at some point. Have no idea of cost to do this yet though.
Click to expand...
Mines a pin2dmd, its great! I can't remember how much it was (cheaper than the usual ones) I bought an extension to the power board so I could plug it in without messing about splicing cables.
This thing...
20210713_143857.jpg
Colour is great on DEJP!


Regarding the test points there is a gnd point with the test points but I find it a bit crowded.



20210713_143742.jpg

Here's a close up of the gnd I use on the lower right board in my original photo
20210713_143721.jpg
 
David_Vi said:
Mines a pin2dmd, its great! I can't remember how much it was (cheaper than the usual ones) I bought an extension to the power board so I could plug it in without messing about splicing cables.
This thing...
View attachment 142510
Colour is great on DEJP!


Regarding the test points there is a gnd point with the test points but I find it a bit crowded.



View attachment 142512

Here's a close up of the gnd I use on the lower right board in my original photo
View attachment 142511
Click to expand...
David_Vi said:
Mines a pin2dmd, its great! I can't remember how much it was (cheaper than the usual ones) I bought an extension to the power board so I could plug it in without messing about splicing cables.
This thing...
View attachment 142510
Colour is great on DEJP!


Regarding the test points there is a gnd point with the test points but I find it a bit crowded.



View attachment 142512

Here's a close up of the gnd I use on the lower right board in my original photo
View attachment 142511
Click to expand...
Ah I see those loops now, this is very helpful, thank you. Another thing that may help is, in the past, sometimes when a game ended the machine would freeze for a minute with lights on, then just start to work again, not sure if this would be related?
 
Stazman said:
Ah I see those loops now, this is very helpful, thank you. Another thing that may help is, in the past, sometimes when a game ended the machine would freeze for a minute with lights on, then just start to work again, not sure if this would be related?
Click to expand...
That doesn't sound normal. I'd work on the current issue first....
I'm a beginner myself but have learnt bits and pieces when problems have arisen.
I'm quite lost when it comes to the boards and components and have to get help myself.

I'm happy to help when is something I have already encountered.
Hopefully someone else can help and offer more professional advice!
 
David_Vi said:
That doesn't sound normal. I'd work on the current issue first....
I'm a beginner myself but have learnt bits and pieces when problems have arisen.
I'm quite lost when it comes to the boards and components and have to get help myself.

I'm happy to help when is something I have already encountered.
Hopefully someone else can help and offer more professional advice!
Click to expand...
I must admit I find it interesting and it's always nice to learn new skills, I'm just hoping it's nothing too serious. I've had the machine for 15 years with no trouble really so I guess I'm pretty lucky in that sense.
 
Thanks so far guys, I knew this was the right place to ask for help. Now I need to do some tests I guess and let you know.
 
Right guys I've done some tests this morning on the voltage on the power board:

+12 = 11.4v
-12 = 14v
+5 = 4.9v

Now the strange thing, as soon as I put the probes on the ground and +12 the machine came back to life. At first it said it was missing all six balls. Once I switched it on again it worked as normal. Now does any of this make sense to anyone or could help point me what to do or check next please?

Thanks
Carl
 
Probably a hairline crack on the solder join for the board connector that you put your probe on. If it continues to work then I'd leave until it doesn't.
 
Hi guys, I'm back in the same position, with the games not booting up. I've taken the board off to look for any visible problems, but couldn't see anything. I also pressed lightly around the areas I test the voltage to see if this would again bring it back to life, nothing worked though. I'm at a bit of a loss now and don't know what I can do, please could anyone advise me? I did notice this connector looking quite black and almost burnt out, could this be the issue do you think?
 

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That connector isn’t the worst I’ve seen, I’d be concerned about the 2 yellow wires that only appear twisted together though, make sure they’re firmly in the socket and maybe get some solder there. If you have the backbox open when you switch on what do the 3(I think) leds on the main board do. Also pull and check the fuses at the bottom left of the backbox, as well as the ones on the power board that you’ve photoed the connector on.
 
Stazman said:
Hi guys, I'm back in the same position, with the games not booting up. I've taken the board off to look for any visible problems, but couldn't see anything. I also pressed lightly around the areas I test the voltage to see if this would again bring it back to life, nothing worked though. I'm at a bit of a loss now and don't know what I can do, please could anyone advise me? I did notice this connector looking quite black and almost burnt out, could this be the issue do you think?
Click to expand...

That's just the General Illumination, should be nothing to do with your non booting issues
 
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