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Data East Tommy - DMD Fully Lit

Calimori

Calimori

Staff member
10 Years
Joined
Mar 15, 2012
Messages
4,558
Location
Bedfordshure, UK
I thought I could help @highjon out with his issue here as I remembered mine was similar: https://www.pinballinfo.com/community/threads/data-east-dmd-problem-any-ideas.48626/
But on starting Tommy up for the first time in months I found a solid lit screen. I don't want to hijack @highjon thread until I am back to where his issue is.

Issue: Data East Tommy, DMD is fully lit and does not show anything other than all dots at full brightness. Game does play and go into modes.

IMG_7599.JPG

So far I have:
  1. CPU cable to Graphics board - works in another machine
  2. Graphics board to DMD - works in another machine
  3. DMD swapped out
  4. Power to the DMD
    PinExpectedActual
    P1 pin 1-110 volts
    -106.6​
    P1 pin 2-98 volts
    -95.5​
    P1 pin 3KEY
    P1 pin 4Ground
    P1 pin 5Ground
    P1 pin 6+5 volts
    5​
    P1 pin 7+12 volts (only used on Babcock displays)
    12​
    P1 pin 8+68 volts
    66.9​
  5. Power to Graphics board +5v
    ​
  6. Caps on PSU all look fine
  7. IMG_7626.jpg

PSU looks pretty ropey but I can't find the RottenDog alternative in stock and I think my readings are OK.

Any other ideas on what to try?
 
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I have tried using a Pin2dmd with external power source using another DMD cable to the DE graphics card and it was solid still. My thoughts are this is not a power issue but the DMD board or rom.
Any thoughts?
 
Going back to the figures, it does show that their is not a 12 volt difference between pin 1 and pin 2 so that is a low voltage issue. So whilst this not be all the issue, it is an issue.
Taking the PSU out, it is very crunchy on the back, in multiple areas, so I will look for a replacement PSU anyway.
 
Yes, tried a few. Rigged it up with a pin2DMD on seperate power and all attempts are solid lit. However, the actually DMD controller board was still powered by Tommy.
 
Think they’re the best option. I’d offer a loan of my JP ps but I’ve never powered it up yet so don’t know if It will work or make things worse...
 
Whilst waiting for the power board, I have had a quick deliver from Pinball Heaven on a new DMD cable and Data cable. No change.
As I thought but it was worth having a spare set.
 
You’ve not done a rom swap recently, display or mpu? And have you tried another display board yet? I have a spare you can try...
 
Recap of the list of things checked so far:
The DMD works in other machines and 3 have been tried
I actually rigged up a Pin2dmd to bypass concerns that the DMD was the issue
The cables have all been swapped both from cpu and from graphics board to DMD
The cpu and graphics roms are all new, thanks Paul
The power board is a brand new xpin

So either the graphics board is naff or the CPU board is the issue
 
Very kind. I am going to test a few things later with regards to the boards with a logic probe and if I can’t see anything wrong, I will take you up on the offer.
 
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@Jagspete sent me a working board very quickly and it arrived today.
At first it didn’t work and wasn’t lit at all. I double checked roms and cables and power, even on the CPU.
Then remembered that earlier games had two roms on the display board and sure enough the 0hm resistor was in R11 making the board expect another rom.
596422226361def653e093ef8616f77d.jpg
@Jagspete kindly agreed to let me remove it and the DMD fired into life. Now I know where my issue is and will try to test the differences between boards.
0ac59749db4050917cf2244dde9aea9f.jpg
Thanks @Jagspete.
 
With a working one and a bench rig, I went through the none working one and no luck. I bought one from eBay and that didn’t work, it has no output what so ever. No output was what you get when the machine is expecting two ROM but the jumper in R11 is absolutely not there so it shouldn’t be that.
I went through the eBay one with a logic probe and compared it to the working one and it certainly has differences that show it to be confused. I carefully removed and tested the relevant IC’s and they all test ok. I could be doing this for months so I bit the bullet and bought a Rottendog replacement but that is also showing nothing.

So, I know I have a working board with a working ROM as Jagpetes works fine. Power is all sorted with an XPIN board. DMD is also fine.
The Rottendog board is also set up for one ROM and I did put the ROM in the correct ROM0 slot.
Shaun at Pinball Displays says he tested this before he sent it out.
Have I missed anything anyone can suggest?
 
I wouldn’t touch a rotten dog board they are rubbish
Really sorry to hear this calamori maybe you could send the original boards to Jim @ my pinball and let him work his magic
 
The Rottendog board is largely a replica of the original with the same components. Sean took mine back and found the processor to have had an issue, tested an returned and now I have a working board for Tommy.
I still plan to make a working board from the two that I have, for fun and to help someone in the future.
 
Calimori said:
The Rottendog board is largely a replica of the original with the same components. Sean took mine back and found the processor to have had an issue, tested an returned and now I have a working board for Tommy.
I still plan to make a working board from the two that I have, for fun and to help someone in the future.
Click to expand...
Woohoo!!! :D
 
Calimori said:
The Rottendog board is largely a replica of the original with the same components. Sean took mine back and found the processor to have had an issue, tested an returned and now I have a working board for Tommy.
I still plan to make a working board from the two that I have, for fun and to help someone in the future.
Click to expand...
That is so bad, and supposedly tested before sent out. If you’d been replacing a faulty board, rather than the loaned working one, you’d have assumed your machine was to blame ,with all the extra time and cost involved chasing a non existent fault....
 
Yes. Your loan board really did help me know where the issue was and be confident to push for it to be looked into.
Otherwise, I would have been fighting in the dark.

I plan to still try to make a working one from the two none working ones I have but for now I am great full it is working.
 
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