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Dr Dude woes

pinballslave

Registered
Joined
Jan 13, 2014
Messages
105
Location
Litvinov, Czech Republic
I just switched the game on after 20+ years of storage, with the backbox open, after checking the the boards looked good, no acid damage (batteries were already removed) and making sure all the connectors at least looked well connected... the game has been stored in a warm dry place for the last 2 years, so there's no condensation possibility... the GI came on and the 'molecular mixmaster' disk was spinning and there was a message on the left display, but I couldn't read it because it was in German... it stayed like this, so I decided to turn it off rather than just have the motor spinning... then I turned it on again to see if it behaved the same, and to try and get into the menu system, but this time nothing at all... zero, not even the faint flicker of a light... I'm guessing a fuse has gone...

If, by some miracle, someone else with a Dr Dude recognises this behaviour of the disk spinning while having a message in the left display who can shed some light on this, then please shed that light!

Also, anyone know what fuses I need to check now it's totally dead?

Thanks a lot!!!

Lee.
 
The jumpers are set to german on the CPU board. You need to put physical jumpers onto USA. Then messages will be in english.

Would start at that.

For now I would disconnect the wire to the motor on the spinning disc. Could be a transistor stuck on.

Does the game boot if you go in and out of service menus?

Fuses do degrade over time, so there is one in the same box as the on and off switch. Start by checking this. Oh, and the one in the plug itself - do not forget that.
 
Thanks for your amazing help!! So, I've had a look at my board and I see there are no roms in positions U21 and U22... which is a bit surprising! At W7 at the moment there is 'something' not sure what it is... see pic... it's like a resistor, but with no colour code on it... zero ohm is one black line apparently... could it be an open circuit resistor, if they exist? Do I need to jumper across this? Also, would there be a jumper to give the German text which I need to remove??
 

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@Pick Holder it says on the wiki that this jumper was only used up until Cyclone (1988). Dr Dude is 1990, so does this means its actually a ROM change required? Or an install if they're missing?
 
@Pick Holder it says on the wiki that this jumper was only used up until Cyclone (1988). Dr Dude is 1990, so does this means its actually a ROM change required?
Was not sure where this fell in the 'time line' of games.
You are right.
Has it ever been in english ?
There is a setting you can change the language in the roms. May be worth doing that.

On the U21/22 missing - is there a seperate sound board with this game?
 
Has it ever been in english ?
I bought it from Poland, so I guess the language of the text was always in German.
There is a setting you can change the language in the roms. May be worth doing that.
This is done by navigating the menu system?

Yes, there appears to be a separate sound board, see pics.
 

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I found out why it didn't turn on the 2nd time... I blew the fuse to the socket ring! Thankfully it didn't trip the whole house or I would have been in the dog house!! (Not that we have dog!). No more testing tonight, that's for sure! It's dark, and the wife is watching the news!! Not worth the risk!!

If it tripped the ring main fuse, it seems like there's something very iffy about it... either that or I have over-sensitive trips!
 
Could just be the latter, I have multiple games that trip my shed fuse on power up. I think it has something to do with games that don't have a varistor installed on the switch box but tbh I haven't looked into it.
 
Well, bearing in mind it did power up the first time, gives me hope... but I do know I have an over sensitive main fuse to the entire house, that's tripped a couple of times before when I should have only tripped the specific circuit I had the problem on... hence my paranoia about causing a blackout!

Still not sure how to change the display text language... but can only resume work when it's daylight and the TV isn't being watched! ;-)
 
Based on the pinwiki I think you're going to have to change the sound roms on that soundboard you posted photos of game rom on the mpu, I didn't see any language settings available in the sevice menu when I had a quick scan of the manual. @Pick Holder would have a better idea than I do though. If you do need new roms @Paul can burn you some.

Of course that's still only going to get us to the point of knowing what error is being displayed 😊

(edited for clarity)
 
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If you do need new roms @Paul can burn you some.

Of course that's still only going to get us to the point of knowing what error is being displayed 😊
I think you're right and I need new Roms... I guess the error is just telling my that factory setting have been restored, due to it not having batteries. I'll get in touch with @Paul. Thanks for all the help! Not worked on a System 11 before...
 
There is a setting you can change the language in the roms. May be worth doing that.
So I guess you're referring to the game ROMs at U26/27 as the ROMs with this setting? If these are defaulting to German when factory settings are restored, this should be fixable by changing the ROMs for ones that default to English?

Alternatively, if someone with the game ( or maybe any System 11 after Cyclone) can find out the path to get to the language change, I can just follow that path and change it to English, then put the batteries in so it stays there... obviously making a note of the path for future battery deaths...
 
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W7 - Language Select Jumper

W7 is used only in games up to Cyclone. Games with 16 digit alphanumeric displays do not use this jumper. If installed, the game automatically reverts to English after losing the content of the RAM. If a different language is preferred, the "adjustments" menu provides an option to change the default language. Only a few early System 11 game ROMs contained multiple languages. For these games, if W7 is removed, the game generally defaults to German text.

Later System 11 games used language specific ROMs at U26 and U27.

---

The wording is a bit ambiguous, but still reads as though think the roms need to be changed due to being a later model sys 11. Like I said I couldn't find the necessary setting in the Dr dude manual but then I didn't look really hard. Give it another scan in the link above.
 
Sorry, but the later System 11 games don't have language adjustment as an 'Ad ##' feature, only by changing the program Rom's. I've always thought it was due to lack of memory space for two languages, as more features were included.

If there's no battery, then the message is probably the German for 'Factory Settings' (or 'Adjust Failure' if the front door was closed). I don't mean to upset you, but the r/h display may not be working. To try reaching test routines, boot it up with the front door open, then latch the centre switch Down and press Advance if it seems to have reset okay, i.e. with the Diagnostic l.e.d. on the cpu board blinking rapidly.

re. the lack of audio Roms; the Cpu board looks like an '11c' revision, the final type which had no audio capability of its own, hence the vacant top left corner of the board. 11c games simply communicate with the separate audio board. If it's the correct type for Dr. Dude, i.e. if as I suspect DD is an 11c game, no worries.
 
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Sorry, but the later System 11 games don't have language adjustment as an 'Ad ##' feature
I was coming to the same conclusion by reading the manual... so I need to replace ROMs at U26 and U27...

Do you know if the two displays are interchangeable? I was thinking to swap them over, and if the working one moves to the right location, then I know it's the display, but if it stays as the left one, then both displays have been proven to work and I'd have to focus on the display driver/connectors...

The manual has stated Q6 as the transistor for the motor, so I now know which to check/replace for the motor being in issue!

Thanks again for all this quality support guys, you're the best!!
 
Since work wasn't buying Bally-badged system 11 games, I'm not sure about the interchangeability of the two displays. I'd hoped that there might be a display driver board on the back of the wooden backbox insert panel, with the displays being just simple boards, but looking at the manual it seems that the displays each have their driver circuitry on board, with the right hand display first in a daisy-chain (seeing as it's nearest the door hinge). The 'Interboard Signals' information near the back of the manual states that the r/h displays' connectors are the same as the left, but also using connector J5, bringing 'BCD' data from the Cpu board. How the left display receives it isn't clear. Maybe placing the right display at the left would show a high voltage 'keeper' glow in the envelope if it's good, but that ought to be visible with it in its proper place anyway. But it seems it won't hurt to try. One visual clue about whether a display envelope has failed is if tiny silver speckles can be seen inside the glass.

Regarding the motorised disc, bear in mind that the drive transistor Q6 of the cpu controls the motor via a triac board under the playfield. Try breaking the link between them by removing the connector 1J12 from the cpu board. It's the return connector for solenoids 9 to 16. There'll be other side effects, but it'll show if the problem is the triac board or the cpu drive.

And wouldn't you know, there's yet another example of WMS' slight lack of attention when producing manuals. A chart is included for the display glass pinouts, mentioning the Williams branded games' Master Display board, which wasn't fitted to Bally games.
 
bear in mind that the drive transistor Q6 of the cpu controls the motor via a triac board under the playfield. Try breaking the link between them by removing the connector 1J12 from the cpu board. It's the return connector for solenoids 9 to 16. There'll be other side effects, but it'll show if the problem is the triac board or the cpu drive.
I've read this a few times, and I'm still a bit puzzled... if I break the link between Q6 and the triac board by removing 1J12 connector, are you saying that the motor might still turn, and if so, this proves that the problem is therefore not Q6 because that link is broken and the problem will be the triac board?
 
Yes, Q6 (the device for Solenoid 16) of the cpu board switches the triac board, powering the motor. If it's not connected*, the triac board won't have a signal from Q6. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the triac shouldn't run the motor without switching from the cpu.

Sorry for the delay in replying, btw, but I'm usually off-line on Wednesdays.


* the connection between Cpu and triac also passes through the 'Aux Power' and 'Backbox Interconnect' boards
 
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Yeah. Power tripping is due to:
1 varistor
2 line filter (If it has one)
3 knackered mains transformer
4 internal perished mains wiring
5 bad mains leads (very rare unless it’s been crushed)
1 and 2 are the most likely culprits.

You can clip the varistor off and the game will still work. I would probably replace the line filter as a matter of course.

It could be inrush current at start up that is tripping the breaker. I used to have a Game Show that tegularly tripped either the ring circuit breaker or blew the main fuse in the pin.

Unhelpfully I can't recall what the fix was.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
Going back to this story, I got English ROMS thanks to @Paul ! And I disconnected 1J12. On power up I got the message in the left display 'ADJUST FAILURE'. I then pressed the left door button and this message changed to 'FACTORY SETTING'. Another press of this button displayed 'DR. DUDE' in the left display and '20 16 LA2 ID 00' in the right display... so both displays are working!! Also the Molecular Mixmaster disk wasn't spinning. The right button in the door did nothing. More presses of the left button took me into audits. The middle latching button worked and changed the direction of progress through the audits. Long-presding the left button flew through audits and then the game went into attract mode. Put credits on by closing the coin switch, and started a game... all seems to work! Turned the game off and re-connected 1J12, then powered on again... this time the mixmaster disk moved slightly and then the ring main tripped. I think this means that since the disk didn't spin with 1J12 off, then the problem is Q6 transistor... correct?
Re the right door switch, this has a diode on it, see attached... is this normal or a hack?
Thanks for help, and happy new year!
Lee.
 

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