What's new
By:
Pinball info

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Hook display/DMD funnies

astyy

astyy

Play Flipper Games for Fun and Recreation
5Years
Joined
Jan 19, 2015
Messages
3,120
Location
Basingstoke
The display on my Hook has been playing up for sometime and last night after a few games it wouldn't come on at all at switch on, but is now back this morning and working. The symptoms are intermittent but noticeable once you know what you're looking for and tend to happen during every game;
  • on switch on a flash of garbled graphic then starts up quickly & bright
  • in play frozen graphic then resets to 'Display 401' and continues
  • in play garbled or two graphics overlaid then resets to 'Display 401' and continues
  • in play after reset it will say 'Ball 1 0 Credits' but score is ok rather than proper ball number/Free as when it starts
Have measured input voltages at display driver board J2 as below (measured at connector with DMD disconnected);
  • J2 1 5.03 (+5)
  • J2 2 GND
  • J2 3 Key
  • J2 4 12.02 (+12)
  • J2 5 70.6 (+68)
  • J2 6 -96.1 (-98)
  • J2 7 -108.4 (-110)
  • J2 8 Gnd
  • J2 9 Gnd
Also, I've read that R95 can fail on these boards, this is 33K Ohm and is reading 32.5K (the same one next to it reads 33.4K Ohms so I'm sure I'm reading them right).

Fwiw below is a pic of the full display lit in diagnostics.

Thanks for any advice to help me fix this.

WP_20160602_09_35_16_Pro.jpg
 
Last edited:
Aston, reseat all the ribbon cables half a dozen times then report back if the problem is still occurring...
 
Thanks for the responses and ideas guys.

Moonraker said:
Aston, reseat all the ribbon cables half a dozen times then report back if the problem is still occurring...
Click to expand...
Have tried re-seating multiple times both ends of the display ribbon at DMD Pcb and Rottendog CPU, it seemed to improve but I'm still getting some corruption and the display showing the 'Display 401' startup menu every so often, perhaps a few time a game. The corruption tends to reset once the next 'scene' starts.

cooldan said:
When you do a display test in the menus, at the end does it report any problem with the RAM?
Click to expand...
I'm not very familiar with the DE service menu. The DMD test alternates between a full screen of dots, vertical, horizontal lines then says something like 'Display Lives'.

I've taken a photo of the display ROM - it says 'Pinball Palace Hk Disp A401' I wonder if that's the original or latest.

WP_20160602_14_58_55_Pro.jpg

Whilst testing this and concentrating just on the DMD I got a good high score - I'm obviously playing this game all wrong :confused:
 
Look for loose connections.

I had problems with my Hook pinled display - I tried re-seating the ribbon cable several times. Improved things a bit but didn't fix.

Then last year a friend with a pretty 'robust' playing style had a few games and the problems disappeared. It's been fine ever since - there must have been a loose connection or something somewhere.

I'm sorry but I don't actually know where.
 
JWG9999 said:
I had problems with my Hook pinled display
Click to expand...

As a matter of interest, does your display revert to saying Ball 1 in later balls, usually after one of the scenes ends it reverts from the proper ball number to Ball 1. I'm wondering if this is one of the many bugs in this game that will hopefully be fixed soon.
 
astyy said:
As a matter of interest, does your display revert to saying Ball 1 in later balls, usually after one of the scenes ends it reverts from the proper ball number to Ball 1. I'm wondering if this is one of the many bugs in this game that will hopefully be fixed soon.
Click to expand...

Are you coming down to the meet tomorrow..? If you bring the ROMs with you I'll give them a quick clean and we will see if that sorts your problems out...
 
astyy said:
Yes I plan to come to the SWL league on Saturday. Is it just the display PCB ROM I should bring? Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think that is the most likely culprit. Or just bring the display panel if you're worried about removing it.
 
astyy said:
As a matter of interest, does your display revert to saying Ball 1 in later balls, usually after one of the scenes ends it reverts from the proper ball number to Ball 1. I'm wondering if this is one of the many bugs in this game that will hopefully be fixed soon.
Click to expand...

No, nothing like that. Just vertical lines sticking on.
 
This DMD is still playing up :(. @Moonraker kindly re-seated/cleaned the DMD ROM and it seemed to improve matters, but it still crashes pretty much every ball back to 'Display 4.0.1' then recovers quickly and yesterday after a few games it stuck on Vertical lines per the pic below (look similar to yours @JWG9999 ?). Thereafter when switched on/off it stuck on a few bright dots at the top of the display and wouldn't recover.

This machine hasn't had the power side refurbed (PS, PPB, Big Cap, BRs in backbox etc).

I left the machine off for a couple of hours then it worked again (but still crashing during play). Has done this before and I'm not sure what leaving it off changes (Cap's discharge, things cool down?)

Based on these symptoms I'm not sure where I should be investigating next so appreciate any advice, Thanks.

WP_20160619_12_29_42_Pro.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom