Pin2DMD diagnostic help, please

[Judderman]

Hi

I tombstoned Getaway at Christmas, at which point it was working fine. Just set it up & the display is not working, though the game plays fine.


View attachment 2025-07-01 18.17.47.mp4

What I have done so far :-

Reseated both ends of the ribbon cable a few times, to no effect.

Checked SD card contents, looks like this



What's the next thing to check? Try another ribbon cable, or something else?

Regards & TIA, Stew

 

[cooldan]

@Terranigma

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

Splash screen says “Virtual Pinball”, I think it should be set to Bally/ Williams, it’s a change in the settings. I’ll check one of my machines when I get home later tonight.

 

[Paul]

How (or why) it got in that mode - i couldnt tell you

 

[Fantazia2]

How (or why) it got in that mode - i couldnt tell you

Interesting the comments on the video say it should auto detect what machine it's in.

 

[Judderman]

How (or why) it got in that mode - i couldnt tell you

Thanks, that looks useful - It may be after Swavesey before I get round to it.

 

[Judderman]

Interesting the comments on the video say it should auto detect what machine it's in.

That would suggest to me that the info that allows it to detect isn't making it there, so my first check after trying the manual set described in the vid will be the data cable I guess.

 

[Arv]

Try a new SD card. Formatted to FAT32.

 

[Toxteth O'Grady]

I have pin2dmd in a lot of my machines and unless it’s a recent update none of them have auto detected which type of machine they are in. The first thing to do is change it to the correct machine output.

 

[MadNat]

Hi - thanks for sharing my vid. My guess is that the display is not receiving any data to the processor on the PIN2DMD controller board.

• My recommendation is to check the ribbon cable is the right way around (at both ends) the red strip on the ribbon cable should align with pin1
• You can put the display into pin test mode (using the video for instructions of cycling through the options) - if it says all pins are open (except one pin is always closed - 9 or 11 from memory, but could be wrong on that) - no data is coming through to the processor
• If you have the original display you could try hooking that back up to check if your display controller is still working on the Getaway
• If you have another machine, you could try the PIN2DMD in a different machine to test if the display is working properly (don't worry about colour files, you should see animation - just without the right colours)

It doesn't matter what mode the display is in - it will set itself automatically.

Good luck

 

[Fantazia2]

If its set to Virtual Pin would it not be expecting input from the USB connection and not the DMD connection, hence no game display on the screen?

 

[MadNat]

If its set to Virtual Pin would it not be expecting input from the USB connection and not the DMD connection, hence no game display on the screen?

The input on serial takes priority. So no that’s not how it works.

 

[Judderman]

Hi - thanks for sharing my vid. My guess is that the display is not receiving any data to the processor on the PIN2DMD controller board.

• My recommendation is to check the ribbon cable is the right way around (at both ends) the red strip on the ribbon cable should align with pin1
• You can put the display into pin test mode (using the video for instructions of cycling through the options) - if it says all pins are open (except one pin is always closed - 9 or 11 from memory, but could be wrong on that) - no data is coming through to the processor
• If you have the original display you could try hooking that back up to check if your display controller is still working on the Getaway
• If you have another machine, you could try the PIN2DMD in a different machine to test if the display is working properly (don't worry about colour files, you should see animation - just without the right colours)

It doesn't matter what mode the display is in - it will set itself automatically.

Good luck

Ribbon cable should be the right way round - I haven't changed it since you sold me the machine (& hence I don't have the original either)

Will try pin test mode, but prob not til after Swavesey.

 

[Judderman]

Thanks for all the help guys - went to put it into test mode & it just started working. The only thing I did was reseat the ribbon cable again (unless it could sense that I was Googling for replacement ribbon cables & DMD controllers).

 

[MadNat]

Very good news (that it’s fixed and that you still have that game - I miss it). Glad it’s sorted.

 

[Terranigma]

@MadNat is correct, Virtual Pinball doubles as "Auto Detect" mode when in a real pin. If it worked after replugging the ribbon cable, I would suggest buying a new replacement ribbon as the old one could cause issues down the track.

Also if you haven't already, update that firmware as it is really old. A lot of newer files will error out or have issues with that version.

Just download the update file from below (depending on your version) and copy it to your SD card. Put the card back in the Pin2DMD and let it boot. The screen will go blank for a few seconds, it will update and then restart.

- EVO Update
- Nucelo Update
- Discovery Update

I'd say yours would be an EVO if you got it from MadNat, but just confirm.

Also after that is done, no harm in formatting the SD card as FAT32 and copying a fresh set of files across as it could be some old code as well. I can sort you out with the latest free version, or I can organise the paid version which is a lot better (money goes to the author, not me).