Got an email wondering if I could come and look at a Riverboat Gambler pinball error that was giving an “adjustment failure” error. The owner stated the batteries were just replaced and was still getting the error. I am usually weary about battery corrosion after seeing this error not resolve with new batteries. I asked the owner for pictures of the battery holder and the area around it.
The board looked free from battery corrosion; however, the battery holder looked bad from the photos. I recommended replacing the battery holder or installing a NVRAM, which would eliminate the batteries. He chose the NVRAM. Another problem that appeared was the DMD was showing garbage on the screen.
At the owner’s house I removed the CPU and desoldered the 6116 RAM chip. At this point a socket was added and the NRVRAM replaced the U26 chip. As a precautionary measure, I also re-soldered all of the header pins as some of the solder joints were cracked. I installed a NVRAM and then put the CPU back into the game.
The game showed “adjustment failure” error again, but went into settings and placed the game in “free play”. I exited the settings and turned the game off and then back on. The game booted up like normal and was able to start a game without adding a coin. This mean the NVRAM was saving the settings and doing its job. Played a couple of games and everything worked fine. Turned out to be a fairly easy repair!
As a friendly reminder–REMEMBER TO CHANGE THE BATTERIES 😁.
