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.

Battery holder with corrosion
Battery holder with corrosion
B1 connection has separated from the battery holder
B1 connection has separated from the battery holder

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.

DMD garbage
DMD garbage. Moving the connector one pin over fixed the problem.

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.

Socket installed at the 6116 RAM chip
Socket installed at U26 (6116 RAM chip)
NVRAM installed
NVRAM installed

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 😁.

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