Megatouch EVO repair - No signal

[justtaint]

A friend asked me to take a look at his EVO.  A while back it wouldn't boot, and now it won't even power on to try and POST.  Previously I think I had done the research to think it needed a new hard drive, but now it only powers on the LCD and display "No Signal"

My first question is though: How do you open these things?  He can't find the key, so is drilling the lock my only option?

[lilshawn]

all the keys to open the cabinets are all the same (unless someone changed it) . it's usually in the money box area. open the money storage area and take a look around, it's probably hanging in there on a hook. if they are for sure gone, contact an amusement company in your area and see if they have one to spare.

your issue is probably blown caps on the motherboard. Be warned, going from sometimes crashing, to not booting, to not turning on is a good indication things are truly fuxor'd.

also, side note, why do people think if it doesn't even power on anymore is a hard drive problem? 

open up the front and remove the motherboard. most if not all the caps will be blown. at this point in time (judged solely by the fact you mentioned it's not booting at all) you have about a 50/50 shot at recapping the board and having it work again. if after replacing the caps, the board will power on again... go ahead and replace the power supply. it's going to be hooped as well...and probably the CPU cooling fan as well.

While you're at it, these boards used a crap foil/graphite crap thing as a crap heatsink thermal transfer material crap, and it's crap. Did I mention it's CRAP? peel that crap off and use some good paste and hope your CPU isn't fried. -25 degree difference. Legit.

[justtaint]

Maybe I wasn't clear, prior to the "No Signal" issue it wouldn't boot.  This was a year ago that my friend mentioned the issue. 
At that point the error message that he mentioned led me to believe it was a bad hard drive.

NOW, it doesn't even attempt to boot.  It just displays the "No Signal" message on the screen.

This unit was HUO, it doesn't have any money box.

[lilshawn]

Maybe I wasn't clear, prior to the "No Signal" issue it wouldn't boot.  This was a year ago that my friend mentioned the issue. 
At that point the error message that he mentioned led me to believe it was a bad hard drive.

NOW, it doesn't even attempt to boot.  It just displays the "No Signal" message on the screen.

This unit was HUO, it doesn't have any money box.

maybe I was unclear.

going from a normal working unit...to not booting...to "no signal"...

(which by the way is a message the monitor itself puts out when it's powered on, but not receiving video from the board)

means things are getting hooped on you in a big way.

merit never really got into selling "home use" style units until really late in the game, and by then the company was grasping at straws and keeling over. The unit can be set for free play for home use.

The "EVO" came in a couple different cabinet styles - a tall version of the EVO called the "EVO" a short squatty version most commonly called the "Force EVO Elite Edge" there are silver ION variants of both styles of these cabinets as well.

it's not uncommon to find EVO machines with "EVO ELITE EDGE" ID's on the stickers and "ELITE EDGE" machines with straight "EVO" ID's as the computer/screen portion of the machine is Identical and transferable between them

in any case, the lock on the top left side of the screen is keyed alike on all the megatouch machines.

[ed12]

shawn i thought u were perfectly clear..
monitor say's no signal ? it is telling u that it is not beening fed a signal
this in NO WAY means the hard drive has gone south..
mother board/power supply is your start point.
all merit machine keys are the same expect the coin box key

and i am just back from the hosipital and i can remeber that

ed

[mahkeymike]

Just going to thow this out there...I had got an "ION" evo that had the "no signal" on the monitor. I replaced the cmos battery and cleared the cmos using the cmos jumper and it brought it back to life. It was the ION evo with the purple Mobo.

TS did not specify which EVO he is trying to fix. There is Force Evo (black) anf there is ION Evo (silver).

[lilshawn]

Just going to thow this out there...I had got an "ION" evo that had the "no signal" on the monitor. I replaced the cmos battery and cleared the cmos using the cmos jumper and it brought it back to life. It was the ION evo with the purple Mobo.

TS did not specify which EVO he is trying to fix. There is Force Evo (black) anf there is ION Evo (silver).

yeah, the purple ECS board tends to go "dead" if the CPU or northbridge gets overheated. it simply ignores the "power on after AC loss" setting and stays off. must be some kind of protection on board. not that i'm complaining, something is better than nothing... even if it's marginally too late.

that northbridge is a real bugger to keep cool if they have overheated before. I've resorted to redoing the TIM putting a fan on them to keep them going as a last resort.

[justtaint]

It's a Force EVO.

I was trying to give all the info I had.  The unit broke down over a year ago, and my friend asked me to fix it.  I didn't get a chance to look at it until this past weekend.

@Ed12 - Originally, when it broke down over a year ago, when it tried to POST, it would fail.  I can't remember the message that it gave (because my friend verbally mentioned it at some point), but when I researched what the message said (on this site as well as others) I was given the impression that it was the hard drive that had failed.

Now, over a year later, (and probably many different attempts by my friend to fire up the unit) it just says "No Signal".
I won't be assuming any thing, just trying to get out any info that might be relevant.

@lilshawn - Here is a photo of the unit itself and the sticker on the stand.
My friend used to own a bar and probably purchased it from whoever was supplying the bar with its own Megatouch and Jukebox.

I would have thought, living in Chicago, that finding some repair shop with a key would be easy.  Didn't have much luck yet, but I have one more person to call and then I'll resort to drilling it out.

[ed12]

go get a l564 key cut
the lock smith will know what it is for

ed

[justtaint]

go get a l564 key cut
the lock smith will know what it is for

ed

Sounds good.  Will do.  Thank you.

[ed12]

and to be clear that is a L-564
if your locks are barrel lock type i will get u the # from my ring

ed

[mahkeymike]

Hold up, they are literally the same keys? So anyone that owns a megatouch witht the original keys can goto another operators route and open it up and steal the bill acceptors cashbox? Am i hearing this right?

[ed12]

not at all
the cash box is a different key on the bottom back
on the blue older elete counter top's the cash box side panel is again different
i could list u all the model's starting with max
right up to ion

ed

[mahkeymike]

Then what good is the #'s you gave him? He will still need to pick the lock himself or have a lock smith pick it, or drill it. I have picked a few megatouch locks, there actually not hard. The barrel type i had to drill. But ive only seen those on the radions.

[justtaint]

The L564 should be it, there is no cash box.

[ed12]

mine is suzzo-happ no rocket sicence there
phone order L-564 they go oh merit,how many ?
it is a normal single sided paddle lock style key >forget the term for it<

ed

[lilshawn]

the cabinet service keys are all keyed alike. the cashbox keys are all different.

often the service key is locked in the cash box area.

the cabinet service key is not a particularly strong key, you likely can jam a flat screwdriver in there and crank it open. (turn it clockwise viewing from the top) it need only turn a 1/4 turn to open the cabinet.

i dunno who printed off that marquee, but damn, that's bad. someone at merit must have been smokin some bad grass to come up with that.

EDIT:

also has...this been removed from it's base??

[justtaint]

Yes, I removed it from the base to see what I was looking at.  Also, it's a lot lighter now that the base is detached.

[mahkeymike]

the cabinet service keys are all keyed alike. the cashbox keys are all different.

often the service key is locked in the cash box area.

the cabinet service key is not a particularly strong key, you likely can jam a flat screwdriver in there and crank it open. (turn it clockwise viewing from the top) it need only turn a 1/4 turn to open the cabinet.

i dunno who printed off that marquee, but damn, that's bad. someone at merit must have been smokin some bad grass to come up with that.

EDIT:

also has...this been removed from it's base??

Ahh ok. Still cant believe they would use the same key for the cabinet. Anyone could get a key, go find a machine with 2013 or 2014 and take the key. Those keys are still expensive as hell.

[lilshawn]

the cabinet service keys are all keyed alike. the cashbox keys are all different.

often the service key is locked in the cash box area.

the cabinet service key is not a particularly strong key, you likely can jam a flat screwdriver in there and crank it open. (turn it clockwise viewing from the top) it need only turn a 1/4 turn to open the cabinet.

i dunno who printed off that marquee, but damn, that's bad. someone at merit must have been smokin some bad grass to come up with that.

EDIT:

also has...this been removed from it's base??

Ahh ok. Still cant believe they would use the same key for the cabinet. Anyone could get a key, go find a machine with 2013 or 2014 and take the key. Those keys are still expensive as hell.

 

[justtaint]

Two different locksmiths had no clue what L564 would mean.  One wanted $40 and for me to leave it with them over the weekend.  The other tried picking it for about 20 minutes, and then tried forcing the lock.  Finally ending up drilling it and charging me $25.  Didn't realize was ED12 was talking about until I did a google search.  Suzo-Happ isn't far from me.  I'll call them up, if I get this working, to order a replacement lock.

[justtaint]

A few of the capacitors are obviously bulging.  I'll order replacements and just recap the whole thing.

Here are some pictures of the motherboard.  64MB of  PNY ram.

[justtaint]

18 Panasonic FC series 1000uF
6 Panasonic NHG series 470uF
All 6.3V caps, low ESR.

On order.

[ed12]

25.00 is not bad

ya u some crapy cap's there
do not forget to get some good silicon greasse etc

ed

[justtaint]

This thing has a whopping 125W PSU inside.

Would this work? http://www.amazon.com/Replace-Power%C2%AE-Replacement-5188-7520-DPS-108DB-1/dp/B00F0ZPXU2

[justtaint]

Also, what options do I have if the motherboard is toast?  What replacement mobos are compatible?

[mahkeymike]

Also, what options do I have if the motherboard is toast?  What replacement mobos are compatible?

There is no compatiable motheboards. You have to find the same motherboard, or get any i810E chipset motherboard and modify the software to accept it. This requires reverse engineering and linux knowledge. If you dont have those just get the same Mobo.

[lilshawn]

This thing has a whopping 125W PSU inside.

Would this work? http://www.amazon.com/Replace-Power%C2%AE-Replacement-5188-7520-DPS-108DB-1/dp/B00F0ZPXU2

yes, but i would spring for a 250 or 300 watt. it will produce less heat and not have to work as hard to power the system.

[lilshawn]

Also, what options do I have if the motherboard is toast?  What replacement mobos are compatible?

There is no compatiable motheboards. You have to find the same motherboard, or get any i810E chipset motherboard and modify the software to accept it. This requires reverse engineering and linux knowledge. If you dont have those just get the same Mobo.

there are 1 or 2 boards that are nearly identical you can swap for (same chipsets and all), but at this point in time, EVERYTHING is used. it's not going to have much life left in it.

let's do one step at a time first. i would try recapping it first...power it with a fresh power supply.... and if it's doesn't work after that, Let me know and I'll see what I can do to dig one up for you.

[justtaint]

This thing has a whopping 125W PSU inside.

Would this work? http://www.amazon.com/Replace-Power%C2%AE-Replacement-5188-7520-DPS-108DB-1/dp/B00F0ZPXU2

yes, but i would spring for a 250 or 300 watt. it will produce less heat and not have to work as hard to power the system.

The one I listed is 350 watts, is that not even better?

[ed12]

350 is the new norm

ed

[lilshawn]

This thing has a whopping 125W PSU inside.

Would this work? http://www.amazon.com/Replace-Power%C2%AE-Replacement-5188-7520-DPS-108DB-1/dp/B00F0ZPXU2

yes, but i would spring for a 250 or 300 watt. it will produce less heat and not have to work as hard to power the system.

The one I listed is 350 watts, is that not even better?

oh, yeah yeah yeah. I just kinda did a quick load up on my smartphone to make sure you linked a flex atx supply but noted you posted referring a 125 watt ps. yeah, 350 is just fine.

also, depending on what kind of IEC plug you have that plugs into the supply (some were straight and others are bent at a 90 degree angle)... you may have to flip your power supply upside down (label to the back) to get it to fit right without interfering with other things. it seems the supply is standard but where the plugs are and how they orientated are not. I would not recommend disassembling the power supply to try and turn the IEC socket around if it's indeed facing the wrong direction......it's a mess in those things.

replacement supplies are often a tiny bit thinner than the original as well, you may have to shim the L shaped bracket with some foam tape to hold the supply tightly in place.

[justtaint]

This thing has a whopping 125W PSU inside.

Would this work? http://www.amazon.com/Replace-Power%C2%AE-Replacement-5188-7520-DPS-108DB-1/dp/B00F0ZPXU2

yes, but i would spring for a 250 or 300 watt. it will produce less heat and not have to work as hard to power the system.

The one I listed is 350 watts, is that not even better?

oh, yeah yeah yeah. I just kinda did a quick load up on my smartphone to make sure you linked a flex atx supply but noted you posted referring a 125 watt ps. yeah, 350 is just fine.

also, depending on what kind of IEC plug you have that plugs into the supply (some were straight and others are bent at a 90 degree angle)... you may have to flip your power supply upside down (label to the back) to get it to fit right without interfering with other things. it seems the supply is standard but where the plugs are and how they orientated are not. I would not recommend disassembling the power supply to try and turn the IEC socket around if it's indeed facing the wrong direction......it's a mess in those things.

replacement supplies are often a tiny bit thinner than the original as well, you may have to shim the L shaped bracket with some foam tape to hold the supply tightly in place.

The plug is straight.  Replacement PSU is ordered.  Both caps and PSU should be here by Friday.  Hopefully I'll be able to work on it this weekend.

[mahkeymike]

there are 1 or 2 boards that are nearly identical you can swap for (same chipsets and all), but at this point in time, EVERYTHING is used. it's not going to have much life left in it.

What other two boards? You know he is using Force and not ION. If there are other boards that work with Force i would like to know for testing purposes.

[lilshawn]

there are 1 or 2 boards that are nearly identical you can swap for (same chipsets and all), but at this point in time, EVERYTHING is used. it's not going to have much life left in it.

What other two boards? You know he is using Force and not ION. If there are other boards that work with Force i would like to know for testing purposes.

I found some boards after some digging (trying to find alternate motherboard because of merits price for replacement at the time)... that used the same audio chipset and northbridge a while back. I should have the paper buried someplace.

I believe one of them was weird off brand clone (sorta like pegtron or some crap like that)

in any case, These boards are pretty tough, i think i've only had to trash 2 or 3 in the last 6 years. it's mostly the CPU's that crap out due to overheating, and the caps blowing out.

[justtaint]

I replaced about a dozen caps before the smell of solder started giving me a headache, and only then did I realize that I would have to cut the connectors off the old PSU and solder them onto the new PSU.

Anyways, it's almost all back together, but I've forgotten what two connectors are supposed to be attached to.
Here are some pictures of where they start (the daughterboard underneath the mother board), and where I know they won't go.

It's only two wires, a brown and a black, but it's a 12 pin female connector and a 2 pin female.

[justtaint]

Reading through the Force TSB right now and it appears I didn't need to take the two boards apart.  I should have just taken out the two screws and removed the entire assembly.  Too late for that though.

I've found my answer on roughly page 187 of the PDF in the Tech Notes Field Bulletin dated 10/24/01.

[justtaint]

Started it up and now it's time for some more troubleshooting.
First time starting...I get:
"Press F10 key to change bootstrap selection.
Current Selection is -- PXE boot using interupt 18h"

After about 5 minutes of doing nothing, I powered off and back on.

This time it got past the boot strap and displayed:
"For Realtek RTL8139(X) PCI Fast Ethernet Controller v2/6
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER"

No clue what the bootstrap issue is, or if that's normal, but I'm guessing the last message means that the hard drive is toast.
Pri. Master Disk lists NONE.
Power and IDE cables are properly connected.

I'll connect the hard drive to my computer in the morning and see if it's recognized.
If it truly is toast, what replacement options do I have? 

[mahkeymike]

2005.5 and up allow you to use any IDE hard drive. You just need to know what version key you have and download that version ISO from there website and burn it to dvd. Then install it to the hard drive.

[ed12]

yes mike is right about size and d/l
next i highly doubt u will see that drive in windows..
u will want a second hand vender proggie to see it
windows olny see's logical dos/windows drive :master/slave:
u are in cable select..
to that i use usb to ide with easeus parition magic 8-10.2
it will show u all drive's in the system.
the merit if working right will report back as merit-001,that is there boot name
i can snap a picture of it for u and post.
mike can better explain this for u

ed