Sort of.  

As some of you know, I picked up a Mystery Castle project pin from Mark (who had picked it up from ThunderStorm).  Not quite clear on the original problem, but from what I know the transformer had an internal short and effectively took some components with it on its way out.  Namely the DMD board (which looks like it caught fire) and the solenoid portion of the driver board.

Well with the help of my good buddy Menace (and countless hours of learning to read schematics), I've finally traced out the problems on the driver board and flipper relay, replaced the necessary parts and have played my first (blind) game of Mystery Castle.    Fun pin!  Great sounds .. the game plays like it's sat in limbo for a few years -- because it has!  But I'm confident with some cleaning of switches, flipper rebuilds and a good polish it should play great again.  Of course, it's still playing blind because I have to figure out the charred mess that is the DMD board  

Anywho, just figured I'd pass along my progress to those who were interested.

... and no, I won't be flipping it.  

Cheers

Quoted from machine.slave

... and no, I won't be flipping it.  

Why not? You might want to trade it for a Catacomb or a TX-Sector or something.

Glad you got it working the first transformer is what caused all the problems, i got a replacement through rgp, thank god
can't wait to see a video! the playfield was in great shape when i got it, even though it had no playfield glass, and came wrapped in a tarp on a tiny little
trailer when it arrived at my house from Montreal

Eric

Quoted from OTTOgd

Why not? You might want to trade it for a Catacomb or a TX-Sector or something.

No thank you, I already own the #1 best Classic Stern ever made  

Good work! Sounds like things cascaded down the line which makes for some fun troubleshooting. So the question becomes a chicken and egg one. Did the transformer blow due to being overloaded or did it blow and cause the other issues?

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Good work! Sounds like things cascaded down the line which makes for some fun troubleshooting. So the question becomes a chicken and egg one. Did the transformer blow due to being overloaded or did it blow and cause the other issues?

I don't bother with all that, I just blame Tstorm.  

D

yeah thanks.

asshats.

Alright, well.. I *thought* I had this DMD problem solved but it seems to be out of my (extremely limited) skill range.  I did some board work and I'm fairly confident that the DMD board should be working, so I'm almost certain that the problem now lies on the power board.  That being said, documentation is fairly limited on these things (no Cliffy page   ), so I'm wondering if anyone passing through the area of Etobicoke or Brampton might be able to stop in for a few beers and a quick inspection?    I'd be more than happy to pay you however I can (no oral sex, Glenn), but keep in mind we just bought a house  

I think I just need to be pointed in the direction of the components that need to be replaced and I can manage the soldering.  It's the reading DMM's and testing parts that I'm still very green at.

Thanks, all..  

the way i got it to play when i had it (on the dmd) i used the power connector from my popeye (which was sitting right beside it) and fed the ribbon cable from the mystery castle into the dmd, once you do that, you'll be able to see all the graphics, and prove that it's not your dmd,

sounds weird, but it works.

Eric

Yup!  I could see that working, it's definitely a power issue that's isolated to the display itself.  The DMD driver board gets power to everything but the high voltage.  Thanks though, Eric.. that confirms that for me at least.  I also had the display working in my STTNG so I know it's good for sure  

no problem i wish you luck man, i really wanted to get this machine running because it's so rare, but it was way past anything i could handle repairing,

would love to see it up and running when you get it all fixed

Eric