What's new

freddiefiasco

Professional
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
480
Reaction score
84
Location
California, USA
Since I am cleaning up some wiring on one of my cabs, I have had this problem going on since I bought the cab 5 years ago. Whenever I powered up my cabinet you can hear the card reader come to life and hear the mechanical gate reset. The problem is the reset just loops continuously and does not stop. In the past, the only way I could get it to stop was to wiggle the wire harness over and over until eventually it stops. Sometimes one wiggle would do and it's fixed. Other times I'm wiggling it for minutes on end. At one point, I thought it was a loose wire but I replaced the harness with an exact version from another cab that does not have this problem. Same issue. I am almost certain it's not the card reader itself because for every 1 in 10 resets of the cab, that reset mechanism cycle occurs once and it's good to go.

My initial guess was that one of the wires are not providing enough voltage but this is just a guess. I never bothered fixing it until OCD starting kicking in and now it is bugging me. Even though I have been using the emulator that @winteriscoming has been kind enough to share with everyone, I never needed the card reader. Even still, having the original hardware for this cabinet is more of a collection to me more than anything so I would still like to keep the hardware intact.

I may not be making any sense but here's a video of the issue I am describing. It is a short video but if I were to make a Vine out of it, that's basically what is happening:

Continuously Resetting Card Reader

Advice or suggestions in troubleshooting this issue are appreciated!
 
What if the loose joint is *on* the card reader board? ;)
 
What if the loose joint is *on* the card reader board? ;)
Checked the joints on both ends, no luck. I swapped with another working setup and it does the same thing. I will try swapping harnesses next before testing voltages.
 
I have the exact problem with one of the card readers in my initial d cabs. It seems random but happens more often than not.
I get it to stop by just unplugging it and plugging back in. Might have to do it a few times before it works.

Not sure exactly the cause, I assumed it's the black sensor at the front of the reader since it didn't work at all until I wiped it off with a qtip and rubbing alcohol.
I was going to swap sensors with the one in the back for the card bay but they aren't the same size.

It's annoying but I can live with it since I don't use it very often. Would be great if anyone has a solution for it though.
 
I have the exact problem with one of the card readers in my initial d cabs. It seems random but happens more often than not.
I get it to stop by just unplugging it and plugging back in. Might have to do it a few times before it works.

Not sure exactly the cause, I assumed it's the black sensor at the front of the reader since it didn't work at all until I wiped it off with a qtip and rubbing alcohol.
I was going to swap sensors with the one in the back for the card bay but they aren't the same size.

It's annoying but I can live with it since I don't use it very often. Would be great if anyone has a solution for it though.
Yep, this is what I do now. Sometimes, unplugging it 1-2 times then it works, other times, i'm unplugging it like 10-20 times. At one point i started to unplug from the molex, then from the reader itself. There were times when I wouldn't even need to unplug/plug and it works normally, so its gotten to the point where i don't lock the card reader drawer at all just in case it happens again.
 
I have the exact problem with one of the card readers in my initial d cabs. It seems random but happens more often than not.
I get it to stop by just unplugging it and plugging back in. Might have to do it a few times before it works.

Not sure exactly the cause, I assumed it's the black sensor at the front of the reader since it didn't work at all until I wiped it off with a qtip and rubbing alcohol.
I was going to swap sensors with the one in the back for the card bay but they aren't the same size.

It's annoying but I can live with it since I don't use it very often. Would be great if anyone has a solution for it though.
Yep, this is what I do now. Sometimes, unplugging it 1-2 times then it works, other times, i'm unplugging it like 10-20 times. At one point i started to unplug from the molex, then from the reader itself. There were times when I wouldn't even need to unplug/plug and it works normally, so its gotten to the point where i don't lock the card reader drawer at all just in case it happens again.
I've switched card readers between cabs and can confirm that it's the reader itself on the fritz no matter where I moved it. The other good reader always works fine no matter where I put it.
I never found a serial number or anything useful for the small sensor in that area to attempt to change it out.
 
I think the wire harness on the card reader or the wire harness going into the cab is the issue here, at least on mine it is.
My original one player cab is an Initial D version 1 that still had both card readers, one of the readers is behaving exactly like yours.
I recently bought a two player version 3 that was half working and parted out my version 1 to fix it.
The newer cabs didn't have the card readers when I bought it, guy didn't have em anymore. Which was fine since I have two from the old cab.
However, the newer version 3 card reader plug connectors from cab to reader are smaller in size than the older ones I have. (in your video, looks like you have the older, large connectors too)
Luckily, I found the wiring harnesses for the card readers in the new cab's coin box and switched them out on my card readers.
The reader resetting problem hasn't happened on the one bad card reader since I changed those out. Works perfect every time i turn it on.

I'm betting the issue is a short in the wiring or bad connection with the pins on the card reader wiring harness or the wiring harness going inside the cab. An arcade operator pulling those card readers out all the time to replace cards probably puts a lot of stress on the wires/connectors.

I dunno how that will help you since you seem to have already tried switching the card reader wiring harness. Maybe the issue is with the connector pins/wire harness going into the cab? Seems likely since it will randomly work after some time fiddling with it.

Image one shows the old connector, image two is the newer harness with the smaller connector.

1.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 2.jpg
    2.jpg
    77.7 KB · Views: 284
You may be right. I have only really tested with seat 1 and seat 2. When I swapped harnesses, one reset loops and the other does not. at some times, both reset in a loop. my next test is going to be to completely replace the harness from card reader to plug connected to the connector before the longer harness connected to the NAOMI2. having a fresh harness won't hurt so hopefully I can confirm this is the end all fix.

Thank you!
 
You may be right. I have only really tested with seat 1 and seat 2. When I swapped harnesses, one reset loops and the other does not. at some times, both reset in a loop. my next test is going to be to completely replace the harness from card reader to plug connected to the connector before the longer harness connected to the NAOMI2. having a fresh harness won't hurt so hopefully I can confirm this is the end all fix.

Thank you!
Let me know how this turns out whenever you get to it.
 
Right now I am working on taking an inventory of whats working, what needs to be replaced, what can be swapped, etc. I am also using one of the PSUs in the cab to power my Max Tune cab so another repair project needs to be done before this continues any further. I have the connectors/pins and wires ready, I need to crimp now.

Once I get the harness wired up I will do my best to report back and document for others that may have this same problem.
 
Will be looking forward to this. I have the same problem but it's so infrequent that it's hard to pinpoint.
 
Back
Top