Ore no Sora "custom" ripoff. Questions.

[ezehogan]

Hello.

My future father in law loves Slots so I purchased a Pachislo machine for him for Christmas. As this was my first machine I had absolutely no clue what to look for and bought a machine that was being offered by many national retailers including Amazon.com and Sears.com.

An example of the machine can be seen here: http://pachisloworld.com/images/14-lvbk_lg.jpg

In reality I have discovered that the actual machine received is an Ore no Sora machine with custom graphics slapped on it and sold by "Trademark Poker". I know I got ripped off but it looks like I would lose out on about $100 to try to return the machine so I'd rather just eat the loss and keep it now (I rectified this mistake by giving in and buying him ANOTHER machine from Gaku which I am now eagerly awaiting in the mail).

At any rate, I was wondering if there would be any way to restore the full LCD screen on this machine. Since I am new to these I have no idea what to look for so I would need the following information:

1. How can I tell if the screen is still intact and present?
2. If the screen is in fact present, no image bleeds through the decal. Is it simply disconnected or is there more at play?
3. If only disconnected, how do I reconnect it?

I imagine the screen was probably pulled and used for something else but I guess I guy can hope right?

On an unrelated note, I would like to thank everyone for their advice and insight in my only previous thread detailing my troubles with this machine. We are now actually having a lot of fun playing this machine but I would love to know what is happening on the screen so the sound effects make sense. Right now it just seems totally random.

Thanks in advance.

[alstonj1]

pictures of the inside of the door would help us see if infact the lcd is still there .

[ezehogan]

I will post detailed photos of the inside of the machine later tonight.

Also, I would like to state that I am still having fun with the machine as are the other members of the household. However, I knew something seemed odd when the machine arrived and the sound effects and theme of the game had no correlation to the graphics on the reels. That is when I suspected that something was amiss.

If the machine cannot be restored I will still be perfectly happy playing it as I am sure everyone else will. When I state that I feel "ripped off", the only reason I feel that way is because I now see that I could have obtained an unaltered fully intact and operational machine for less money than I paid for this machine. Chalk it up to a life lesson.

If I had purchased this machine for myself, I think the case would be closed. But since it was a gift I just have the urge to make it "the best it can be" and get my money's worth. I just feel bad giving someone something that doesn't seem the way it should be.

At any rate I can definately say one thing: I'm glad I purchased the machine because it introduced me to the world of Pachislo and because I found this forum as a result.

[dattia]

I'm glad you are enjoying it, these machines really are great.

[PachiFool]

Welcome to an amazing hobby! As previously stated, a pic of the inside of the door would be helpful but I would be shocked if the display was still there. I'm guessing that the machine was chosen for "customization" because the display was damaged in transit from Japan. The likelihood of finding a display is probably slim but perhaps one of the many vendors here has an extra lying around.

[Chrisdice]

Look at the reels with the door closed. If it looks like you are looking through a plastic film then the screen is still there. If not its gone.

[ezehogan]

I have attached a photo of the inside of the door to this thread. Let me know if other angles or more detailed photos are needed.

[johntofva]

I don't have that machine, but it doesn't look like there is anything missing to me. The question is does it still work. I can't imagine that they would convert this machine if it did.

[alstonj1]

the lcd appears to be there . it may not work but it is there only way to tell is pull the monitor off or the sticker covering it . the back light may be dead .

[outdoorenth]

For these custom machines the video cards are removed. To restore the machine you will need to find a video card. Japan Yahoo Auction is one place to get them. Let me check around to see if I can locate one for you.

[alstonj1]

doesn't appear to be anything missing on the door are there and plugs dangling ? the video card is usually on the door close to the monitor .

[Youngjedi]

I have a gamera case in the garage. The screen may still be good. I don't know about the Video card though. The screen is yours if you want it. When I got it, theere was a slight static line on the far left of the screen. This anoyed me, so I had the seller send a good working one. I'll check it out tomorrow. As for the video Card? I looked inside my machine, I am not sure where it is located, but if I were to guess, It's the large card that is crewed to the top of the monitor on the inside of the screen.

[RPLOADED]

Those reels look like Devil May Cry 3. If that is it the picture you sent looks identical to the inside of my door. I wonder if they just disconnected the backlight.

I can pull on mine and find what wire make the screen go blank...if you so desire.

[MrGoodBurn]

Looking at the picture; the back light appears to be on. If you look closely, you can see the white glow. Maybe they removed the LCD and left the back light to illuminate the static graphic.

[ezehogan]

I would be very interested in learning which wire turns the LCD screen on/off as well as where the video card is located in the machine. I do not see any disconnected wires but if the video card has indeed been pulled I would imagine the wire was also pulled.

Though a novice, it appears to me that an LCD screen is present and the backlight is being used to illuminate the static decal. However I'm sure the video card was indeed pulled. I tried to see what kind of prices were on Yahoo Japan auctions but honestly I'm not sure what I'm looking at.

Let me know if any close up photos of the inside of the machine are needed. In the meantime, I would love any information on what wires control the LCD screen and where the video card can be found in the machine.

Thanks!

[ezehogan]

Tonight I had the guts to really delve into the machine. After taking out some screws and disconnecting some wires I managed to peel back the decal on the face of the unit and discovered a few things:

1. The LCD screen is present (the decal is actually stuck to it and not the glass).

2. The backlight is in perfect working order. When the black decal was peeled back the light was shockingly bright.

3. I cobbled it together in this state and played a few tokens to discover that, as stated, nothing seemed to be happening on that corner of the screen.

So that would seem to confirm the prior post that the video card was indeed removed by Trademark Global.

Now I am left with a few more questions:

1. Where would the video card on the machine be located?

2. How does it connect to the machine?

3. How much would another video card cost?

4. And lastly, are they difficult to obtain?

Call me obsessive but I would just really like to see what this machine looks like when played the way it was meant to be played. Although I'm sure the animations can get repetitive and predictable, I'm sure it would seem more interesting than a custom made static decal that blocks out the backlight.