Carnival Night malfunctioning a lot

[Dubert]

I was given this Carnival Night machine about two or three years ago by my aunt. When I first got it, it worked, but would occasionally crash and would need to be unplugged and plugged back in to get it working again. It progressively got worse and worse, until sometimes it wouldn't come out of the crash at all. So I opened it up and noticed that if I push on the board up in the top right corner or wiggle that big ribbon cable on the right side I could get it to work for a while. It eventually got so bad that it really didn't work at all and I quit messing with it probably over a year ago.

I decided I wanted to take a shot at getting it working again. Here's where I am at with it today.

Sometimes all I get errors like this:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_0076.jpg
Where it usually shows 8's or 0's in random places, and sometimes I get 5's all across all three displays. The Max Bet button light's up green and flickers red so fast that it's almost unnoticeable. It also produces a very light hum or buzzing, and the machine is unresponsive to any button or putting in tokens.

If I reach in and mess with the far right side of the big board in the back, around where it says "E D C B A"...
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_0072.jpg
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_0073.jpg

...I can get it to do this, which is the best I can get now:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_0070.jpg
In this state, it does work somewhat. When I put in coins(which fall to the bottom of the machine, not the hopper) the bet lights on the left side light up and the Credit display flickers with each coin and displays 8.
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/a...o/IMG_0071.jpg
When I press the lever the wheels turn(when I first started this morning only the right one would turn, then eventually the left started working, and eventually all three started to work, and I have no idea why). They turn, but they kind of have an unhealthy sounding hum to them as they turn, as if they are struggling. Also they never light up. I don't remember the last time I saw the wheel lights work, and I think every other light works at some point or another. The stop buttons also work and if I line up a row I win, but how much is not displayed. The payout button also works.

If anyone has ever seen an issue like this or has any idea what's wrong I would greatly appreciate some help.

[luckydog]

for starters, your best bet is to unplug and reseat any connections you can find.

many times its just poor contacts from the machine not being used for a long time

[Moparformances]

[TikiTim]

For the love of God, man... CLEAN IT!!!
I'd be willing to bet for as much dust that you have on the outside, the inside needs a cleaning as well.
One can't expect electronics to function properly under years of dust.
Get a can of dust off (or two... or three ) and give that pachi a proper cleaning.
Follow up with a can of contact cleaner & see if she purrs for ya.
Always go for the easy fix first.

[SlotsRfun]

Your machine is filthy and needs cleaning. To start with, If you can't find a decent electrical contact cleaner, use a soft toothbrush and baby oil and gently brush ALL of the plugs and sockets carefully and reconnect them.
Your reels may be out of alignment and rubbing against each other or the reel mount. That will slow them and make noise. Use a Phillips and loosen one at a time (start with the one on the left) and move it gently away from the other reels. center them and make sure that no wires are laying inside that are touching the inside of the reels. You may need new bulbs if they are not lighting but check the contacts first. Take out each bulb and examine it. See if the filament is broken. If they are dark or smoky buy new ones. FTKServices sells them on Ebay. Get a bag of 25.
coins will continue to fall out until you have used up your credits.
Turn off the credit feature by pushing the credit button (the button at the far left) this will cause your machine to spit out the 8 tokens that are credited and you will then be playing strictly for tokens.
Mostly CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN. Every electrical contact must be clean and lubed with the oil.
Most or all of you troubles may disappear from cleaning and new bulbs.