(Topic ID: 53623)

Williams Flash board repair v.s. Rotten Dog

By 5280wzrd

10 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 17 posts
  • 12 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 10 years ago by Bamaro
  • Topic is favorited by 2 Pinsiders

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#1 10 years ago

My Flash CPU has recently gone wacky. Has some acid damage. Will run in attract mode and will start the game. When flippers fire off, the game resets, scores go blank. Will reboot after turning the game off. Shoud I repair the original boards or go with the Rotten Dog MPU?

#2 10 years ago

All depends on the level of the corrosion, personally if it's an easy repair I'd stick with original.

Another option for a replacement is the Kohout / PinballPCB lineup, which is quite nice, I tend to prefer it to the rottendog option.

-Hans

#3 10 years ago

I can repair/bulletproof your MPU and driver for considerably less than a replacement board.

#4 10 years ago
Quoted from 5280wzrd:

When flippers fire off, the game resets, scores go blank.

Also those symptoms could also be a number of things unrelated to said acid damage.

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_System_3_-_7#Reset_Issues

If the power supply has the original caps in it, that would be my second on my todo list, first being clean up the corrosion and put and off board battery holder in.

#5 10 years ago

I was gonna say contact Barakandl. He knows his stuff well.

#6 10 years ago
Quoted from Patofnaud:

Also those symptoms could also be a number of things unrelated to said acid damage.
http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_System_3_-_7#Reset_Issues
If the power supply has the original caps in it, that would be my second on my todo list, first being clean up the corrosion and put and off board battery holder in.

Thanks for the info Ill check that tonight. I have a new power supply I can install and try that. The remote battery holder has been installed (just too late...ugg). Do you have a good link for showing corrosion clean up?

#7 10 years ago

Stiff brush with 50/50 white vinegar and water, douche it and scrub. Keep it away from any active components like relays and switches. Dry off with a bit of canned air, then use 91% or greater alcohol scrub to displace/evaporate any residual water.

#8 10 years ago

As others have said, you need to narrow down the problem before throwing money at new boards. Sounds like a power supply (or connector) issue to me, not a CPU issue.

#9 10 years ago

I'd send the power, driver, and cpu to either coin op cauldron (clive) or K's Arcade.

Both are great and will basically bullitproof your boards. And you can feel good that it's a professional doing the work.

#10 10 years ago

I am running a rottendog MPU327 and I had the same issue as you last week.
I recapped the power supply and now my machine now does not reboot.

That being said if there is still acid on the board it needs to be removed asap

--Jeff

#11 10 years ago

I'd do power supply 1st (if that is within your skill set), if that does not do it, send to barakandl

#12 10 years ago

Funny - I was just talking to a good friend of mine Monday about the repair or replace boards issue. We have always repaired boards or bought other used boards to repair for our machines and he always called us "nuts" for doing all that work when for a little more money you can just but "new replacement boards" for just about anything - he has been replacing boards with new ones for years. Anyway - he works fully time fixing machines and has been in that business for over 10 years.

Monday he said to me out of the blue - "I am going to start fixing boards again" and then a little small talk later he said "I have been having so many issues with new boards it is just easier to fix the originals".

We have had more new boards fail than repaired boards so my first and only choice is to fix original boards. We have never bought new boards because we don't like the quality of most of them but we have had over 30 new boards in machines we have bought. Normally we pull the new stuff out and put good original boards back into machines because we have had so much better luck with repaired boards.

Don't get me wrong - I am not blaming the guys making the boards - the problem is most parts being used are coming in from China and we all know how good most stuff coming from China is.

So my take on things is to fix old boards up if at all possible and if not try to find good used boards to fix up for your machines. I doubt if any of the replacement stuff being sold today will last 30 years yet original boards have and most are still going strong if it wasn't for battery damage or a bad part or two.

Just something to think about!

#13 10 years ago

I also prefer original PCBs. If the originals are damaged beyond economical repair, then I find an original that is repairable. They match the original schematics. Any finicky behaviors or problems they have tend to be well documented.

#14 10 years ago

Thanks for all the helpful information. Didn't get to mess with it yet. Will post when more is known. Can you scrub the sockets and all attached chips, Then just let them dry out for a few days?

#15 10 years ago

Thats what the alcohol does, it displaces and evaporates the water. Air can will speed that up.

So yeah you can do chips/sockets just air under them well. Just do NOT do relays and switches.

#16 10 years ago

Thanks for clearing that up for me. Time to start working on it!

#17 10 years ago

I had my Flash board repaired a few times. Its not cheap to get someone to come out to do the repair. Replaced with Rottendog 2 years ago and has worked perfect since. IMO, it was money well spent.

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