Quick question: I’ve got a Bally KISS that has suddenly stopped booting. Looking at the LED, I get the first flicker on power up, then the LED goes out for a moment, then it comes on and stays on.
Does this constitute a first flash, since the LED does come on once, so I should look into faults for the second flash?
Or does the fact that the LED never goes off after that first time it comes on (in essence, never really completes the first flash) mean that I should look at flash #1 symptoms?
Or does this mean it's totally off the rails and hasn't really done any sort of real flashing?

Interestingly, it really seems like it’s still going through the test sequence a bit, because a few moments after that LED comes on and stays on, I do hear the outlane gate kind of “hiccup”.

I’m at work right now, so I won’t be able to look more at this until later tonight, at the earliest, but any wisdom here would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

I'll have to check the glow tonight after I drive through the -50 degree wind chill.
The board may be original. I've had the machine for over 20 years. Battery has been removed for quite a while, but I know that doesn't guarantee anything. I think a previous owner had it serviced. I'll do my own service if needed.

Last night, it was acting even stranger...sometimes would get stuck on first flash (as above). After reseating lower PIA and 5101 RAM, it started getting through 6 flashes. And at one point, it looked like it would get through 6, then start over a few times.

I'll need some quality time with it, it seems.

Thanks, Jeff

Did a little work this weekend.
Reseated each chip one at a time. Sometimes that would get it to boot. In the process, found that all the “upper” chips had rather tarnished pins, and some of them seemed rather “weak”. Had to dab a bit of solder on one leg to make sure it wouldn’t fall off.

This, of course, reinforces that I’ll need to do some serious work on this board, removing all these Augat sockets, and replacing at least SOME of the chips. While I’m on there, I’ll be able to check for corrosion under the sockets and evaluate from there.

Thanks for the advice.
I’ll update once I’m done working on the board. Gotta check my chip stash...

Jeff

Yeah, I'm going to look into that. Where, exactly, do I get the files from?

Jeff

Too late. After I saw all the tarnishing on the chip legs, I bit the bullet and have been slowly removing all the sockets and chips. I'll definitely check that when I finish the board up, though.

I would say I'm "somewhat" handy with ROMs. Gonna start with the stock ROMs and make sure it's all working right, then I'll try the free play versions.

Jeff

Ok, I’ve replaced all the sockets, and in the process, I checked continuity on all of those chips pins (3xROMs, CPU, 2xPIAs, 2xRAMs). I lifted one pad/trace, but it’s been repaired. I was going to change to all new ROMs, but I’d like to make sure things are working before I mess with all those jumpers (am I being too cautious?).

So I tried to put my original ROMs back in, but some of the pins are so tarnished, they broke off (on U1). I’ve cobbled together a makeshift “fix” for that with some strategic wire jumpers and soldering, and now the board boots through all 7 flashes.

However, after the 7th flash, it plays the welcome tune, resets the drop targets (as it should), and goes into what I thought was attract mode. Actually, I think it’s going into the first test mode, because all the lights are flashing at once, the displays are blank, and I can’t add any credits. When I press the test button once, it goes into a version of the display test (that should be after 2 presses) but only displays 6s and 9s over and over again. A second press of the test button seems to go into the coil test (should be 3 presses) because it kicks a ball into the shooter lane, but then stops completely.

So here’s my question: should I stay here and figure out what’s going on, or should I accept that it’s booting, ditch the cobbled ROMs, change the jumpers and put in the “new” 2716 ROMs that I have burned but never tested?

Thanks,
Jeff

Oh yeah, while there is some corrosion, because I had to repair a couple vias right by where the battery was, it’s not as bad as others I’ve worked on. I see no grey solder on any components, and no green whatsoever. Sure, I could be missing something, but it’s not bad. There was no sign of corrosion under any of the sockets.
I think I’m good there.

Good question. Yes, it does.

Good idea. My brain was going down that road, too, but hadn't quite arrived there yet.
I'll have to check it when I get home tonight.

Swapped PIAs, same thing. Could my cobbled together ROM pins be causing the game program to run funny if they’re not connecting right? These are all on U1.

Ok, so I knew my cob-job of the pin replacement on the U1 ROM would always be a question as long as it was not working, so i figured since it was technically booting fully, I bit the bullet and reconfigured the jumpers for the 2716 ROMs that I burned off IPDB. Put them in, locked on LED. Poked around a bit, reset was fine, just not running. Removed all but necessary chips to get the flicker... nope.

Decided to rejumper for the original U6 (its legs seemed fine) and try that. With that, I was able to get the flicker. Left it jumpered for the original U6 and 2716 U1 and U2 and I was able to get all flashes on the bench. I put it in the machine with fingers crossed and only got 3 flashes. Tried a new PIA, no dice. Decided to shotgun the 2 RAM CHIPS, since my Marco delivery had arrived, and it booted correctly and went into attract mode! Woohoo!
Put the old 6810 back in for a test, and it booted, but the attract mode was funky. New chip back in, and it worked again, so I’m leaving that in.

Planning to go ahead with the 2732s I got from Marco, at least for U6. If that works, I might look into some free play ROMs, but I need to wrap my head around that a bit.

Thanks for the assistance,
Jeff