I picked up a Blackout not long ago, and I'm itching to get started on reviving it. It's in decent cosmetic shape, but it's boards have seen better days. I'll get into the details of it later, and some of the crazy hackery I found. More to come there. For now, here's the basic info/situation:

Game powers on, backbox GI comes on, P1 display shows "495 1" and master/credit display shows "0 0". Playfield dead, no GI there. Coin door lights are on. Getting a hum from the speakers. I checked all the fuses, all test good when pulled.

Given the fact that the boards have some corrosion (bad in some places), it's looking like a new board is in order. Before I go buying one and slapping it in, I'm open to suggestions to ensure I don't kill the new board when it arrives. Normally I redo the 40-pin, reflow all the headers, etc... but these boards aren't likely worth that effort. I'm mainly concerned with making sure I'm in the right place before hooking up anything new.

Sidenote: the former owner cut a lot of wires to various solenoids, I'm guessing because they were locked on. The driver board transistors are nice and green from corrosion, so there's a solid chance that has something to do with it of course.

I forgot to leave the coin door open when I did that! I always forget that with these Williams games. Thank you! So yes, it did actually boot to attract mode. Displays are acting up, flickering a little now and then, but they're all on. Digits vanish and come back now and then, etc, but they seem functional.

Adding a credit makes the knocker go off, but it seems like the game is in freeplay anyway. I was able to start a game, but all the solenoids are dead (ball doesn't kick out, drops don't reset, flippers dead, slings, pops, etc... nothing). The sound appears to be working. I get the initial game start sound, then the "heartbeat" sound like Gorgar. Scoring works in most cases, and draining the ball counts down bonus and advances to next ball (though the ball count isn't showing on the display). Draining 3 balls manually ends the game as it should.

Looks like the MPU is alive, guessing the driver board not so much. Time to dig in a little and see what's next. I'll take a few pics soon.

Yep, sorry, was just commenting that the knocker solenoid worked (since none of the others seem to be).

I'm debating... with the game booting, and scoring, and most of the current issues seem to be solenoid related... I'm wondering if I should consider just trying to fix/replace the Driver board. Normally I do the 40-pin interconnect anyway. I'll post some pics, maybe you guys can weigh in on the feasibility of repair vs. replace.

The "battery" setup before I cut it off was... crazy.

Blackout_battery - Copy (resized).jpg

Blackout_Boards - Copy (resized).jpg

Blackout_BattRemoved - Copy (resized).jpg

Blackout_Driver_Corroded - Copy (resized).jpg

Blackout_Driver_Corroded2 - Copy (resized).jpg

I'm game to try and repair if you guys think it's not that bad. I'll pull the boards and check out the other side as well. I've saved some boards before, but usually they're a little less gunked up. I'll test as much as I can trace-wise I guess, see if anything is out of whack.

Schwaggs are there standard replacements I should be looking at for the transistors and resistors. I can hunt around, but from the way you said it, I get the impression you might know off-hand. If so, feel free to let me know and save me a little searching I don't mind digging, but worth asking!

Regarding the solenoids with all the cut wires, I had assumed maybe the corrosion had messed up a bunch of the solenoid drivers, but given that it's the lamp section that's all green, thinking maybe it's more likely the 40-pin interconnect?

Just went to do it, someone saw it and did it for me (they cited the thread). As noted in my post over there, the former owner was an electrician by trade. Yikes.

Awesome, thank you!

I'll get to work on some of this and report back.

Bad News - So I checked the back of the Driver board, corrosion is pretty bad, and creeped down all the way to the bottom edge of the board as well. Definitely worse than I thought.

Good News - A friend happened to have 2 driver boards (and a MPU) lying around from a Firepower and some other game. One looks rough, the other might be okay. I don't see any corrosion, but some of the components look a little different. Same stuff, just different versions I think. Pic attached for reference. Note the different transistors on the far right, etc. I assume I can try this, right?

Extra_Driver_Board_ (resized).jpg

If someone confirms I can use that driver, I'll go ahead and replace the 40-pin on it. I don't see corrosion, or anything damaged. Supposedly this board and the MPU (not pictured) were pulled from a working Firepower.

That one is closer to my original. This current one I have in hand is definitely a bit different, but looks all original. I guess I can give it a try, I'm guessing it's fine.

Update: Good news! After doing some minor repair work on the spare driver board, it looks like I'm in business. I replaced the female side of the 40-pin interconnect, one bad transistor, and reflowed soldered to all the headers on both boards. I put it all back together and it booted up!

All the solenoids seem to be working aside from one pop (the solenoid is testing at 0.7ohms and should be closer to 4ohm, so I know it's bad) and the right flipper (which I think I have sorted out and will try reconnecting tonight).

The displays were dead initially, but reseating the power and data connectors associated with them got them back on and looking good, so I'm guessing some repinning should solve things there.

Getting closer! Will keep up with progress.

Right flipper is up and running fine it seems. Not sure why it was disconnected, but it tested good and seems to work fine. Left pop bumper is iffy. I put in a brand new one I had that I had. When I turned the game on initially, the solenoid fuse blew. I replaced the fuse, and when I turned the game on the left pop started to fire randomly. I turned the game off, messed with the switches a little, turned it back on and everything seems good so far in terms of fuses not blowing, etc.

The back right drop targets aren't resetting, so I'll check that next. They did when I first got the boards back in, but not anymore. Overall, seems to be on the right track. Displays were out again, reseating connectors got them back, so definitely need to tackle that. I really thought I'd need all new boards, so this is fun.

Looks like I've still got some bugs to work out. It appears as though every few times I turn the machine on (after it's off a little while) it won't boot, and it will usually blow the solenoid 2.5A fuse when that happens. I hear a brief "click/knock" that sounds like a weak solenoid sound, so I'm guessing one of them is locking on at power up and holding until the fuse blows. It's not every time, so I'm curious what might be the cause.

I'm used to either a bad solenoid or transistor causing that. This intermittent fuse blowing thing isn't something I've seen as much. Thoughts?

Displays still on sometimes, off others, same process of reseating the associated power connector on the power supply board seems to fix it, so at least I know what the general issue is with that.

Schwaggs I usually reflow the headers and repin or replace connectors. You think it's more likely the headers actually need replacing in this case?

Regarding the Blanking circuit, that's actually something I haven't had to deal with in the past, but makes sense based on further reading. You think first I should go through the headers, perhaps replace a few things on the power supply, etc, before worrying about that too much?

Some Good News and Bad News...

Good News: I pulled the power supply board and noticed several cold/cracked solder joints on the header associated with the display power. I reflowed the solder to all the headers on the board. I also replaced C7/C11 because I happened to have the proper capacitors handy. The displays now come on without issue, and look good.

Bad News: Left pop locks on as soon as the game is powered up. If I don't shut it off immediately, the fuse blows.

My immediate thought is the transistor, but the fact that the previous driver board was also locking on that same pop bumper per the previous owner, I have to wonder if it's something else. Thoughts?

Thanks

Thanks mof! I forgot that I've used that before (on my Firepower II) and it was useful.

I guess the first thing I should do is disconnect that pop and see if that's the only thing locking on. It's a brand new coil, and didn't do this until after I did the power supply work, which is odd.

Another note... the ground strap that usually comes up from the cabinet is NOT attached to the normal spot I'm used to seeing. And I know sometimes there's an extra wire coming off of it as well. Note in the pictures below, the missing ground strap connection, and then in the back of the pic (second pic to show it more clearly) there's a ground strap connected to a nut over near the side of the head. Seemed weird to me, but not sure if it could cause issues?

blackout_ground1 (resized).jpg

blackout_ground2 (resized).jpg

Okay, so you agree that's the normal ground strap and should be moved back. Wanted to double check. Maybe they lost the wing nut and figured that was just as good.

Removing J12 stops the pop from locking on, so no wiring problem.

Remove the special switch input J13 from the driver board. If the pop still locks on, you most likely have a bad driver, pre-driver or gate on that circuit. If it no longer locks on, you have a switch or wiring problem or the capacitor on that pop has failed shorted.

Removing J13, the pop locked on for a moment, then released and stayed that way. I realized that this was maybe residual charge in the capacitor from the previous lock on? In any case, it seemed to stay NOT locked on with J13 removed. Using your thoughts above, I immediately thought of a switch-related wiring issue being the culprit.

Resolution- If you look up in my post#6, you'll see on the edge of one pic that there are a couple of wire nuts near J13 on the Driver board. Realizing how hacked up other stuff was by the former owner, I should have immediately looked at these as soon as I got the game. Sure enough, the Orange-Brown wire associated with the Left Pop that was locking on was one of the wires that had a wire nut on it. A quick twist of the wire nut and it fell off, revealing some wires that were clearly not twisted together very well. I properly repaired the wire, and got rid of the wire nut. Going to do the same for the other wire in a similar state, even though it's not causing issues currently.

Update - Sadly, this didn't fix the problem like I hoped. It appeared to, but only briefly. The pop is still locking on, even with J13 removed. Every now and then it will not lock on, but most of the time it does.

Best guess, when the pop coil went bad and started locking on, the guy probably wasn't sure what to do. He started cutting wires in various places to try and eliminate the fuse-blowing problem, and after that didn't work, tried repairing the cuts with the wire nuts.

Next Up- 3 bank drop target in the back right of the game isn't resetting. Solenoid tests good, so I'll start doing some other testing to see what's going on. I know these are supposed to reset when all the targets are down, or on a ball drain, but they don't ever seem to reset. The lower set of drop targets reset fine, but don't seem to score. Both drop banks likely need a good cleaning and tune up.

blackout_sol_switchwires (resized).jpg

Update... okay, apparently that wire nut was NOT the issue, because this morning the pop was locking on again. However, after turning the game on and off a few times, it eventually stopped doing that. It almost slowly released itself on the last time, as if the coil was gently powering down. Wondering if maybe the capacitor is an issue? Not sure exactly how that works, relative to a pop. In any case, I'm back to trying to figure that out. Once it stops locking on, it seems to play okay. Thoughts?

I also just realized that I don't think I have any GI on the playfield. the inserts all seem to be working fine, but no GI. I need to check that (and I'm assuming the associated fuse) when I get a chance.

Yes, in fact that was the only thing working when I first got the game. Still good currently. When all the playfield inserts lit up in attract mode, I didn't even notice that the GI there wasn't on until now. Been so wrapped up in the other issues.

Thanks! I grabbed my meter and did some continuity testing. One side of the GI path was good, but the other wasn't. I traced it back to the block connector between the head and playfield, and found one of the GI wires was mostly pulled out of the connector. I repinned and reseated it in the connector block, and the GI is back.

So I'm back to the primary issue at the moment: Left pop still locking on. I'll install the fuse saver board when it arrives, but given what I'm seeing, it will just blow that fuse once I install it. Since it's still locking on with J13 removed, Schwaggs said it's the driver, pre-driver or gate. Testing the transistors shows the same readings as the other pop driver/pre-driver, but I know on-board testing cab be iffy. Not sure how to test the Gate?

Here are the results

IC6 pin 1 = 3.88 V
IC6 pin 2 = 5.00 V
IC9 pin 1 = 0.14 V (assuming effectively 0)
IC9 Pin 2 = 3.77 V
IC9 Pin 3 = 4.81 V (not in game) / 0.14 V (when a game has been started)

Assuming the low 0.14 reading is basically 0, then it looks like I've got an issue with a couple of readings that should be 5V that aren't.

Okay, thanks @schwaggs , I'll go ahead and replace those. I may even have them on hand, since I worked on a BK not long ago and usually over-buy. They all seemed good, but I'll know for sure after I pull them and test them off-board.

I'll try the pop switch/skirt test too, just for kicks.

UPDATE - Some good news, but mostly bad at the moment.

Bad News- Replaced driver and pre-driver (Q2 and Q1) and the Left Pop still locks on at power up

(small) Good News - Noticed that the pre-driver (Q22) and a resistor (R42) was missing for the top drop target row. Simply not there. I added the missing components, and the top drop targets now work

So to recap:

* Unplugging J12 from the Driver board stops the pop from locking on

* Unplugging J13 does NOT stop the pop from locking on

* Replacing Driver (Q2) and pre-driver (Q1) does not fix the issue

I'm at a bit of a loss now. Suggestions?

Thanks Schwaggs I'll take a look, do that, and report back soon!

Okay, here are the Results:

IC6 pin 3 (skirt not pressed) = 3.79V
IC6 pin 3 (skirt pressed) = 0.08V
IC6 pin 2 (skirt not pressed) = 5.00V
IC6 pin 2 (skirt pressed) = 0.00V

IC6 pin 10 = 4.97V
IC6 pin 1 = 3.90V

Guessing the ones in bold are not good, and should be 5V instead. Do you think that's part of the issue?

Well, the good news is I have two spare driver boards here, so I can probably pull from them. The downside is that on my current driver, neither IC6 or IC10 are socketed. The spare driver I have is socketed, so getting that chip off won't be too bad. I have a couple spare sockets, so if I remove IC10 I can socket and try a replacement I have on another board.

Did you mean PIA IC5? My schematic says IC5 is the Solenoid PIA and IC10 is the Lamp PIA. Just checking.

Nevermind, I see that IC6 pin 1 goes to IC10 pin 19, which is testing as 3.79V . IC10 pin 20 has a good 5.00V.

So... do I pull both, socket and try to go from there? Or do I start with one instead of the other?

Schwaggs Based on your comments, it sounds like you think IC6 (7804) is more likely. I checked my stockpile and I have a brand new one, as well as a matching socket, so I could do that. For the IC10, I have the socket and can re-use a chip from one of the other driver boards to test, but it would be easier to start with the IC6 I guess.

Based on the test results above, what are your thoughts? Thanks

Had some time tonight, went ahead and

socketed/replaced IC6 (7408N) and it worked! I'll do more testing in the morning when I can make more noise without waking the rest of the house, but the Pop isn't locking on anymore, and when I started a game, I was able to trigger it normally.

The only sidenote is that I tested the voltages on IC6 Pin 1 & 3, and neither is 5V still. They are higher though, and tested at 3.99V and 4.43V respectively. Not sure if that means there might still be an issue, but for now it's working.
Any concerns with that?

Next Issue: Drop Targets.
They're resetting on ball drain, which is good. Previously, neither row was scoring or resetting during ball-in-play, so I took the center 3 target apart and cleaned it. The wiper contacts were dirty, as were the drop contact points on the boards. I cleaned them up, and reassembled. If I knock down the 2nd or 3rd target, no scoring occurs, and they stay down. Hitting the 1st drop target (furthest left) resets the entire group, even if the 2nd and 3rd drop are still up. After a short delay, the game awards some points. Thoughts as to why knocking down the first target always resets the row, regardless of the status of the other two targets? I'll try cleaning the back row of drops next.

Schwaggs Bad news all... the pop bumper problem is back again. It was fine for 5-10 minutes of testing last night, zero issues. Woke up this morning, turned the game on, and it's locking on again.

Any thoughts on what might cause it to do that? The game wasn't plugged in over night, no other changes were made. I just woke up and found it back to locking on at power-up. Seems really bizarre. Argh.

EDIT/UPDATE- I removed J12 and re-tested the IC pins from last night. Same voltage results. I reconnected J12, turned the game on, and the pop didn't lock on this time. I added a credit and played a game, no issues. So I guess it's erratic problem?

Turned on the game this evening, and the pop was locking on again. I tried a few things, no luck. But after about 3-4 minutes of turning the game off and on, the Pop started acting strangely. It went from locking on, to locking on, then slowly releasing. Then it did some shotgunning for a few seconds. Finally, it would randomly fire every few seconds, slowly tapering off, and eventually stopping. After that, it functioned perfectly fine. Games could be played, etc. It hasn't locked since.

This feels like a strange power issue almost. Is there a capacitor or something that could be involved? The one near the pop doesn't seem to make sense, does it?

Schwaggs No problem, I really appreciate all the help. Thank you for coming back and giving advice!

IC6 Pin 8 = 4.34V
IC6 Pin 14 = 5.01V

Did you say IC10 is socketed? Is it by chance AMI brand?

IC10 is not socketed on this board, sadly. It is a Motorola Brand 6821

For the drops, I'll try cleaning them again, and do a little testing when I do. I'll also try cleaning the back drop target bank to see if I get better results.

IC6 pin 1 = 3.96V
IC6 pin2 = 5.00V

Other readings for reference:

IC10 pin 19 = 3.97V

IC6 pin 6 = 4.35V
IC6 pin 11 = 4.35V
IC7 pin 11 = 3.81V
IC8 pin 5 = 4.34V
IC8 pin 9 = 4.34V
IC8 pin 12 = 4.34V
IC9 pin 2 = 4.34V
IC9 pin 5 = 3.82V

So is IC10 pin 19 not putting out enough power? Or is something pulling that low, further downstream?

It seems that if I unplug J12 and leave the game on for a while, then turn it off, plug in J12, and turn it back on, the pop doesn't lock on usually. Almost like "warming the game up" eliminates the issue. The above readings don't change, so when the pop is locking vs. not locking, they remain the same. Weird.

Schwaggs

I used a new SN7408N

Game on in attract, J12 unplugged:

IC6 pin 1 = 3.97V
IC6 pin 4 = 4.99V
IC6 pin 10 = 4.99V
IC6 pin 13 = 4.08V

Quick update on the drop targets: Took apart and cleaned the back one, and in so doing realized what was wrong with the front set... I put the boards on upside down. Total fail on my end. I flipped them all over, and both sets of targets work great now. Funny that it's easy to make that mistake, since they have mounting holes/setup that can handle the contact boards being attached either way. So, warning to future people with that odd drop target issue, check to make sure you have them put back on correctly!

Looks like the only issue left is my locking Pop bumper. Looking forward to your thoughts Schwaggs

Yup, getting close. If I use the trick where I leave J12 unplugged for a while with the game in attract, then turn it off, plug that back in, and turn it back on, there's no locking and it plays fine. So strange.

In my experience, most of the time it is the driver or pre-driver transistor. In my case it's not, so we're trying to figure out what it is still. The help on this forum is awesome. Big shout out to Schwaggs especially, as he's been throwing himself at this one even though it's a tough problem to sort out. I appreciate everyone's help. I know we'll get it sorted!

Replace IC6 again? The readings were similar for the original IC6 I think, so I guess IC10 should be next. Larger chip, but I do have a spare socket that size. I could steal the 6821 from another board and see if that helps.

I still don't get why letting it "warm up" with the plug removed resolves the issue. So bizarre.

Both Motorola in this case

So... strange thing that I'll test again, but I noticed something weird. If I hold the pop with my hand, turn the game on, and don't let it pull down (I can feel it trying), eventually it sort of just stops pulling slowly, gets weaker, and then doesn't lock on anymore. Like it gives up almost. After that, it works just fine. I think I turned the game off and on a couple times mixed in there.

Anyway... strange. I will check it again later (it takes a while turned off for it to start the locking on problem again. If I let it sit for only a few minutes, and turn the game back on, no locking. This still seems very strange to me, and I always think of a capacitor issue with situations like that. And you guys are sure it can't be something like that? Capacitor/power issue? Just double-checking before I start yanking off big the IC10 chip!

Question: Would it be worth swapping some stuff around between this pop bumper and an adjacent one, wiring-wise? I could swap the coil wiring, the switch connections (at the board or under the playfield), etc. Just thinking I could eliminate some possible issues that way.

Any issue if I just swapped the connector pins on them to see if the other pop would lock on? I know pulling the connectors and testing says it's a board issue, but if this idea can't hurt anything, I kind of want to try it.

Thoughts?

Schwaggs I'll check shortly and let you know, but I'm 99% sure yes Q2

Schwaggs Q2 confirmed, we're in the right place

Do you think I should consider replacing IC9 first then?

Damn, okay. I assume that's another 7408. I think I'm out of those, I'll have to check.

In Strange news...

Ah, so it is, thank you! Don't think I have one, so I'll have to order. G-P-E I assume this one over at GPE will work fine: https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=7402

Wondering if I should just make a general shopping list for a couple other items. I don't see the IC10 PIA available there though. I welcome suggestions on a few things to pre-buy just in case (aside from some more transistors since I'm running low)

Edit: Just because the game wants to mess with me, the Pop hasn't locked on in about 12 hours. Weird. The downside is that the left kicker (Q8, Solenoid 20) isn't working now. It was the only transistor that had corrosion on the metal tab, so it doesn't really surprise me I guess. Grounding the tab fires the kicker, so wiring is good. Guess I should replace the driver/pre-driver.

Nope, the board is actually really clean overall. That Q8 area is the only spot. I hit the area with distilled vinegar and such already. Here it is before I cleaned it up. Not the greatest pic, but you get the idea.

It seemed to be working fine, but given this is how it looked, wouldn't hurt to replace it. Looking inside the relay, with the closeup image, I don't like that greenish tinge there. Going to have to peek at that.
Extra_Driver_Corrosion - Copy (resized).jpg

Just reporting a small update. Still no locking coil, so the issue seems to (at least temporarily) have gone away. I need to address the left kicker still, that will be next. Knowing my luck, the locking pop will come back after I fix the kicker, but we'll see.

I decided to take a break for board work and do some cleaning. Threw in some GI LEDs for fun effects, new rubbers, etc. Looks really good. Can't wait to get this all done up nice and running 100%.

Updates

I pulled the board, replaced the driver/pre-driver for the left sling (after cleaning up that area again) and I'm happy to report it's working. Still no locking with the Pop bumper either, so that seems to have "magically" fixed itself. Guessing something I did in the process of testing or cleaning up fixed the issue. Time will tell.

Current Issue

Now that the all the solenoid issues seem resolved, and game seems fully playable, I've taken some time to review the rest of the game. I had not really noticed until now, but I'm realizing that none of the insert lights on the mid-to-upper-left side of the game are working. The row in front of the stand-up targets, and the ones up inside the upper left spinner lane. They're all out. All the GI is working fine, so I hadn't paid much attention while working on everything else. Guessing because of them all in one area, it's likely a connection issue to that grouping, but I'll need to check.

You guys agree that's most likely, and not a board issue?

Looks like it's a Lamp matrix issue. I just checked, and two entire columns are actually out. See below, looks like Column 3 and Column 5 are both dead. Last time I had a switch matrix issue with an entire column out (on my Space Shuttle), it was a small transistor on the board. Guessing lamp matrix issues are similar?

Looking at the schematic, I believe I'm looking for connections 2J5-5 and 2J5-7. That leads me to:

Column 3 = 2J5-5 --> Q72 & Q73
Column 5 = 2J5-7 --> Q68 & Q69

Does that sound correct?

Blackout_Lamp_Trans (resized).jpgBlackout_Lights_dead_Matrix (resized).jpg

I'm thinking Q68 and Q72 are more likely. Interestingly, the ones on the board I'm using look nothing like most that I've seen. I'm attaching some pics. The labeled ones that are much larger are the ones on my board. The other pic is of another non-working board I have on hand. All of the System 3-7 driver boards I've had use the smaller transistor size and style. I've never seen the larger ones like I have on my current board.

Can I steal some from one of my non-working boards and replace Q68 / Q72, even though clearly the existing are a little different looking?

(Yes, I know some are all bent crazy, I didn't do that, I received them that way)
Lamp_Drivers_1 (resized).jpgLamp_Drivers_2 (resized).jpg

Since it's the same board, they should have the same components I would guess, or equivalent anyway... but it's hard to tell. I can't find much in the way of identifiers that I can look up with the Q68 and Q72 positions. The Q69 and Q73 are definitely TIP42 (TIP42B in fact), so I know those are cross-compatible. I could start with those.

I've seen the threads on the MOFSET replacement idea, and some other options. Is that something you have to do ALL of them at once, or can you just do problematic ones and leave the others to avoid working on them all? Just curious.

I'll have to give this a try. I admit to a lack of logic probe skill. Own one, barely used it over the years, so I'll need to refresh myself to make sure I'm doing that's needed to use it properly.

In that description, it almost sounds like he's saying remove those connectors while the game is on? That's generally a bad idea, right? Or is that okay with these connectors?

Edit: I have a bulb connected to a couple of wires, I use it for testing at times. Could I pull the connectors 2J5 and 2J7 and test pin-to-pin somehow across those to see if it's definitely a board problem, rather than a logic probe? Just a random thought.Going to go dig for my probe in the mean time.

Success! The columns/lights are restored to working order. Testing showed that the board seemed fine, which surprised me. I decided to do some more work checking the wiring and connectors. It turns out I had two separate issues.

For Column 3, the issue was the connector at 2J5. The wiring into the connector wasn't very good. It was a little loose, and damaged as it entered the connector housing. I repinned the whole connector, and the lights associated with that Column were restored.

Since that didn't fix the Column 5 lights, I did some more searching. I finally found where the continuity from the playfield wiring was having issues: at the connector between the playfield and the boards. One of the pins in the block connector was slightly compressed, so it wasn't making good contact with the female side of the connector. I cleaned and re-pinned that wire within the block, and the lights associated with that column all came to life.

Officially, I think I've got everything sorted now. I'll do a full test tomorrow to confirm, but I may be able to call this one fixed shortly!

Final issue (hopefully) - Lane Change isn't working.I checked, and the switch is making good contact at the flipper end. Is there something on the flipper area (EOS vicinity) that ties into it?

slochar Just checked, and something seems amiss. GRN-BLU is connected to 1/2 of a switch, but the other half has no connection. It looks like the WHT-BLU is connected to a useless lug that has no associated switch.

I went ahead and jumpered the WHT-BLU over to the other half of the switch and the Lane Change worked great. I guess someone soldered it wrong (or there used to be a jumper between those lugs). Looks like I should be fine, unless someone notices another issue.

Thanks slochar!

Blackout_Lane_Change (resized).jpg

Thanks! Diode added, lane change working.

Current Issue- Sound time. I have all the sounds and speech, which is great, but the volume is relatively low, and I've got a pretty bad hum. Need to troubleshoot and see what I can do. I cranked up the volume pot all the way, and barely any increase in sound. With nothing else going on, I can hear the game at a low but audible volume, but the hum is almost as loud or louder than the sound.

Capacitors (they're all original)? Volume pot maybe? Grounding issue? I'll do a little digging, but please feel free to chime in if anyone has some quick suggestions.

I pulled the 10J4 connector off and jumpered pins 1 & 2 for max volume, and in my opinion it was medium volume at best.

Okay, I'll order the caps and get that done. Thanks guys

Will do, thanks Schwaggs

Sound board recapped and headers reflowed, still a loud hum. The volume, when cranked up all the way, is still pretty low too.

Maybe it's the volume pot? Can that cause both the hum and low volume?

I unplugged 10J4 and jumpered pins 1 & 2. Still have the hum. The volume was slightly higher for the in-game sounds, but not as loud as I would expect max volume to be.

All the sound board screws are in place. Would it be worthwhile to remove the board and sand the contact points between the back of the board and the backbox frame, just to ensure good contact? I reflowed all the headers when I did the cap kit. Is there something else I'm missing? I would love to get rid of this hum, it's my final issue.

I did all the caps on the main sound board, including the 1uf ones (that's what the kit had). I didn't have any caps for the speech board I don't think. Would that be it maybe? What if I disconnected the ribbon cable from the speech board, could I boot up that way and see if the hum is gone, to try and isolate the problem?

I've adjusted the balance pot before and it didn't change the problem, but I haven't tried the 5-10 times thing. I'll do that. Let me know if I can try isolating the speech board. I don't want to try it if that would be a bad idea.

Disconnecting the speech cable from the main sound board eliminates the hum (and other sounds drop to a whisper, probably because of the dip switch setting you mentioned). I tried moving the balance pot back and forth several times, didn't affect the hum.

Is it safe to assume that means the hum issue is on the speech board? I didn't know I would have to recap that (kit didn't include anything for it).

Moving the balance with the game on does not result in any scratchy audio. The pot seems to work great, adjusting the balance of speech/sound as it should.

When you say jumper J1, I'm not sure what you mean. 10J1 on the main sound board is the power connector. I know there's a jumper called "W1" that's there, and I know it's supposed to be removed on games without speech. Not sure if you're referring to that or not?

I'll check to see if I have a cap for C12... I'll probably need to order it.Found a 10uf 50V one in my container of capacitors, I'll go try replacing it and report back.

Da-Shaker Unplugging the volume control wire completely (and jumpering pins 1&2 for max volume) doesn't get rid of the hum, so I don't think it's the volume pot or wiring, unfortunately. I checked the speaker and the wires were soldered on (looked original). I reflowed them, no change. Since unplugging the speech board from the setup eliminates the hum, guessing it's somewhere in that area.

Schwaggs Replaced C12 on the Speech board, no change sadly. Please let me know what you wanted me to try next, not sure what you meant on the jumpering idea. Thanks

Not sure what you mean... you mean unscrewing it from the bracket entirely? Not sure that's a good idea, normally the lack of good connection is part of the issue. But I'll fully admit to being a novice in the realm of sound hum troubleshooting.

slochar I tried your idea, isolated it from the bracket, no change.

Sidenote: I did notice that when I turn down the cabinet volume low enough, the hum is much quieter. Of course then I can't hear the sounds either, but at least I know the hum seems to decrease with volume control

SchwaggsThis test worked exactly as you described. I disconnected the speech board ribbon cable, and jumpered W1. I turned the game on and there was NOhum at all, and the sounds came out perfectly clear (and the volume was much louder as it should be). I was able to control the volume with the knob in the cabinet, and everything sounded great.

Clearly my issue is somewhere either on the Speech board (or perhaps the ribbon cable?). What's the next step now that we're isolated the issue?

Ha... yes, that would be great . Just not sure what to try next

The only issue with that is this 40-pin ribbon cable is soldered on the speech board side. Sadly not easy, and potential for me to make things worse, ha. That would probably be the last thing I consider, if replacing other components would be possible fixes. Knowing that the hum is only present when the Speech board is connected, and is the same hum whether I have the board screwed down to the frame or not, makes me wonder what else it could be with C12 already replaced?

Hmm interesting, I thought it needed to be soldered. I see Andrew barakandl commented on that after some searching through other threads. Sounds like it can be tricky, but it's doable as you noted.

Do you think that's likely the issue? Wondering if I should try other things first.

I really appreciate the help and suggestions from everyone, no worries. I'm in a similar boat as you, and do the same things you do. I usually track down as much as I can either on the forums, or in the schematics, and try things out. Eventually I get stumped (like now), and I turn to the folks on here with more experience any knowledge

Schwaggs I'll do all of this as soon as I can tomorrow and report back, thank you

Schwaggs So I went through the list, and I ran into a couple of discrepancies. Could you clarify when you have a moment?

IC1 on the Speech board is a 14-pin chip. In your test suggestions, you have be testing pin 16 on IC1, which doesn't exist. You also asked me to test Pin 8, which appears to be Ground (GND). Not sure if that's what you wanted, so I thought I'd double-check.

Here are the results from everything I was able to test. I highlighted things outside of the ranges you stated in bold

Main sound board:
Ground braid to NEG lead of C27 = 0 VDC
NEG (-) lead of C27 to POS (+) lead C27 = 11.79 VDC
NEG lead of C27 to POS lead C25 = 4.91 VDC
NEG lead of C27 to NEG lead C26 = -13.33 VDC

On the voice board:
NEG lead of C27 main sound board to pin 8 of IC1 on the voice board = 0 VDC (pin 8 is Ground)
NEG lead of C27 main sound board to pin 16 of IC1 on the voice board = Pin 16 does not exist
NEG lead of C27 main sound board to pin 4 of IC2 or IC3 on the voice board = -13.33 VDC
NEG lead of C27 main sound board to pin 12 of one of the ROM chips on the voice board = 0 VDC (on all ROM chips)
NEG lead of C27 main sound board to pin 24 of one of the ROM chips on the voice board = 2.46 VDC(on all ROM chips)
IC1_Speech_Schem (resized).jpg

Just checking back in Schwaggs , thoughts on the above? I reseated the ROMs, no luck.

Thanks - I'll try all of this and report back!

Pin 8 on IC2 and IC3 = 4.94 VDC

I re-measured Pin 24 of the ROM chips (including the empty socket) and they're all showing 4.91 VDC now. Maybe I screwed something up before?

Hum is still there. I'll go try pulling each ROM chip (with the game off) and check for the hum as I go.

To answer the voice question - yes as far as I can tell, I'm hearing all the words properly.

Sure, and I'll include pics from the schematics with blue dots on the ones I did, for reference. If you need the values, let me know.

Sound Board capacitors replaced: C14, C15, C25, C26, C27 also C12, C30, C36

Speech Board capacitor replaced: C12

Blackout_Sound_Schem (resized).jpg

Blackout_Speech_Schem (resized).jpg

C29 replaced... no luck. I really appreciate you sticking with this and trying to help with the mystery @schwaggs . Hopefully we can track it down!

Including a pic of C1 on the Speech board, looks original.

Here are the results of testing (game on, attract mode, no sound just the humming):

Negative side of C29 on the main board - this is analog audio out = 0 VAC
IC3 pin 1 on the speech board - speech filter stage = 0 VAC
IC3 pin 7 on the speech board - speech filter stage = 0 VAC
IC2 pin 7 on the speech board - analog and speech mixer output = 0VAC

Blackout_Speech_C1 (resized).jpg

I didn't replace the ribbon cable yet. As for the headers, since the hum goes away when I unplug the ribbon cable (removing speech board connectivity but leaving sound fully functional and significantly louder), I'm guessing the headers aren't the issue, correct? There are no headers on the speech board aside from the ribbon cable connection, so I think I'm okay from that perspective.

Does the ribbon cable factor into a possible ground or hum issue normally? Clearly unplugging it removes the hum. Given the somewhat tricky nature of replacing it, I haven't touched it in anyway. I read about prying it up in one of the guides, and I'm a little concerned I'll make things worse.

I could do some videos, if it's helpful, just to demonstrate the issues.

I knew which ones you meant , but those connectors are all on the main sound board, and since the hum vanishes when the Speech board is disconnected, but main board still hooked up to all those connectors, I was saying that I doubt they would be the issue. Do you think that's still possible?

Sadly no scope, just my meter.