Hey fellas! I just got my Williams Firepower in and I'm trying to determine if a soundboard replacement would solve my issue. I'd rather buy a $140 sound/speech board with new roms if that's going to keep it from having other issues down the road. I have zero soldering experience, but I did just buy a soldering iron to fix some things on my EM. I'm a computer tech by trade so I'm confident that I can at least figure out the cause(with a little help of course).
I really hope it's not the driver board...because they are much more expensive to replace lol
Alright so the symptoms...
It doesn't say Fire or Power, I feel like the sounds are thin as well. Trebly may be a better word to describe it. Almost no bass to it. Maybe it's supposed to be that way. It sounds pretty normal, but I just feel like it should have a bit more thump to it(me judging it based on youtube videos of these machines).
I also noticed that the words 2 and 3 don't sound off.
I did run the built in sound test on the sound board...and I hear the sound effects, but no speech at all. I don't hear a delay either, it just starts right back over again on the sound effects. The game does have some speech working though while it's being played.
I also noticed the large capacitor was hot glued to the board and is now hanging there by it's wires. This could also be something of concern. I will get pictures of it as soon as I get home.
I'm going to do the grounding test at the sound board first to see if I get speech. If I do that would likely mean it's the driver board or a connection between the sound board and driver board. If my logic is faulty, please let me know.
Anyway, I wanted to get this thread going because I figured I'm going to need at least a few people to confirm the cause before I start spending money on repairs or replacement board(s). Any thoughts so far on the symptoms I mentioned? Thanks in advance!