Stuck slam tilt?

If the 3 switches in the ball trough are not all registering closed the game will not start. I had one of the 3 in my Firepower not making had to clean and adjust it.

It's almost certainly those trough switches.

People don't realize almost ALL firepower games shipped with defective contact to rivet switches. Take them apart and swap them back or replace the switches if this is the case, it's easy to eyeball.

Those 'backward' switches made it into all manufacturers' parts bin at some time, I think.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fixing-70s-80s-wms-reversed-leaf-switcheswithout-a-soldering-iron

Before ordering parts I'd at least check for a loose wire or diode, but yes if those switches are original they most certainly need to be replaced. I don't know the parts number but the FP manual is available online at ipdb.org.

I got a new trough switch from Marco. Sw-1a-130

image (resized).png

What are the results of a switch test?
Mof

Dip switches must be set properly on the sound board to play sounds... Diagram is in the head on a sheet.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that Firepower had DIP switches--or at least DIPs that are read by the software, that is. (Didn't they leave them on for backwards compatibility?)

Also, make sure sounds are set properly like "play background sound" "play attract sound" there's a setting for it that covers them both.
-mof

did the sound work before? there are switches on sound card to change the way sound works

The dip switches are on the sound board! Picture above is the mpu board.

If you cleaned the switches and they look good that's probably all you have to do, save your money on something else, my firepower had alot of cold solder joints on the mpu/ driver boards and the 40 pin interconnect was bad also, after fixing that it solved all my problems including the same you were having where it wouldn't start a game because of the trough switch.

Here's how my dip switchespecially on sound board is set.

20161001_110415 (resized).jpg

All off on the CPU is correct. Even if they were not, it would not impact your sounds but might impact the game booting up properly.

The switches on the sound board control whether there are voices (or not) and whether it plays sounds or chimes. You want switch 1 off and switch 2 on like crlush posted.

The fact that you are pushing the sound test button and get nothing means you have bigger problems than the switches.

1) Make sure the volume control wire coming up from under the playfield is plugged into the sound board. Without it, you will not get sound. Post a picture of your sound board if you are not sure if it is plugged in and we can tell you. The wire is typically grey and has a 4 pin connector on it that plugs into J4, the second connector from the left along the top of the sound board. If the wire is not connected and not in the backbox, it may be laying in the bottom of the cabinet.

2) Adjust the master volume to see if it is turned all the way down. Start a game or press the diagnostic switch and adjust it to see if sounds come back. It is on the side of the lower cabinet on the left. You can reach it through the coin door and looks like a metal rod sticking straight out of the side of the cabinet.

3) Check the speaker and wiring in the bottom of the cabinet. Make sure the wires are connected and the speaker appears to be intact. They do go bad and if you get this far might be a good idea to try connecting a replacement up if you have something laying around.

4) If you get to the point where you have sounds but not voices or vice-versa, adjust the balance control on the voice board (on left of the smaller board connected to the sound card) to adjust the balance between the 2.

20161002_085350 (resized).jpg

The master volume control is a potentiometer in the bottom cabinet on the left a couple feet in. It usually does not have a knob, just the metal shaft.

See the YouTube videos above. I had this issue with my Firepower not starting a game (intermittently). After swapping out the switches and diodes I still had the problem. Using these videos, I was able to trace the issue to the white wire with a red stripe, at the connector on the CPU.
This will be helpful to beginners.

Also, It may not Always Be the upside down leafs on the original switches.