Centerville, GA
Where I'm at with it is I removed the driver board and F2 then turned the game on. The led lights flash once then stay on.
(As in step 2 here http://pinball.flippers.info/system6repairpart4.asp)
(Topic ID: 133888)
It won't boot with the driver board removed. I found out when I repaired my Flash. All you will get is one flash. You may want to reconnect the driver board, and see if it will boot, perform the self test.
I know it wont boot with the board removed I was just following this step. With the board connected they both flash once.
1.2 Step 2 - Remove the Driver Board
Step 2 involves removing the driver board from the MPU. TURN OFF THE POWER BEFORE REMOVING THE DRIVER BOARD.
WARNING! YOU MUST REMOVE FUSE F2 (the solenoid fuse) FROM THE POWER SUPPLY BEFORE CONTINUING!
Williams boards take the address and data bus signals across the 40 pin inter-connect and into the driver board. A problem with either the connectors or the driver board can cause the MPU board to lock-up.
Reapply power and watch the LEDs. If they flash off once before locking on then your problem most likely lies in either the inter-board connectors or driver board.
So it sounds like MPU is behaving as expected. Having the displays stay blank is normal. Your issue is in the driver board. You may want to start with just re-flowing the solder on the 40 pin connection. There are several threads on bullet proofing system 3-6 boards that you may want to review.
The orange glow in the displays indicates they are getting power, but no signal. If the machine is not booting, this would be expected.
At this point, assuming you have good voltage into plug 1J2 and the diagnotic LEDs flash when you try to boot up the machine without the driver board attached, then according to the repair guide, the issue is in the driver board.
Reflowing the 40 pin board is just one of the steps you can take to try to rule out that connection (and it happens to be easier than replacing the plug). However, this will not address bad connections within the plug itself. If you follow the advise of the repair guide you listed above, the first thing it address in section 5 is the 40 pin connection. You may want to try working your way though this section of the repair guide.
User vid1900 has put together a very nice guide to bullet proofing system 3-6 machines. It can be found here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-bulletproofing-williams-system-6 In this guide, he does address the 40 pin connection as well.
You really have a whole laundry list of things that need to be done to bulletproof these. Vid's guide is a good guide, has a lot of good information in it.
Sockets, ROMs, interconnect, header pins are a must on these. All of them can cause problems you'll chase your tail for hours troubleshooting.
Parts aren't that expensive if you can do the work yourself. If you decide it's over your head, or you need some help, I've rebuilt plenty of these for other forum members.
2 weeks later
I just finished these up today.
For future archive searching, the main fault was with U7, a 7404. It was pulling the blanking circuit down. This kept the displays from working, along with a few other things.
A full bulletproofing was also performed, so they should be good to go for some time!
3 weeks later
Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
