During the middle of a game the flippers stopped working and the DMD went blank and then it displayed a very small amount of random dots. I powered it off for a few minutes and then back on and it seemed to boot up fine and the DMD and flippers were both working properly. I left it on in attract mode and stepped out of the room for a few minutes but when I came back several flashers were stuck on so I quickly shut it down again (luckily I was only gone a few minutes). I searched Pinside and Google for WPC stuck solenoids/DMD issues and looked on PinWiki but haven’t found anyone who’s had a similar issue with both the solenoids and DMD at the same time.

I had been having reset issues so I installed one of Rob’s daughterboards and the resets went away. I also recently installed one of Anthony’s anyPin NVRAMs and Ingo’s clock board but the game was playing after installing those.

If someone could point me to where I might find a trouble shooting guide or how I should begin diagnosing the problem(s) I would greatly appreciate it!

I'll take Rob's board out tonight and see what happens.

BTW - what is the "cube" connector? Is it the molex coming off the transformer?

Thanks

Ok - I re-seated all the cubes and uninstalled the daughter card and turned it on. It went thru the boot sequence and then got the "press enter for report". Pressed enter and got the "Factory Settings Restored" which doesn't make sense because I have an anyPin DMD+ installed? Regardless, a few seconds later the DMD went blank again except for two or three dots and nothing else was responding (switches, ect.) so I shut it down. I did notice during this time that the auto launch gate solenoid was constantly firing but very weakly and it seemed like there was some other very weak solenoid activity as I could hear some random humming around the PF. I turned it back on and it went thru the boot sequence again (DMD was on) and was able to get it into attract mode. I started a game and it started fine except no ball was launched because of the solenoids not firing so I shut it down again and waited a few minutes and fired it up again (The DMD was on and fine this time - no blanking or shutting off). I went into the solenoid test menu and nothing was firing.

I was pressed for time last night so I did this relatively quickly and stupid me forgot to test the most obvious thing - the voltages - so I'll do that first thing tonight.

Does this sound like like it could be an issue with the 12v supply?

Correct - I shouldn't be losing settings with that anyPin DMD NVRAM installed and I didn't recently change the game ROM or ASIC. I changed to TZ 9.4H a few years ago but haven't had any problems since other than the re-sets.

Should I check anything else tonight when checking the voltages and what do you think the issue may be?

Some good news but first here are the voltages:

TP1 - 14.01
TP2 - 4.96
TP3 - 11.91
TP4 - .381
TP6 - 74.0
TP7 - 21.85
TP8 - 17.5
C31 on the MPU - 4.89

I feel stupid now but guess what I found while measuring voltages last night - blown fuses at F102 & F105! What made think it "wasn't" a fuse issue was the fact that I was still getting random, stuck on activity from the flasher and other solenoids and the wonkiness with the DMD so I didn't even think to check the obvious. So that was good news. I replaced the fuses, fired it up and started a game and with the first near simultaneous press of the flips it resets. Ok, I had removed the daughtercard for testing so replaced it and then fired and played a long game and had no resets or other issues at all - everything working as it should. Great. I then set the date and time and left it in attract mode for a while and then shut it off. When I fired it back up about half hour later the date and time were saved but certainly not close to date and time I had set them for - very wierd. I should be happy that everything is now working and should just move on but I'm wondering about the following:

1) what would cause both fuses to blow at the same time
2) why would the DMD be affected by a blown F102 & F105
3) based on my voltages am I outside the tolerances and be prone to resets?
4) why were the flashers stuck "on" if the fuses were blown
5) what would cause the date and time that I set to be so far off from where I set it?

Thanks!

Thanks Chris – I really appreciate all the help! I’m not going to worry about the fuse, DMD or clock issues for now and just play it for a while and see what happens. Perhaps there was some temporary issue with the MPU because of the other problems that just created excess ”noise”?

I would like to permanently address the reset issues though and not just rely on the daughtercard to hold me over. There’s obviously something bigger going on so I might as well address it now before it gets worse. I have no problem with re-pinning or replacing any of the connectors or headers so would you recommend starting with just the ones you mentioned above or should I tackle a few others while I’m at it? I eliminated the Z connector a while ago so I know that’s not one of the problems. I also have a GPE HVP rebuild kit (just transistors, zeners and resistors – no bridges or caps) that I’ve never installed but you said my voltages are fine so should I replace those components now or leave them alone and see what happens after replacing the connectors?

Thanks again!

This thing is giving me fits!

Before changing any of the connectors I played a couple of games to see if everything else was working okay and I ended up playing one very long game getting though LITZ and ending up with a high score. When I went to enter my initials the flippers weren't responsive and the sounds sounded strange. I can't remember for sure but I think the flips may have acted up or stopped working right before my last ball drained and the sounds may have been off but I can’t remember for certain?. Since I couldn't get the flippers to move to the initials I wanted I just hit the start button three times to enter the HS and get back to attract mode. When I started another game the ball loaded fine but there was just one continuous sound and the flips weren't fully responsive (would weakly flip only after several presses of the button). I powered it off and on and when it booted I got a test report message which was a "soundboard interface error" and sure enough there were no sounds when I started a game. The flips were also acting like the last game where they would only sporadically activate after pressing the buttons many times. I checked F102 and F105 again and they're both good. I also re-seated the ribbon cable and connectors on the sound board but no luck. I will try reflowing the headers and reseating the chips on the sound board tonight but is there anything else I should check and/or try?

Sounds like a plan. Are there any one(s) I should check/replace first or just replace them all? It seems like the one that connects the DMD, sound, Fliptronics and MPU boards all together would be the most likely culprit but if you think I should focus on another particular one please let me know.

Thanks!!

I reseated the chips and reflowed the headers and caps on the sound board and I swapped the DMD/Fliptronic/Sound/CPU and the DMD/CPU ribbon cables from my working WH2O and it still didn’t work although there were some improvement/differences. On most games started after a reboot it would fire a ball from the trough to the shooter lane and the two upper flips and lower right would be working - but not the lower left – and it would only have about half the games sounds ( low volume, mostly incorrect sounds and sounded like coming from only one speaker). When plunging the ball I would get the correct normal TZ plunge sound at normal volume but the flips would either stop working completely or working very sporadically. Depending on the plunge the ball would be ejected correctly from either the scoop or rocket launcher solenoids but then the sounds would be completely random. They would be either on/off completely, very low or high volume and incorrect (i.e. jackpot sound or clock millions sound, etc). The flips also would also sporadically work and many times would get stuck on momentarily. A couple of times the volume went full blast as well and there was no way to turn it down until shutting it off and I also noticed a few times a particular sound stuck “on” and the same with some other flashers and solenoids.

I’m stuck what to do next? I ordered a complete set of ribbon cables yesterday but I doubt that will help since the ones swapped from my WH2O didn’t seem to make a difference. Any suggestions on what to test/try next? Does it sound like it’s a sound board issue or MPU issue? Thanks

No - I swapped just the cables from WH2O first, tested, then reflowed headers and caps and reseated chips on the TZ sound board and tested. There wasn't any change that could tell after tweaking the TZ sound board. I did not swap the WH2O sound board. Myabe give that a try? If so, do I just need to change the game ROMs?

Ok - I'll swap the ROMs and board tonight and hopefully narrow down the potential problem area(s). Will report back later. Thanks!

Woot - major progress!! I didn't have much time last night so all I was able to do was swap the sound board and ROMS. When I fired it up - BAM - most issues were resolved! I had full sound effects, normal volume, no flakiness with solenoids or DMD, etc. I played a couple games and all seemed to be fine. The only thing not working (besides the TZ sound board itself) is the bottom left flipper but I think that's an isolated issue separate from the other problems I was having. I'll go through the checklist tonight and hopefully narrow it down. I'm hoping its something simple like a loose/broken wire, blown fuse on the Flip T boards, etc.

So, now that the problem(s) seem to be isolated to the sound board what would be the most likely culprit and in need of replacing? I've read Clay's guide about sound problems but I'm not sure where to start as his problems and remedies don't coincide exactly with the problems I was having?

What I'm also wondering is what could have happened that caused the sound board to crap out, fuses F102 & 105 to blow, left flip to stop working, etc. Seems like way too may things to happen at once but I suppose that's not entirely out of the question?

As always - thanks everyone for you input ans help!!

Yes

I can't see any signs of acid damage and the original battery holder, still installed, looks new. I don't see any damaged wiring either.

Hopefully the issues are limited to the problems I'm having with the sound board as I just posted above. If not, I'll definitely try swapping the MPU with WH2O as well.

Thanks