Hi all!

I am about to fix up my high speed that is working fairly well concidering its condition (very dusty and a lot of corosion, mainly on the coin door).

Anyway, i thought I were missing some sounds. The speech, the car engine sound, crash sound and tyres screeching. That from when i did a quick initial game to see what was not working.

Today i decided to investigate it a bit more so i went into music test and sound test from the coin door interface.
All sounds and music played from that test however, the sounds i thought i was missing played at very low volume! (they probably got drenched in the music so thats why i thought they were missing) Really different from the other sounds like the music etc.

Ive read the sounds on this machine are played from different sources, some from the sound board and some from the cpu board. So i thought that maybe there were two different controls for the sounds. I have found one to the left inside the cabinet and it affects the music etc but not the speach and "missing" sounds.

On the sound board there are no volume adjuster though it looks its possible to install one since something similar is pictured on the board in white. (See picture at the end of post)

I then proceeded with pressing the SW1 for sound test on the CPU board as described in the manual (from attract mode). The game gave off a sound that i can describe similar to a police siren, like a sine wave where it goes from high to low and back and forth.

The main question i have here is what this mean? What kind of sound should be heard from pressing this button on the CPU board?

Some more info,

When i got the game it always displayed the factory settings restored message even though there were batteries in (4,6VDC i measured) so i poked around a bit with the battery holder and it seem it is pretty dodgy, sometimes work and sometimes not. Now it keeps the settings and goes directly to attract mode when booting. BUT, the startup sound bong is now gone... it was there before!
I can also mention that pressing the CPU test button on the CPU board, for the blanking circuit, gives an "8" on the display on the board and then back to the "0" that should indicate that it boots up normal and is not malfunctioning.

So, to summarize:

1. Is it possible to get a higher volume on the speech and crash sounds, like with some adjustment?

2. What should be heard when pressing the sound test button on the CPU board? If what i hear is not normal, any ideas of what it means?

The missing sound bong might have something to do with bad connections etc. so I will try to clean all the connectors and see what happens. Allthough all sound should be gone if the speaker connectors are bad...

HSboard.jpg

Hi! Wow, that was very specific! I Will have a look and see if replacing the chips will make any difference. I might check the board for bad connections too before doing it because the battery holder has unstable connections and there might be more of them. Especially since the sound bong mysteriously disappeared...

Thanks for your answer! I'll try and see what I find.

/andy

Another question, that "picture" on the board that I circled above, has that anything to do at all with sound adjusting? I mean it just look like it could picture a potentiometer of some sort. Could have been used in other games/setups? Or is it just me...

I have limited experience in board repairs but managed to fix a wpc cpu board, still learning. I will not stop this until its fixed =)

Will try to do it without shot-gunning it but rather take it slowly and find the culprit of the problem. I will report back as soon as I have any solutions or other findings. Would be a good resource if someone else have similar problems.

BTW, does anyone know what HS should sound like when pressing the CPU board sound test button? I get some sound but dont know if its the right one or an error code or something... like a sine wave from low to high (police siren style).

viperrwk, allright! That could be the case with the adjustment pot.

From what you describe it seems the test sound is correct, alternating from low to high. So this points towards a pre-amp..

thanks for the help so far!

Yep I will start to check as much as I can, i discovered there is probably a display problem too since segments that should not light up does.. (the segments "in" the letters for HIDEOUT, as compared to the "38" which looks good. And "10" is also bad). Besides.. two displays are missing hehe.. But lets take that in a separate thread.

So, im gonna measure some volts and check connections and everything again. Ill report back!

displayproblem.jpg

I think it actually was the police siren from the game i heard. There should be a version for the US and one version for the EU (different police car sirens) and since i am in europe and the game is made for eu it must have been the siren sound. I asked a HS owner and he sugested that. Can anyone confirm this? If it wasnt the siren its very similar to it but still low/high tones. Either way i heard a sound so if there arent any special sound codes that plays with a faulty circuit i guess the sound test was successful..

I found one TP on the CPU board called TP2 (TP1 is probably the GND point). It read +4.89VDC so it should be within range I guess.

On the PSU I found 3 TPs named 2,4 and 3. However I can't find the number one and what these should have as voltage. I guess -12 and 12 but the third? Also +5? And the missing TP1 is that like self explanatory as anywhere GND?

I have measured continuity on the chips at U4 and U3 and all pins have continuity to where they should according to the schematic. Still they can be faulty of course or maybe other components between them and the speaker and or before them.

I put the game in sound test again today and while repeating on of the low volume sounds I wiggled the cables at connectors and pressed gently on the different chips but without any difference.

I have ordered some new amps for U4 but I'm gonna double check if both speakers plays all sounds. I think some were only played through the backbox speaker but not the cab speaker and maybe that's why they are on low volume... Need to double check that though.

Hi kbliznick, funny i just spent an hour or two reading about a road kings w/o sound where you posted =)

I have compiled a list of what to check next (from other sound related discussions) so tomorrow i will try to narrow down the problem a bit more (while waiting for the amps). Checking the volts on the MPU board among other things. Thanks for clarifying!

I will post back with my findings...

Ok, here are todays tests and findings:

1. The volume adjuster pot:
- It affects all sounds, music sound effects and speech. Allthough if I adjust it so the speech and low volume sounds are at good loudness the music is horribly loud.

- It makes the speakers crack a tiny bit as old things like these do.

2. Bypassing the sound board:
I disconnected the connector at the sound board, J2 for the pot, moved it to J16 on the MPU instead. Now, as it should, all sounds were still heard but no music (since it comes from the sound board right?). The sounds are still low volume though but can be adjusted with the vol pot in the cab.

Here are the sounds that, regardless of where the sound pot is connected, are low volume. From the sound test accessible from the coin door:

00 = low
01 = "normal" volume/OK
02 = low
03 = OK
04 = low
05 = OK
06 = low
07 = low

(Dont know if that points to any specific amp or something...or even a sound ROM..)

3. I changed the ribbon cable between the sound board and the MPU board to a known working one, no difference.

4. Tried without the ribbon cable, and got sounds and speech but no music. Still low volume.

5. The interesting stuff (maybe)
I measured the voltage at the MPU board at J17 as kbliznick suggested.

pins 1-3 = GND
pins 4-6 = 5 VDC
pin 8 = -13,5 VDC
pin 9 = 10.04 VDC (Is this within range or do we have something here?)

I continued towards the PSU and all wires from J17 on MPU has continuity to the PSU. Interestingly enough when i measured on the J17 the sound suddenly got distorted. It came back to normal when i turned off and on the machine. Dont know if it is a/some bad solder joints at J17 or if i touched something i should not have touched...

When playing one of the low volume sounds (then one of the normal volume sounds) i wiggled all connectors at the sound board and the top half of the MPU board as well as the ones associated with the sound board and MPU board on the PSU but not a single crack in the speakers or other difference.

Anyway,

6. Volts at the PSU:

TP1 (at the top close to a white ceramic resistor) = +5 VDC

TP2 GND = Has continuity to ground (the backplate)

TP3 +12V = +9.94 V <------------- (issue?)

TP4 -12V = -13.75 V (should be fine i guess)

When the game was turned off i also found that TP3 had continuity to ground. Normal or not is the question...

Now I wonder whats wrong... the game boots up fine (though without the sound bong that mysteriously dissappeared a few days ago), the cpu test button on the MPU board still checks OK (first an 8 then switches to a 0), the sound test button on the MPU plays the siren sound or what i call a sine wave sound, high/low.

I can add credits and start and play the game without any obvious issues except for some sounds being played at low volume.

If there is a bad 12V how come the game functions? A theory is that the 12Vs that are need for the game to boot are there but it misses some on the other pin of J17 so some amps does not get enough power to play the sound at desired volume... no idea if works like that but just a thought.

What could be wrong on the PSU (if 9,94 V is not enough when 12V is intended)? A bridge or maybe a cap?

Im still waiting for the op-amps to arrive but i feel this is a bit dodgy and i want to see if there is anything else that might be the culprit before replacing them..

Any suggestions appricieted though i dont want to be too demanding..

Below a few pics of former repair jobs made by i dont know who:

quickfixes.jpg

Andy

BTW, noticed one more "repair"-job...

psuconnector.jpg

Nice explaination there pac-fan! Good to know! I will replace the connector for the GI and even the pins on the output connector that was soldered directly to the board. When i get that far in the restoration i will probably add leds too just to prevent this kind of toasting and because it looks nice

First i will make sure the sound works but still need some guidance.. especially to know if 9.94 volts is within limit for the 12V..

Allright!

Many thanks for you guys bothering to help!

I will replace the suggested parts and see if there is any difference. By then i will have the op-amp to put in place of the U4 so lets hope i make some progress here. Feels good now that I have something to aim for! As usual I will report back with the results. Always good to find a solution and not just leave the thread.

Thanks again!

By the way, it might be a good idea to check pin 4 of the amp (the final one u mentioned) to see if the 12V is there. It was also something at pin 8 and i dont remember what it was but i will check it and test it. I mean there could maybe be some faults along the way to the pre amps BUT then they would not operate at all i think... well.. ill have a check and see.

How handy: https://www.greatplainselectronics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=W711A-PEC-KIT =)

Thats great to hear!

I will see if they carry the molex males for the PSU too while im at it!

Many many thanks for all the help, i guess i will ask more too but thanks so far!

Parts ordered... now lets hope some of it will fix the issue. More updates soon! =)

Another question... the BR1 on the PSU board, (Bridge rectifier 1, 35A 100V) is going to be replaced as well while im at it. However i cant find one so easy but I have bridges with the following specs among my things, 35A 200V. So, how are these rated?

As far as I understand it the 35A is the maximum output rectified current from the bridge. And the volts are the maximum reverse voltage that the bridge can withstand. If thats correct i guess that 35A 200V would be fine as a replacement bridge but for example a 25V 50V (if it exists at all) would not be enough. Am i correct or how does it work? =)

Thanks kbliznick!

Allright, to report back here is some info:

I have now replaced all the caps (except for the disc ones) on the PSU board as well as the Bridge rectifier and all the burnt connectors etc. I have not replaced the diodes yet, not the zeners nor the "normal" ones. When tested the game still works but nothing changed soundwise, so i have now replaced the U4 chip (MPU brd) together with a socket and i am going to see if theres any difference as soon as possible.

What did change is the low voltage at TP (that should be 12V but was 9.94 before changing the caps has now increased to 10.97 volts. Since this is unregulated, if i remember correct, this should be fine I guess?
I also bought the IC voltage regulator for the PSU board but have not replaced it yet. The reason is I was just lazy but I might do it before i call the board complete.

I post back with the results from the U4 replacement.

212294-i.jpg
216501.jpg

Allright! I'll replace the regulator and the diodes too, maybe even the disc caps?

Reporting back when any progress!

Thanks for the tip! You are referring to the regulator on top of the huge heat sink right? I don't have that one yet but was thinking maybe I should replace the IC chip on the board which also Is a typ of regulator if I'm not mistaken.
I have it and it's an easy thing to replace, question is if it would make anything better or not.

That's good to hear!

I tested the game today with the replaced U4 chip on the MPU board and now the sounds work! All are played at the same volume. So, kbliznick you were betting on the right culprit =)

But... (Of course) the sound bong that was there before but disappeared is still gone. Kbliznick mentioned earlier it originates from the sound board. But where? The sound roms but they seem fine since everything else works including the test on the MPU board. Could it still be them or something else? I have another pair of amps and could replace some other components like caps but it's interesting to hear ideas.

Many thanks for the invaluable help so far! =)

Hm... That's a bit odd. I will have a look and see if I can find out how it should be. The strangest thing is I am pretty sure it was there when I got the game though I can not be 100 percent since it might have been me being so used to hear one on other games that I thought I was lol. Or maybe it was the beep and that it's gone now. On pin wiki etc there is a description of the start up sounds, I will look it up and report back.

Allright! good to know. Right now mine is not giving of any sound at startup but it goes into attract mode and it works and plays all the sounds in the sound test and when playing. I think I wont bother anymore right now figuring out what it should sound like at power-on =)

I have asked a couple of pinsiders about what their HS does when power-on. I quote my restoration thread where the discussion went on..

Here are the variations that we have so far:

- Totally quiet (no bong)

- One small "beep" (not really a bong)

- A single beep (but got bong when there were issues (like a switch))

- Nocker clap (and coin door lockout coils engaging)

- My own - Totally quiet but coin door coil(s) engaging.

Dont really know what to make of this.

In the repair guides states that:
"When the system 11 games boots, it produces power-on tone(s). Here is the
breakdown of the tone(s):

- No Sound: sound/speech board is not operating, or a failure is affecting the
sound circuitry (broken or disconnected cable, dead amplifier, bad speaker).

- One Tone: sound/speech system OK.

- Two Tones: sound/speech RAM problem.

- Three Tones: U4 problem.

- Four Tones: U19 problem.

- Five Tones: U20 problem (System 11C)."

Its also stated that sometimes five knocks from the knocker can be heard and the reason would probably be a switch issue and the game "calling" for help from the op by giving off five knocks.

The manual also says that:
"With the coin door closed, plug the game in, and turn it ON, using the On-Off switch.
In normal operation, the player 1 (SPEEDER 1) score display and the lower two
2-digit displays (Credits and BALL IN PLAY/MATCH) initially show 00. The GAME OVER
indicator blinks. Then, the game goes into the Attract Mode (Playfield and backbox
lamps flashing, sounds being heard, etc.)."

Nothing about any sound bong there.

A side note, in the visual pinball emulator when you start up high speed there is no sound bong, but there is on other games that have it.

I might be over thinking this.. but so far it seems OK though it still boggles me.

made a post in the wrong thread, sorry.

Hi there Metalman247, just happened to check back on some old threads i started. I must say I don't really have an answer to your issue. Only thing I can come up with is to try and wiggle the connectors for the audio board and or speakers to see if it affects it. Might be a bad connection as well as something else, like it came loose from vibrations or so. Maybe a power issue but you recapped the PSU so maybe not (or it lays somewhere else)... hopefully someone else on here can guide you further.

Good luck and congrats to your "new" machine!

btw, feel free to continue this thread since its related to the original topic.