Oke guys I made some pics to show what I did. Can someone look if this is oke ? when I connected the brown wire to the empty pin5 I got troubles. Maybe I did it wrong because I don't have the correct tool. I bought the shaker from pinballcenter.eu as a Stern rev B set.

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Sorry KLR I'm not familiar with that shaker setup so I can't help you there. Fifth pin over is the one you want so if it goes haywire after I think it would be safe to assume something is wrong with shaker board and/or setup.

Wanted to again thank Markmon for starting this thread.

One thing that may need to be done which I do every time I install a shaker on a LOTR is to lengthen the brown wire so you don't have trouble when putting the head down. Very easy to do and allows for the head to go up and down without any issues. I add about a foot or two and it works like a charm

Update on my previous question/problem:

So shaker didn't work. And last week I got a problem with 1 of the flashers. So thought that the driverboard was faulty. Instead of solder new transistors etc I decided to order a brand new driverboard. Well after placing it last night the flasher was working again.... and so did the shaker!

You can't use the stern board unless you have the version correct pal chip. You need an aftermarket board or one from a roadshow or earthshaker. Pin 5 to ground and pin 7 to trigger with those.

thanks for posting!

I'm going to try this with the red tremor from CT soon!

I just used these instructions to install a CT red tremor shaker into my LOTR. It works perfect. So in case anyone wanted to know the red tremor will work with this method in a LOTR.

Where can i get the pal chip? Pinbits shows they are out of them?

I ordered mine from pinbits not too long ago and it showed "out of stock" as well. I just sent them an email and asked and they sent me one.

I would recommend you get it from John Wart, Jr. at "That Pinball Place!"

http://www.thatpinballplace.com/eproms/de.html

Except that John's website says "I do not have the PAL, please don't ask".

Does anyone know if Stern makes PAL chips? I am trying to obtain a PAL chip and one parts supplier says that Stern does. That would be great if they do, but I want to insure that it would be compatible with the original LOTR.

Emailed them over the weekend.

Would love to, but his site says he doesn't have pal chips.

Edit: pinbits now has them in stock, just ordered one.

Oops, sorry. I guess I got the 10.02 ROM from John, but the PAL from Pinbits.

Right on man! See it never hurts to ask

I am getting ready to do this change. My LOTR has CPU 10.0 and Display 10.00. From that, I think all I need is the PAL chip and 10.02, correct?

Yet I am concerned about the sound chips. Mine all say 11/12/03. Stern has a warning about sound ICs.

http://sternpinball.com/service-bulletins/service-bulletin-177-terminator-3-the-lord-of-the-ringstm-ripleys-believe-it-or-not-elvis-harley-davidson-3rd-edition-and-the-sopranos

"A Bootflash O/S 8 Sound EPROM (512K) (Checksum $8F2E) is required"

Pinbits has a description on updating the sound

http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=508

"1) CAREFULLY remove original sound chip U7. This is an EPROM.

2) Replace it with the Bootflash 8 EPROM (checksum $8F2E)"

It goes on....

So it looks like I need a Bootflash 8 EPROM, too, which is sold out at Pinbits as of today.

John Wart, Jr. sells sound IC's, but it is not clear to me that I need them.

I have not read ever single post in these 4 pages, but the original post said it would be needed if I got "random callouts".

Has anyone else had sound issues? I am afraid of bricking my game with these upgrades and possible incompatibilities.

I followed your instructions on page one but it says you only need to upgrade the sound EPROM if you are hearing random callouts. I wasn't hearing random callouts so I didn't upgrade the sound (I don't know if the previous owner did). Mine works perfect, should I upgrade the sound?

I just finished my install and everything went great. Thanks for the writeup!

Ps I did the sound update. The led blinks slowly while updating and when the update is finished the led blinks fast. Wait for the fast blink before powering down the system

I've got a red tremor ready to go, only difference with this shaker i see is instead of a brown-wht wire coming off the shaker it's gray. Seems like it should be a pretty simple install.

Markmon, thanks for posting these instructions.

By the sound EPROM, you mean the "Bootflash O/S 8 Sound EPROM (512K) (Checksum $8F2E)", right? Not the "Sound & Speech ROM Set (U7, U17, U21, U36, U37)", correct?

It is possible to "brick" a computer, phone, tablet, etc., by upgrading the firmware and have something go wrong - like a power outage during the upgrade. Glad to hear it is not an issue with this.

According to Stern, The OS version can be checked by counting the number of flashes on LED#1 at startup. 8 flashes means OS 8. LOTR was shipped with OS 4. It would be interesting to see what OS those LOTR are running that have not had the random callouts. I checked mine and the LED comes on, then flashes 4 times, so I am on OS 4.

http://sternpinball.com/upload/downloads/sb157.pdf

The Bootflash EPROM is only $9, but why order it if not needed?

QuarterGrabber, would you mind counting the number of flashes for me? It would be interesting if you have OS 4 but have not had sound issues.

I just took the backglass off and counted the LED flashes. If you include the initial light on start up then it flashed 5 times. Crap, this means I need the upgrade. Where do you buy the upgrade chip? Pinbits doesn't sell them anymore.

Yes, you are running OS 4.

I don't know that you do need an upgrade if your sound is working properly. However, according to all the bulletins, your sound should not be working correctly, so who knows.

John Wart, Jr. is a great source for EPROMs. All the way at the bottom of this page, he has it listed.
As far as I can tell, there is little likelihood that anyone will need this EPROM for anything else than this brief upgrade. I will order it today for $9 plus S&H. If you can wait for a few weeks for me to receive it, install it and work any bugs out, I can ship it to you for $5 via PayPal ($4.50 plus postage). Let me know if you are interested.

http://thatpinballplace.com/eproms/de.html

Yes I will definently take you up on that offer.

How? You have an eprom burner?

Me

I don't have one either. I was looking into getting one and all the software is for Windows. That leaves out us Mac owners. Small loss. John Wart, Jr. has good prices and fast shipping. Mine will arrive Saturday.

Maybe someday I will get an old PC just for burning EPROMS. And to make a MAME game.

One new complication to my life at a time.

Thanks. I have Parallels with WindowsXP. I used it to run IE to check out how my websites look on that despised but still widely used browser. I have had zero luck getting the ports to work, but I have not tried to hard. I am not thrilled to layout the $$ for a newer version of Windows.

Thanks, but I have no clue as to how to "pass thru the raw USB port to the virtual machine". But I appreciate the info and will follow up on it if / when I decide to do so.

Before I do that I need to decide between a new iMac and a Hackintosh. I am still waiting for the long promised next-gen Intel processor that was supposed to come out almost a year ago.

Yes! I got the Cointaker shaker working in LOTR!

Upgrading to OS8 was easy. The only caution I would add is that Stern is not very specific about when the process is done.

http://www.sternpinball.com/upload/downloads/sb157.pdf

"Wait for LED1 to start flashing continuously (this indicates flash procedure was sccessful). Note: This usually takes a few minutes."

During the upgrade, the LED flashes irregularly, providing feedback that the upgrade is in progress. But one point, LED1 started flashing continuously, but it was fairly slow - perhaps one flash per second. After watching it for a while, I thought the process was completed. Thankfully I waited a bit longer. Irregular flashes resumed. When finished, the "continuous flashing" is quite rapid. I am not a fan of interrupting a firmware upgrade while in progress. On some electronics that can "brick it".

[QuarteGrabber], if you still want that EPROM, lmk. You can send me a PM. I am surprised your sounds are working given the warnings from Stern.

Hey i thought you already made a deal with me for that EPROM? What are these shenanigans

Here is the eBay link for the GQ-4X EPROM Burner. Plus you will need an UV eraser, and if there are thoughts of burning different items, then this package will cover it all for about $150 on either Amazon or eBay. Plus you have to buy different sizes of EPROMs. Keep in mind that most of these EPROMs, especially off of eBay, will be used and may not arrive to you blank, so an UV eraser will be necessary. The EPROM burner will not erase the EPROM, even though the software has an erase function.

51blI-yQ8YL.jpg

Here's a simple guide to people who want to burn their own ROMs at home. The important item to understand is that the ROM file needs a EPROM that is at least 8 times the size of the file.

Example: a 512 kilobyte size (bin or ROM) file will require a 4 MB size blank EPROM; choose a 27C040 EPROM chip.

Generic EPROM | Size in Bits | For ROM File Size
27C16 16kb 2kb
27C32 32kb 4kb
27C64 64kb 8kb
27C128 128kb 16kb
27C256 256k b 32kb
27C512 512kb 64kb
27C010 1024k (1MB) 128kb
27C020 2MB 256kb
27C040 4MB 512kb
27C080 8MB 1024kb (1MB)

Burning ROMs will only pay off if you own a lot of Bally/Williams or early Stern (pre-SAM system) pins.

Sorry QuarterGrabber, I responded to the wrong person. Let me try again.

QuarterGrabber, if you still want that EPROM, lmk. You can send me a PM. I am surprised your sounds are working given the warnings from Stern.

The only other clarification that I would suggest is be sure to wire the shaker to the Red-White wire, not the White-Red wire. The Red-White wire is after the coin door interlock, meaning the power to the shaker will be disconnected when the coin door is opened. If connecting to the other wire, the coin door will not remove the power. This is from page 108 of the LOTR manual. Although this is only 16 VAC, it is better to not defeat the safety feature of this pin.
If confused as to which to connect to, measure the AC voltage and pick the side without power when the door is open, but is powered with the closed door.

Installed my shaker today using cointakers's red tremor shaker. No issues really, took about an hour from start to finish. Thanks very much Markmon for all the info in this thread!

Shaker in this game is really well integrated and very active, huge improvement. I added a sub to the game yesterday so it's really more of a blast to play now.

Has anyone tested adding a LOTR shaker with the Color DMD? Any issues or reasons why it would not work?

That's what I was hoping except that Step 3: in the original instructions referenced the display ROM so I wanted confirmation, since I already have the Color DMD on order

I personally don't know anyone who has a LotR without both Shaker & ColorDMD. Never had and never heard of any issues.

Know I'm late to this thread but Markmon you did a wonderful job. Amazing addition to an amazing game. Can't thank you enough. Great instructions. Worked like a charm.

As soon as I say that I'm having shire VUK issues. I can test the VUK and it works, but it doesn't register during game play. Also during one game the left flipper had a lag. Any idea on what's going on? Thanks all- really want this working 100%!
Jimmy

Shire switch and gimli switch (both fork switches) can both be flakey, they take a beating. You can try to bend it up slightly to make it more sensitive. Might consider replacing it and order extras. Not sure about your flipper, but maybe Bad coil or loose connection. Check gap at flipper button too.

Hi , i looking for the update Shaker on my LOTR, i found 10.2 Game rom , is the same like 10.02 Rom ???
Regards