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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.