Hi fellow Hurricaners! Sorry for the lengthy post. After a long hiatus from Pinside I have returned...on the occasion of finally bringing my Hurricane, purchased in '13, back from the dead! My machine apparently suffered minor battery leakage damage on the CPU board prior to my ownership, but the restorer had it working. Eventually it crashed and sat unused for a couple of years. My extreme thanks and kudos to Joe Schall for nudging me in the right direction and providing links and lots of advice, including the link to this Hurricane forum! Long story short I replaced the CPU board entirely except that I had to swap 3 game-specific chips from old to new boards (it still has board-mounted batteries - I will deal with that in due course), and I had to do some board-level troubleshooting on the power driver board - it had no 12-volt "digital" power due to a burned-out trace on the board top side hidden under C2. (No idea why that trace "blew out" instead of fuse F115...?!?) Several other minor problems have also been addressed, notably the ubiquitous slipping Ferris wheel. I also had no lane-change/status report functions on the right flipper button from day 1. I always suspected a bad opto isolator, U8, even bought a replacement, but that problem "fixed" itself during the driver board repair, probably as I reseated many connectors, thus I never had to shoot that problem any further.

So onward and upward! I also added lights to the 3 pop bumpers that were never there, wired into the matrix vs. G.I. - that makes a huge difference in being able to see the ball when it's in that area and I highly recommend that mod. to anyone who didn't get the lights already installed. I have ordered a speaker upgrade kit primarily due to the fact that I noticed my "sub" no longer has any "compliance" - I can see right through it to the floor! I'm also contemplating the upgrade to the ColorDMD product (even though my original display is still perfect) and maybe the undercab lighting and pin shaker. I also bought flipper rebuild kits and the rubber replacement kit in anticipation of future problems.

One mod I want to make but cannot determine/find what I need - my Hurricane has no lights in the topper dome. I see Hurricanes both with and without those lights so I suspect that like the pop bumper lights, the topper lights were eliminated at some point to reduce cost? Any idea what parts I need and where to source them? Calling Ericpinballfan - I think you mentioned what I need in post #200 above, but there was no further information provided.

So, great forum that I will be watching religiously now. Any help with the topper lighting would be greatly appreciated - and I hope I can share my modicum of expertise with others...!

Another quick question - I could have sworn that when I had Hurricane running before its "crash", it would occasionally make sounds (music and "dummy talk") whiile in the "Attract Mode". Page 1-5 of the Operations Manual seems to confirm this in the Attract Mode paragraph where it lists the displays and further says "These (or similar) displays reappear occasionally, accompanied by sounds and music..." Since I resurrected the machine however it has remained completely silent in the Attrract Mode. Is there a setting or switch somewhere that controls this? I like to have my machines look and act like they would in an arcade, like requiring coin drops and with full tilt functions. (I joke with my friends that they have to use their own quarters as my machines are my retirement fund raiser...!)

And one final question...for now! What NVRAM chip are folks using to replace the U8 2064 S/RAM chip on the CPU board? I assume once that swap is made there is no further need for batteries at all. Thanks again...

Couple of updates. Thanks to photos Ericpinballfan used in his listing I was able to build and install my own topper light board! I used a 1/2" piece of cabinet-grade plywood for the board itself, and sourced the sockets, wedge lamps, ID connector, and "Z" adapter at various on-line stores. With the adapter this assembly plugs into to the heretofore unused connector in the wiring behind the back panel light board. It works and looks great - the lamps and flashers are part of the matrix so they animate in sync with the backboard lights. I might experiment with different colors, maybe red flashers?

I also installed the ColorDMD option Eric helped develop and recommended. What a difference that makes! And I installed the upgrade speakers I mentioned above, which takes me from a 6" to 8" subwoofer and matching coaxial speakers on top. The added bass is substantial, almost like a shaker, LOL!

I highly recommend all of these upgrades, including lighting the 3 pop bumpers, for all Hurricanes that don't already have them. I might still add undercab lighting and maybe the shaker, but otherwise I consider this project essentially complete. I would still appreciate answers to the other 2 questions I asked in posts #265 and 266 above, however.

Thanks again all...I think there's a Hurricane building up now...time to check it out...!

Hurricane Topper I built, back side - 7-25-22 (resized).jpgHurricane with new Topper and ColorDMD Installed - 7-25-22 (resized).jpg

It was a LOT more than a little, LOL...! With many projects I just need a nudge to get off the starting line, but to build that board I needed a good bit of detail that was not in the Williams documentation or anywhere else I looked. Proverbial case of "picture(s) worth 1,000 words"...

And your info about ColorDMD going back 2 years in this forum with recent recommendation pushed me towards that as well! If they're not already, they should be paying you a commission...!

Thanks! I contacted at least a dozen pinball parts suppliers with the photos Ericpinballfan used in his listing including Planetary Pinball that now owns the Williams rights. All said and done it probably took less time time to build one than I spent on line searching for an OEM assembly! I have about $40-45 in parts and a couple of hours of bench time into it. At present it has warm white LEDs in it but I think I'll switch to the cool white versions to match what's in the rest of the back box display.

In almost 9 years of owning this machine I believe I saw the inch worm only once on the orginal display, not yet on the color screen. I'll report back when I do...!

Absolutely! I'm always looking for new challenges on Hurricane...! Ducks...??? (JK, LOL...!)

Thanks! Sounds like fun. I'll print this out to keep it on (or maybe under!) the glass...!

GOT 'IM...!!! Just SGL (Shit-Grinnin' Luck), to be sure...but I lit that worm up for the first time in color just now! I wasn't following the "rule" you outlined but somehow I musta hit the sequence and there he was! You'll have to take my word for it (I'm an Eagle Scout!) since I didn't record it...maybe I'll set up a camera and try to hit the rule so I can share it with you...!

Lotsa fun...to be sure...it just adds to the allure of Hurricane! I'm so glad I decided to invest what it took to resurrect this wonderful machine and make the upgrades I outlined above (I'm just a bit south of $1,200 total spent since May)...but I don't regret one cent! I hope to play this machine 1,000s of times before I cash it in myself...!

Here he (she?) is! I have to confess, this was staged. I had to pull the glass for another reason mid-game, so just for giggles and grins I staged the scenario you mentioned above: Ferris wheel ramp lights off, Dummy lit but not speaking. I then rolled the ball up the FW ramp 4 times - first 2 we got ducks, then the second 2 it was the worm! I don't know how you figured out that sequence, but it's spot on...!

Onward and upward...!

Hurricane worm in color (resized).jpg

Good looking machines Pinkitten. Hurricane appears to be in a GREAT, very clean shape! May I ask, where did you get the Hurricane cab decals you mentioned? The decals on my back box look great but for some reason both sides of the lower cabinet are badly faded - the red is especially washed-out - so I'd like to replace those if possible.

I like how you store the paperwork for Hurricane! I use a similar method - the smaller binder is the original Operation Manual that came with the machine and a lot of supporting information I found online and printed. The thicker binder has 2 detailed Hurricane Service Manuals from Williams, one of which has (almost) complete schematics that fold out to a large size for better visibility. I also have all the receipts and other documentation in that one related to the repairs and upgrades I made to my machine.

Time soon to unbox my NIB Rush LE...!

Cheers...

Hurricane Binders (resized).jpg

Thank-you very much! My cabinet is in good shape, just faded. Now that I have a source for the replacement artwork I might just consider going deeper into a restoration. My playfield looks great but there are plastic pieces I want to replace (especially the main Hurricane ramp that was broken and repaired before I got it), and there is a bunch of mismatched hardware to replace as well. Good luck with your project and keep us posted!

"Hurry, hurry, hurry...!" Yes - Hurricane is still quite engaging and challenging for me even after 30+ years when I first played one on site somewhere; I said then and there "Some day I'm gonna have me one of those!"! That finally happened in '13. I now have my 2 machines side-by-side, Hurricane and my brand new Rush LE. I find myself moving back and forth between both. As much as Rush is the far superior machine with 3 decades newer technology, coupled with the fact that I'm a huge Rush fan, there is now and will always be a place in my heart and mind for Hurricane! I will continue to maintain and upgrade it as much as needed/possible.

IIRC, my highest ever Hurricane score was about 65 mil. but that record was lost in the CPU board crash that took it out of service for several years...

Hurricane and Rush side-by-side (resized).jpg

Repeating a question I posed above - What NVRAM chip are folks using to replace the U8 2064 S/RAM chip on their Hurricane CPU board? I assume once that swap is made there is no further need for batteries at all. Thanks again...

Thanks for that! My new CPU board does have the SRAM chip in a socket - I need to study this a bit more to determine if I can make the swap to the NVRAM board you linked without any other board-level changes...I'd really hate to mess up this new board that cost me nearly $200.

EDIT 1: I have been identifying the SRAM chip as "2064" as that's how U8 is identified in the Hurricane CPU board parts list. In fact that is just one designation for the 8Kx8 RAM this game uses; 6264 is what appears on the chip on both my old board and the one I have installed now. I'll check out instead the 6264 chip NVRAM replacement...

EDIT 2: I ordered the 6264 NVRAM equivalant from Pinside. According to information provided no jumper change is required, should just be "plug and play" for me.

Sign me up for one! Mine is cracked in two at the lowest curve, broken then re-glued by the guy who did a partial restoration for me before I bought it in '13. (He did reduce the price accordingly.) I doubt you would want to use mine for the mold form however.

I checked this out and your site is showing "Backordered". Are these ramps being made to order? If so, let me know how to proceed. Thanks!

Great! Thanks for the update. I'm certainly in no hurry but I'd like to take advantage of the "special" if it's still available...

Hey folks - I need some diagnostics help. I'm having issues with the Juggler operation. When I shoot a ball into the Juggler left hole the Juggler right solenoid starts firing once every second or so. The Juggler left solenoid does not fire and the ball remains "stuck" in the left hole. When the machine does a "ball search" I hear the rest of the solenoids firing but apparently NOT the Juggler left solenoid. When I power off/on and start a game with that ball still stuck, the machine cycles the solenoids to find the missing ball and THEN the Juggler left solenoid fires to kick the ball over to the right side and out. Switch test shows both Juggler hole switches 56 and 57 open. When I toss a ball into the left Juggler hole, that switch 56 shows as closed. I can't get to 57 to try to press it. So it seems both solenoids are working and at least switch 56 is working properly. Also, when I am playing the ball away from the Juggler, sometimes the Juggler right solenoid starts firing once per second on its own and won't quit until power down. Any ideas? Thanks...!

Thanks Adam. I too was thinking it might be circuit related. I'll start digging into the information you linked. I replaced the controller board a year ago to bring this machine back from the dead and with that and a few other repairs it has been running well since then, which prompted me to do a good bit of upgrades as well. This new problem surfaced a week ago.

I'll post my progress and results here. Thanks again...!

Hello fellow 'Caners! I'm back following an 8 month hiatus. Per my most recent posts above, I was experiencing a problem with the Juggler in my machine. I waited for a rainy day to get "a round tuit" to work on this problem, which turned out to be today. To my complete surprise, when I fired the machine up for the first time since August '23, it was performing almost perfectly, meaning that there seems to be nothing wrong with the Juggler at the moment! There were 6 credits remaining and I used them all to confirm the operation is as it should be. Of course I'm sure the problem will return at some point but as we all know, there is no sense in trying to troubleshoot an intermittency when it's working! IOW - don't fix it when it ain't broke!

But now I have another mystery problem and figured I should ask for advice here before I tear into it. As I was running out of credits I tried to drop more quarters (Yes, I still have it in "pay to play" mode - that was my retirement fund after all!) and they did not register. Once I got to -0- I tried to drop quarters again and nothing happened. With the door open I tried to use the service credits button and that is also not working. On power up, the machine reported I have an issue but when I pressed the test button, nothing happened. Of the 4 buttons on that panel inside the door, only the volume up/down are currently working; I adjusted them during game play. So now I'm stuck - I can't start a game by any means. Power off/on does not change anything. Any advice? TIA...

In the immortal words of Emily Litella*..."Never mind!" I found a PinWiki article that describes a lot of WPC troubleshooting hacks for all machines of that type/vintage and it contained a section that exactly covers the latest issue I had! I followed the steps that allowed me to confirm the CPU board was not at fault so that left some possible issues between J205 on the CPU board and the "direct" switches at the coin door. But when I plugged the socket back in - Voila! - everything was working as good as ever! I was sure I wiggled that socket as part of my preliminary checks - I guess it needed to be pulled off altogether and reinstalled firmly to finally chase the ghost away!

Anyway - it's all good for the moment...until the Juggler problem resurfaces! In the meantime my Hurricane will get quite a workout - I have 8 months to make up for...!

(*Emily was a confused old lady with an opinion on everything, usually wrong, played by Gilda Radner on the original SNL After she was called on her mistake she would think for a moment then reply "Never mind!".)