I just took a quick look at the manual before I head to bed. If you are talking about the W/A/R lamps, what they have in common is that they are all on the same lamp drive #1 circuit as shown in the picture I attached.

Take a look at the other lamps in that circuit and see if they work:
- (1)"Ball-In-Play" and (2)"Match" are in the backbox. You will have to play a game to see if they light up. I don't think they light up in attract mode.
- (3)"Blast Again", (7)"Ramp Multiplier", and (8)"Return to Base" should light up during the attract mode.

Hopefully what you will see is that some of the lamps before W/A/R work and none of the ones after do. That would tell you to check out the last working lamp and the first broken lamp for something wrong. Bad diode, loose wire, something shorted, etc.

If none of them work, then you will need to look CN7 pin1 and see if the wire is loose. If that is ok, look at transistor Q71, resistor R38, resistor R8-2, and transistor Q63. Visually, they are the bottom row of parts right above the CN7 connector. I think the lamp schematics showing these parts are one of the pages missing from the PDF download manual.

On the other hand, if you are talking about the GI lights between the lanes, ignore everything I said above

Good Luck!

lamp_matrix (resized).png

Thank you once again e_lectro for your valuable insight! Yes, I am talking about the W/A/R insert lamps. I will heed your advice and go through all the lamps you mentioned as well as look for any loose connectors. You're a pinball guardian angel. Thanks again for your time!

My 8 and 11 yr old boys and I have been talking about the mysterious Laser War topper and how hard it would be to find an original for our machine.

This is a photo of the machine as of last night when I went down into the basement to play . Not exactly an original but an "A" for effort on their part for being creative with their Zelda light .

My eight-year-old says it represents the yellow base!

Better than nothing for now! It will stay!!

IMG_8818.JPG

And CN7 pin 1 wire was indeed loose! That was my problem alright. I managed to wiggle and tug on it enough to get it working. I'm not convinced that it's going to be a permanent fix though. What is involved in removing the offending wire and reattaching it to the pin in a more permanent way? What tools will I need? I've never had to attach a wire to one of these connectors before. Obviously still a newbie when it comes to some of this stuff, but I do have an appetite to learn!

I have those schematics should you ever be in need of them.

Thanks again e_lectro! Wish I could buy you a beer for all your great insight.

That's still pretty dang cool looking! Somehow it seems to work and flow with the feel of the game. I bet a multi-color bulb would look good inside it. How did you power it? Just plugged in externally, or did you power it off of a connector somewhere in the back box?

It just plugged into the wall outlet . It also projects an image on two sides of the triangle onto the ceiling . It would be cool to open it up and add red and blue to the yellow to represent the three bases .

Glad I could help! A loose wire is much easier to fix than replacing transistors.

I have not worked on an IDC type of connector on a pinball machine, but this is the type of tool you need:
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=1590&parent=96

If your connector is damaged or if the teeth will not bite into or keep ahold of the wire, you will also need a new connector:
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=1601

To make sure the connector can get a good connection, don't try to push the same place on the wire into the connector. Move the wire 1/4"-1/2" so it can make a new connection.

OK I have made some progress on my game before running into what is a major snag from a power supply perspective. I had a buddy rebuild the PSU which included some of the caps some cold solder joints and the CN 8 and CN 9 connection points (CN 8 burnt and CN 9 cut off at board). He had the schematic but apparently didn't follow it correctly. The good news is the game booted and had lights and audio. The bad news is I believe he didn't get the CN 9 wiring correct. The yellow wires coming out of the transformer started to burn up so I quickly killed the game. The game was probably on for all of 3 to 5 seconds. I am going to run through the power supply one more time. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have the original Laser War manual but as far as I can tell, it doesn't do a good job of describing the wiring on CN9. Probably because that is soldered to the power supply board and can only connect one way. In my case, I had to replace that connection. I attached a picture from the Torpedo Alley manual as that is a game that is of the generation as Laser War. Does the CN9 wiring schematic attached make sense? Just want to make sure I get it right this time. I assume it does but thought I would throw it out there.

pasted_image (resized).png

Data East made their boards compatible
-- with Williams so you could interchange
-- them. So, you could also check against
-- a Williams game manual. Say for instant,
-- High Speed.

Which is correct, because my Laser War had a power board from High Speed in it.

Gotcha....it looks to be the same. See attached. I will run with it. Appreciate the help.

pasted_image (resized).png

Moot point, but the pinout with wire colors for cn9 is on page 25 of the laser war manual, by the fold.

OK got it wired up properly this time. Double and triple checked everything to be sure however my results didn't change and I believe that to be from my transformer. When I turned it on with CN 9 out of whack the GI (yellow/Yellow and White) began to cook off of the transformer. I only had it on for maybe 5 seconds as I knew something wasn't correct. I went poking around the transformer this morning and based on a continuity test, all four are touching off of the transformer (probably from melting the surround on the wiring. Does this mean I need a new transformer? I was going to poke around with the transformer but figured I would stop here first. The game does boot and the transformer appears to be fine other then what I did to it.

IMG_0004 (resized).jpg

IMG_0009 (1) (resized).jpg

Hoping someone can confirm my suspicion here. I picked up a Laser War knowing some switches weren't registering on the game. It looks like all of column 6 and 7 are not registering. I have continuity through the wires so I'm assuming I have an issue on my board. I measured resistors R99 and R100 and I'm getting 1185 and 1023 respectively. In the schematics it looks like there should be 1.5K ohms here. I'm thinking my issue is these two resistors have started to go on me. Do these measurements seem to indicate bad components to anyone else? I just don't want to be chasing my tail here.

Anyone know the wattage and tolerance of these things I should look for if I need to replace them or will any 1.5K ohm resistor work?

Finally getting my play field cleaned up and assembled again. The ramp that came with my machine appears to be NOS. My question is why does my ramp have this tab on the left hand side? It appears that with it on it won't allow me to install it. Any chance this is usually trimmed off at the manufacture?

IMG_0033 (resized).JPG

I had a NOS one and I believe I trimmed that tab too.

Ok great. I looked at it for awhile and there is no way the ramp works with that tab on it. Thanks a lot.

Some Laser War love. Parts above and assemblies below are all clean and have been rebuilt. Still need to fuse the AC side of the bridge rectifiers. Hoping to get it back together in a week or two.

lw_backbox (resized).jpg

lw_cabinet (resized).jpg

lw_playfield (resized).jpg

That play field is awesome. I am jealous. I have a quick question regarding the ramp. When I got my game it wa in pieces. I assume the broken connection in the first picture must solder to two of the legs of the switch but I am not sure.

IMG_0103 (resized).JPG

IMG_0106 (resized).JPG

Got the flashers mounted hoping the wiring would tell me a better story and it hasn't helped. Switch works as I tested it. I thought I would throw up one more picture with everything together. Any help with how this should wire up would be appreciated. I test with some alligator clips and I can't make heads or tails of how this would work. Thanks.

IMG_0107 (resized).JPG

Wire this like standard switch matrix wiring. Connect the green wire to "NO". Connect the non-banded end of the diode to "NC". Connect the banded end of the diode and the white wire to "C".

It looks like the diode is enclosed in insulation so you probably just want to connect the white wire to "C".

More progress today with hopefully more tonight.

If your coin door lamps do not work then you probably want to check the molex connector at the back of the cabinet. Figuring out what connected to what and the YEL/WHT-YEL wires don't match. Weird. I pulled the YEL wire out of pin #2 and put it in pin #1. Lamps on the door seem to light up. Never noticed they didn't light up before but didn't spend a whole lot of time assessing the machine when I got it.

Passes the "boot test" (power on and check GI, lamp and switch matrix).

Got the basic post infrastructure in place. Not a lot of parts left in the pile to install but it won't be completed tonight. Hoping to complete it tomorrow.

lw_gi (resized).jpg

lw_boottest (resized).jpg

lw_assembling (resized).jpg

Thanks for your help. I will give that a try. My game came in pieces so it was hard to tell how this worked. Thanks again

Some social commitments over the weekend but I got it complete. There's only very minor adjustment required. Plays like a mofo. Flip -> post -> STDM. Flip -> post -> outlane. Don't blink. Don't let the flipper button go. It's insanely fast.

Will be going to the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show if anyone wants to play it.

Still need to figure out how to get a headphone jack wired in. That's pretty much all that remains.

The warming resistors for Mars Red, Mars Yellow and Mars Blue were disconnected (LEDs installed).

Both of the rectifiers in the backbox are now fused. Just need to zip tie the wires together. Completely non-invasive modification (can be 100% reversed) if desired. Although why would you?!?!

Both under and above the playfield is completed. The photo shows it just slightly before completion but the glass is off so it looks crisper.

lw_fused_rectifiers (resized).jpg

lw_under_complete (resized).jpg

lw_above_complete (resized).jpg

Does anyone have a line on a documented set of rules and scoring for this game? I know something is increasing the jackpot value but have no idea what it is. Can you score multiple jackpots on the same ball?

There is also a rotating target light after the jackpot? I've been lookin for some, as well.

Older topic that I am curious to revisit....
Anybody else have an opinion (or know for sure!) What they say there????

I'm going on about 20 years of owning mine and have no idea wtf it says to this day!

I am now the owner of 2 one is a donor parts machine. PLayfield is great on one the other not so much missing graphics everywhere.
I attached a pic of the good playfield i just removed mylar (Heat Method) i would've left it but bubbles in it.

playfield (resized).jpg

Figured people in this group might have more of an interest in this. I'm selling 3 original blue board data east displays from my old Laser War if anyone is interested...

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/55105

Anyone need a MPU for laserwar I have one it boots on the bench but may need some work have no way to test it since I no longer have the game.
Joe

Been a fan for a long time, but just officially joined yesterday.

Dang! Those didnt last too long.

No, they didn't. Maybe 30 minutes. I figured someone would want them.

I recently Picked up a Laser War machine!!
There are a few issues with it but one major problem - the sounds are out of order and the talking comes on randomly (out of step with play) throughout the game.
For example, it always says "Last ball!" on every ball, and it will say "return to yellow base...return to blue base", etc." randomly throughout the game even when it is not part of what is happening. In fact, the talking is almost always happening, there is very little "just music" throughout the game?
Any thoughts of what that could be?
I am not a tech in any sense of the word, but the game is not enjoyable to play right now, especially as I am trying to learn it and it is giving me false instructions!
Thoughts?
Thanks!

Well I'm still having the speech issues stated above I have yet to find a solution for that.

I have run into another snag in my restoration. I installed LED flashers throughout the game. The flashers in the backbox and under the pf seem to work fine. The problem is with the 10 flashers above the pf they stay lit all the time. There are 3 behind the back wall, 2 on the ramp, 2 inside the ion cannon, 1 next too the ramp and 2 mid pf 1 on the left side and 1 on the right on top of the plastics. These lights all stay lit for some reason. I've read something about worming resisters, if that's the issue can someone point me to the exact spots I need to desolder and what wires!?

If that's not the issue with the lights staying lit anyone have any ideas?

Hey all! I just joined the Laser War club yesterday! Picked up an as-is, untested project game and here's where I'm at:

Just did some investigating on the schematics on the Data East power supply. Just plugged it in today. I'll make this it's own thread. It seems there is an issue with the power supply circuit going to the displays.

Fuse f3 is not blown on the power supply (100v circuit for display power), nor are any other fuses in the game. I did remove fuse F3 from the game for the time being though. When I powered on the game I heard a couple pops. TR1 is gone from the power supply (the 2n5551 transistor). Well, the legs are still there, but the entire case blew right off of it. Also, C10 (or C11) I forget at the moment, popped the top and shoots out smoke a good few foot distance with the back box open. TR3 looks to be blown as well, as there is a piece missing from the front of it's case. Probably need to just rebuild the high voltage section here is my guess and do a cap kit on the power supply.

The power supply is still sending out the proper 5/12 volts and the game plays and runs like it should, other than the displays all being out, since they aren't getting any power.

These are interchangeable with Williams displays as far as I know, so I can test the displays individually in a few of my other games to verify they are good. If the displays test good, and fuse F3 is the proper size and not blown, I would think the rebuild of the HV section on the PS would bring this thing back up to par. Are there any known issues with the display board or the glass displays causing an issue of parts popping and smoking on the PS?

Just a good mention as well, I've removed all the boards in the back box, one at a time, to clean all the connector pins, re flow all the connector pins, and pull all chips in sockets to clean their legs and reinstall them. I did find there were a hand full of cold solder joints, so best to just re flow all of them.

All of the switches and coils are working, and I have yet to go through and change the lights out to new bulbs/leds, so there may be some light issues I discover along the way as well, but the game is up and playing with voice and sound. The light show looks pretty good on this thing, probably even better after I go through the lights!

If one or more of your displays are bad, it can overload the PS but that should just blow the fuse, as long as the proper fuse was installed. Overloading the PS would not cause the capacitor to blow, I suspect that was just an age related failure.

On DE PS, the fuse clips are notoriously junky. With the fuse removed, push on each side of the clip to make sure there is strong tension. Replace as needed (or just replace them all as a preventative). Replace ALL the electrolitic caps but be sure to replace C2 as it has a bad habit of leaking on the board and eating traces causing 5V to go away.

On your HV issue, again, replace all the electrolytic caps and the transistor that blew. I would suspect D5, D6 and D9 as the cause of the transistor failure. Also measure R8 to make sure it is in spec. A bad TR3 also cause TR1 to fail.

Def. time for a rebuild on that PS.

Anyone have a rebuild kit available that I can pay with a credit card that is NOT filtered through PayPal? Ugh.... it's getting SO hard to avoid them anymore.

It is a 520-5000-00 PS. I see Action Pinball has them, but again, your card is going through PayPal, so mine will get declined since I had an issue with them about 10 years ago. Unreal.

Oh, I also tested the player 3,4, and ball/credit displays in my Black Knight. All work great. I can't test the player 1 and 2 displays though, since they are the Data East displays with a larger size connector.

I'm still betting on them being fine though, as it's an old PS and should get a rebuild anyway.

Well here is an interesting turn of events. I had the game on and was changing out burnt out lights. It was in a game, since I have no display power at the moment to scroll through menus, so I could check the flash lamps and other lights on the play field. It was in game for maybe 20 min or so while I changed burnt out lights. The transformer in the bottom of the cabinet started sizzling and smoking. Never seen that one before! My guess is I'll need another one if it heats up again and shorts, which probably will happen here, unless there is a cause for that out of no where. It was on and being diagnosed and played for well more than 20 min yesterday with no issues. Any ideas on that one?

Seems as though there may be a bad bridge rectifier causing this issue. Looks like it's fixable by putting some new BR's in the back box and fusing them.

Can anyone confirm that this is probably the issue?

How do you test a BR?

Use the diode checker on a multi-meter.

The bridges are testing good. After that, I unplugged the connector from the transformer up to the power supply so the only thing that's on when you turn on the game is the transformer. Power goes in through the line cord through the fuse and the rf filter, through the power switch and into the transformer. It still want's to heat up right away.

I took apart the power switch and one of the rocker contacts is pretty burnt up. Probably needs a new power switch. Could there be any other possible issues? Never had a transformer want to heat up so bad you can't have it on for more than a couple seconds.

I started another thread over in the early solid state section with some further info and replies, but thought I would wrap this up here too.

I have 2 other Data East games, Monday Night Football and Playboy 35th. By suggestion, in looking at the power diagram in the manuals for both, they have the same wire colors, same pinouts, and same voltages as the Laser War. There is one difference in that 2 of the 4 wires for the GI lighting are taken from the front of the transformer and 2 from the back in PB and MNF, and all 4 are taken from the back side of the Laser War transformer. Of course all games happen to have the exact same power supply in them though (520-5000-00) so I went ahead and assumed that all amperage would be the same as well. I also had a conversation with K's arcade who suggested that a transformer from a Williams system 11 game would be suitable as well since the displays and many other components are interchangeable between those early Data East games and that period of Williams games. I did pull 3 of the 5 displays from the Laser War and test them in my Black Knight since it had the same displays as well. All 3 turned out to be good. 2 of the displays have wider connectors and ribbon cables on them and I don't have any other games to test them in before I fix the HV section on the power supply currently in the Laser War.

I just swapped in the 10-5002-00 Data East transformer from a Playboy 35th in place of the bad 10-5000-00 in the Laser War. We are up and working great. It's been on for over an hour with no issues. No noise, no melting, putting out proper voltage, and stays just barely warm to the touch. The new translite and rubber kit arrived from Marco today so while it was on I installed both of those and got the last few burnt out bulbs replaced, and got some good playtime in. Both the Laser War and Playboy 35th are plasma displays so I don't assume there will be any issues once the HV rebuild kit arrives to rebuild the HV secton on the power supply and get the displays up and going. I'll confirm if this is a 100% good working swap in a few days once that's all completed. On to ordering a new transformer.

Got the power supply hv rebuilt and now have good voltage on the display driver board for all displays but nothing is showing on the displays. Displays test good in my black knight so i know they arent burnt out. Any suggestions? Ive checked voltage at the connector for each display (pin 2 and 12) and all are getting power. Mpu not putting out signals then for displays?

After some research, I realized I have a version 3 board installed in the Laser War. Looking at the jumpers, they are not correct. Someone jumpered J7 b's left solder hole with J7a's right solder hole at an angle, and did the same thing with jumper 4's lower solder hole and jumper 5's upper solder hole at an angle. For Laser war to work right on a version 3 board (the extra pins at cn3 are installed) j5a and j6a should be installed and j5b and j6b should be removed. The 2 are removed but only j6a was installed and not j5a. Looks like there is some jumper correction to be done here. Reporting back in a bit after these are corrected Hopefully having jumpers 4/5 tied together and jumpers 7a/b tied together doesn't ruin anything and the displays pop on after correction. Obviously not a typical problem here!

A more detailed post of where things are at now:

I have a Laser War with a version 3 mpu in it. The game is fully playable. All sounds, lights, and solenoids are working properly and playing it is a blast.

There is nothing displayed on any of the displays though.

I just rebuilt the HV section on the power supply and have proper voltage on the power supply at connector cn5 for the displays, and on all 5 of the connector pins (pin 2 and 12) for each of the displays attach to it. 3 of the displays (player 3,4, and the ball/credit display) were tested in my Black Knight and all work great. I cannot test the 2 DE displays for player 1 and 2, but have tried with them plugged in and unplugged with no difference. I have the extra pins added at cn3 on the mpu for the ball/credit display as well.

There is no chip at B5.
What looks to be the original Laser War game rom chip with original factory lable is installed at C5.
There is a 6264 installed at D5.

Do I need to burn a different game rom chip to work with the 6264, or can I just swap it out for a 6116 as per the original version 1 mpu (I think that's correct)?

Someone was messing around with the jumpers on this board for some reason and had a couple of them crossed j4/5 each had one end of a jumper attached on each one, as did j7a/b. J6b was installed but not j5b.

I don't know if that would damage anything or just send game information or partial information to the correct/wrong place.

Currently I have the jumpers installed as follows:
J1B, J3, J5, J5A, J6A, J7A, J8.

The following are NOT installed:
J1A, J2, J4, J5B, J6B, J7B

With the original game rom at C5, is having J5 and J7A installed correct?

Will that original game rom work correctly with the 6264 installed at D5 or do I need to install a 6116?

I don't know what the original game rom is as far as what type of chip. Do I need to burn a new game rom on a different chip to have it work with the 6264 currently installed?

Just trying to clear up some confusion on this board and hopefully that will get the displays to display information!
If not, then I suppose I need to look into something else on the mpu maybe not putting out signals to the displays? I would think everything should be good through the PIA though since the power up lights are correct every time.....

Thanks in advance!

**UPDATE**

I have a 27256 at 5C, the original Laser War game rom. Changed jumper j5 to j4 to be correct with this rom.
Still no displays.

I have a probe and was going to connect it to the ground/+5 test points on the mpu and check for signals coming out of the PIA. Are there certain pins I need to check or all of them? I think they should all be "low" and none of them "high" correct?

Still looking for a Laser Wars topper.

Pm me if you have any info on one.

Thanks

Hey pinup, I'm no data east board expert and I don't want to muddle things more for you, but you can use leon's test rom to probe the bejezus out of your pia. http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Leon_Borre_Data_East_CPU_Board_Repair

I just saw this too
http://arcarc.xmission.com/Pinball/Stern%20Service%20Bulletins/sb/sb6.pdf
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/laser-war-not-fully-booting

(I just realized most is this is linked from the first post, sorry if you have been over all this I am a little sleepy)