Hi all,

So I picked up a LW3 a while ago, and it's been steadily developing worse issues.

Since I got it several months ago, occasionally the system would seem to sort of soft-reset: The DMD might re-initialize and show the bootup again, the startup sound might play, or both. In each case active games continued to play and what was happening on the playfield wasn't interrupted (or scoring, etc). Every so often what was happening on the DMD would lag behind in seeming to get updates from the game board - some sort of on-screen activity might complete, but the DMD not return to scoring screen. This includes cases where the DMD continued to update (as if the game didn't exit a particular game mode, but was still getting updated, even though the sound and playfield activity change), and so on. Every so often the game would "hang" - flippers still worked and and a few things still active, but the playfield generally become inactive.

Now I'm at a point where the game freezes like this after only about 5-30 seconds. Sometimes I can get through 3 minutes. Entering self-test will also occasionally freeze like this. In each case I hear the startup noises getting kicked off a few times before the freeze.

19 times out of 20 self-test passes, but occasionally it ends up in a failure state, with PIA LED flashing twice - check EEPROM in slot 5B. Except there is no EEPROM in 5B in this system, and there shouldn't be =)

I'm thinking about ordering a complete new EEPROM kit and replacing them (my first time doing that). Anyone have any other ideas before I do? Or advice if I replace the EEPROMs?

Thanks

I wouldn't say it specifically resets or ends exactly. Some component seems to reset, and I hear, for example, the startup noise again. And eventually seems to hang in some way, either temporarily or permanently.

My electronics testing kung-fu is improving but still weak. But let me see if I can figure out the best way to test strong (high?) +5 voltages at the MPU and display boards, like you suggested.

Ok, as best as I can tell voltage is normal, between 4.87 and 4.98 volts. So I'm good there?

Nope, no battery leakage. Moved the batteries off-board to an external carrier which is on the bottom of the backbox and out of the way of harm. And not leaking.