Firepower
Williams, 1980I'm aggravated now. First the Firepower I had brought back to life is dead again and now this on my Sorcerer. Some GI lights went out, I had them back on, they are now out again but the glass broke when I pulled it out to see what was wrong. Fu@#!
Quoted from Geocab:I'm aggravated now. First the Firepower I had brought back to life is dead again and now this on my Sorcerer. Some GI lights went out, I had them back on, they are now out again but the glass broke when I pulled it out to see what was wrong. Fu@#!
Be careful you know the old saying.........things happen in 3s
Sorry about your bad luck, I would look at the positive that it was pf glass that's easy to replace and not a backglass that is difficult to replace. I sweat a little every time I have to remove a nice backglass from a pin to service it (real backglasses, not translites so much)
What happened to the Firepower?
It would be a good idea to get multimeter to start with. Even if you don't have one someone you know probably has one you could borrow for a little while. The good thing is since it was running, it's going to likely be either a loose connection or a failed component somewhere. Failed IC is somewhat less likely than than loose connection or some other type of component.
After you've cleaned up take a break and then when you are ready we'll all help
I have a DMM. To get Firepower running I have replaced the ROM sockets, a couple of other IC sockets and the 40 pin connector between the MPU and driver boards. Since I had it running I thought I was at the home stretch, but now I feel I'm back to square one.
My goodness, I've read horror stories of this happening to others, but I've found glass pieces in places of my garage I didn't know existed. Then when I was done I found more pieces. They keep showing up like cockroaches.
OK what does the Firepower do when you turn it on(GI lights yes/no?, any displays working/glowing?) A little bit of description of where it gets hung up, please.
Confirm power by checking the following: Logic power on both sides of F5 fuse on the power board for +5VDC, check either side for AC ripple. TP9 on the CPU (+5VDC)
- both sides of F2 on the power board +28 VDC
-TP1 CPU board (+12VDC unregulated power)
Report back those findings here.
Deep breath! You shall be fine! All pins break from time to time. Use the "bad" to learn the " good". ~SpOoKy
I might have you topped, today I was going to play EBD since it's been a while since I last played it. When I got to the machine I saw a mouse nest at the top of the playfield, they took the stuffing bit by bit from the NAVL blankets and crawled up the cord and into the slots in the back of the machine. The machine does not work either so they probably chewed up a few wires. Had the pest control out recently so hopefully it's a one off.
after spotting that, I had to closely look at all the other games to see if this was isolated, that took up the rest of my allotted pinball time. I noticed the slots on the back of EBD by the cord that aren't on other pinballs I have so this was probably the only one they could get into. I've been down the broken glass road as well, when I had some pinballs at my bookshop, a big heavy book fell right onto Junkyard and smashed the glass, another time a PDI glass slipped out of my hands as I was trying to avoid getting fingerprints on it and shattered into a million pieces. Then another time the glass slide off TZ and fell right to the floor and didn't break. A good shop vac as you know really comes in handy. I had similar problems with Firepower and took my tech a good few hours to get it working properly.
Quoted from wayout440:OK what does the Firepower do when you turn it on(GI lights yes/no?, any displays working/glowing?) A little bit of description of where it gets hung up, please.
Confirm power by checking the following: Logic power on both sides of F5 fuse on the power board for +5VDC, check either side for AC ripple. TP9 on the CPU (+5VDC)
- both sides of F2 on the power board +28 VDC
-TP1 CPU board (+12VDC unregulated power)
Report back those findings here.
Turn on Firepower and only the GI lights come on. 2 solid LEDs on CPU board, no flash.
Black lead on ground braid:
Red on either side of F5 = 11.4 volts
red on either side of F2 = 0 volts (fuse reads continuity, with fuse out not voltage at either point)
TP9 = 5 volts
TP1 = starts at 2 volts and climbs up, I stopped reading at 5 volts. Not constant climb, goes up, then down a little, then goes up more, repeat, repeat
Quoted from Geocab:Normally I'd say that topped me, but you have a "few" games you can fall back on to play.
He could misplace the amount of games I have and not even notice. With that said get out the shotgun and start shooting.
Wayout, I started a new Tech Help thread with the readings and desctiption of what's happening with Firepower: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/firepower-dead-again#post-1068710
Playfield glass explosion happens to everybody sooner or latter.
Tempered glass can self destruct if the edge is bumped or it gets a deep scratch.
I'd vac, then put the playfield in a "construction" garbage bag and take it outside.
Then you can bang on it upside down/ backwards/ forwards ..... always some secret cubes hiding somewhere.....
Quoted from vid1900:Playfield glass explosion happens to everybody sooner or latter.
Tempered glass can self destruct if the edge is bumped or it gets a deep scratch.It has never happened to me in some 36 years of pinball. Does that mean I am due?
Quoted from vid1900:OMG, you are OVERdue.
It will be one of the worst Playfield glass explosions ever.
Thanks I better get ready.
So I started this thread a month ago. Today I just found 3 more pieces of glass. Where does this come from - Narnia? I vacuumed the entire garage when it happened. It's funny because everyone this happens to says the same thing yet I still figured I would get it all at once. Alas, no.
But reading through my first post, I fixed my Sorcerer lights by replacing the connector last week. Getting there!
Quoted from Geocab:So I started this thread a month ago. Today I just found 3 more pieces of glass. Where does this come from - Narnia? I vacuumed the entire garage when it happened. It's funny because everyone this happens to says the same thing yet I still figured I would get it all at once. Alas, no.
Haha, almost a year later, we are still finding glass in our van from when a sheet exploded in it. Mine was a little more "exciting". I had slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting someone, and the sheet of glass came sliding forward from the back of the van, hit the drivers seat that I was in, and exploded. It showered me in glass. I had to have BadBrick check my shirt and shorts in the back to see if there was any more hiding in there.
Quoted from Geocab:Might've had to check the back of your shorts for more than just glass with that happening.
LOL. Luckily I tend to stay pretty calm. I even sat in traffic for a couple of miles before we were able to pull over and pick out the glass. 
I wanted to wait for a place that had a vacumn.
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