Just restored my WCS94 game from a container buy and everything is working great except for when I turn the game on or off. It makes an incredibly loud "bark" (for lack of a better word) about 2 seconds after I turn the game on (about the time the CPU board boots). It is similar to the sound some Stern games make that don't have the replay knocker, but this is even louder. There is a similar sound when turning the game off, but its a bit quieter. I know it is typical for games to make a bit of noise then they start up, but this is way beyond the normal startup noises. My gut tells me its probably a cap on the sound board, but I am hoping that someone can help me narrow it down. Do I start with the C20 and C21 on the sound board? Anyone have something similar happen?

The startup sound seems quiet in the video, but it is quite loud in person. The power down noise sounds louder in the video than it is in person. Must have something to do with my iphone mic.

Yes, the speakers are making those noises.

It sounds like several people have had this issue, but I would not say that this is normal, otherwise all games would make the same noise. I own 3 other WPC games and none make this noise (they do have a very quiet click or pop sound when booted, but not an ear splitting one). I have a couple of other sound boards that I can borrow from other machines that use the same board and I will see if the problem is in the sound board or somewhere else. If its in the sound board, I will just start replacing components and testing until it goes away. I will post my results for others with the same issue.

I tried 2 other sound boards today and both made a noise when powered up, but it was a much quieter "pop" and is much less irritating. I then tried powering up the game with the J4 (17V AC) plug disconnected and it didn't make any noise at all when powering up. I plugged it back in and disconnected the J3 connector (+5V DC) and the noise was back but a bit quieter. Based on those results I have ordered a bunch of components for the board and I am going to start with the 17V AC circuit. If I can figure out which component quiets the start up barking noise I will post it here for others who are having the same issue. I hope its either the big C20/C21 caps or the C18/C19 caps. If not I will start replacing caps on the +5v side which will suck because there are a bunch of them.

I replaced the C20 and C21 caps and the problem didn't go away so I replaced the C18, C19, C32, C41, C15 and C52 and the loud noise at startup hasn't change much if any. Next time I order some components I am going to replace C36, C44 and C22 unfortunately GPE didn't have those when I ordered all the other caps so I will have to order them somewhere else. If those don't do it, I may either have to live with it or get a new board.