I am pretty new to pinball repair and I don't know if this issue is pin specific, specific to a manufacturer, or an issue in all pins across manufacturers.

Here is the issue:

I have a DE Maverick. The sound works fine when I start the machine. After about 2 minutes of being on two of the sounds go completely bonkers. If you are familiar with the game it is the laura belle steamship sound (when you are at the boat entrance) and the horse neighing (when the ball is lost). They turn into this awful chirping/cracking noise. The rest of the noises (as far as I can tell) sound fine. If is restart the machine it works for about two minutes and the cycle continues.

What I have done:

1. Checked all the speaker wires
2. Ran speaker test (they are on the correct polarity-right and left sin test quitter than center)
3. Ran burn in test and yes, the sounds are whack in there
4. Pushed and twisted around most of the fuses and pressed on the fuse holders (I read somewhere they were cheap and prone to splitting on DE machines). Maybe I am missing something here?

So my questions are:

1. Is this a common issue?
2. How can I fix it? Is it a speaker issue or software issue? Or hardware issue?
3. If it is software the soundboard has 3 eproms for audio - can I replace these and it fix the problem? If so which one has that audio on it? How can I tell? Or just replace all 3?
4. If it is hardware I sure hope I don't have to replace the soundboard, the thing has a braid of wire hanging down that really looks like it is going to be tough to move around.

It is really a pain and a distraction when I am playing.

Thanks for the help.

It was the power driver board. I actually replaced the old one with a gently used one. The chirping still happens but only after it has been on for a long long time. The DMD may be going out and placing a load on the board. I have the extender kit to swap it out with a laptop monitor, but it works for now.

Power driver board that I replaced is still holding strong. Haven't done the extender DMD swap yet. Too many projects right now. If I ever get around to it I'll for sure post some pics.