Guessing........maybe the reset coil is drawing too much power. Maybe try another one.

The test you did on the voltage during a reset wouldn't help anyway. A dmm isn't fast enough to show the momentary power drop that could cause a reset. You'd have to use an oscilloscope.

Hope that works for you, I love that pin....every time I have had a problem with my Stern pins its been with the fuses, maybe replace the fuse and try a lower amp...not that I know much about repair...

This may be one for the "Dear Lloyd" section, he's had a bunch of new Sterns at his place...seems reasonable to wonder if he may have encountered this before.

If nothing else a thread over on RGP (flamesuit on!) might be in order, there is quite a bit of knowledge out there that doesn't visit Pinside for whatever reason.

Stern had some defective chips on the main board on some early run WPT games. If your game has this board ( random resets or unlimited multi ball problems ) give Stern a call and they will swap your board out free of charge. The updated board will also have the updated bootloader chip that has greater memory stick compatibility for flashing code updates.

Check out service bulletin # 163

http://www.sternpinball.com/SB/ServiceBulletin_163.html

Pinwiki-

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=World_Poker_Tour

Good to know... Thanks

Looking at the power driver board I see five (5) filter caps and three (3) bridge rectifiers.
Looking for test point and checking voltages is a good start.

If your board has been updated that is a plus.

I would suspect a bridge rectifier being weak or on its way out or something specific to the drop target circuit since that is triggering the reset. See if the same reset happens in solenoid test when resetting the targets.

@Jewboyflowerhead, That RCT I sold ya had a similiar prob. If I recall, mine was the 5v and it would reset randomly if the volts were under 5. I checked and it was 4.97. After adjusting the POT right next to the test point to get it back up over 5, the game worked flawlessly.

Not sure if that helps, but hope you can fix it.

Bumping this older thread. Having an intermittent reset on the WPT I just bought. Reseating connectors didn't help. At first I thought it was happening during multiball but now I've had 2 resets with no ball in play at all. Once it did it right after I hit the game start button.

Anyone? Wondering if the OP ever fixed his.

Thanks for getting back to me. My game plays perfectly until this randomly happens. Haven't had it long enough yet to really play around with it or notice any consistency in the resets. Been busy at work the past few days so hopefully I can figure it out next week. I'm hoping its the older card that Stern will replace but I doubt I'll be that lucky.

Common on the first SAM board WPT games.

Mine did it as well. Had to send board in under warranty to get it fixed. Bulletin 163

http://sternpinball.com/SB/ServiceBulletin_163.html

You can see the jumper wire on the top of the board? Would someone mind taking a pic?

So, are the wires for the fixed board or the original bad one?

Thank you VERY much for the pictures. I'll double check when I get home but pretty sure I have a blue wire going from that chip. But I don't remember seeing the second wire. I'm betting I have the updated card but will look further into it next week. Thanks again.

Okay, now you guys got me curious.

Here's my pic of my CPU board. I don't see the bottom wire.IMG_4278_edited-1.jpg

And here's a shot of my mirror blades installed.

IMG_4280_edited-2.jpg

Very strange, I only have the one wire on the bottom. What else could cause these resets if I have the updated board?

image.jpg

Is there anything worse than getting a new game (and paying a high price) then can't even frigging play it because it resets? I'm pretty sure it's not an older board and unlike my JD there is so little info out there I'm not sure where to start nor do I feels like ripping into this machine, as I'm not that good with it.

There's no consistency in the resets that I can tell. Sometimes there's a ball in play other times there isn't. Haven't been able to determine if it does that when all the targets reset at once.

Failing bridge rectifier(s).

One of the springs is missing from a drop target. There isn't anyway that switch not working could cause this could it?

Newest version/code? Mine says this. Does anyone know if that's the latest code?

V14.0
Sys 1.38
HDW 1

http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/WPTreadme.txt

I found a drop target not working. Turned out the spring broke. This led to me maybe finding the problem. After playing around with the lower left drop target assembly that had the target with the missing spring, I decided to play a game. Strangely, that drop target assembly never popped up when the game started. I played many games with all those targets down and not once did it rest. After, I tried a coil test and I didn't expect it to work but it did and they all popped up but the game immediately reset. Every coil test there reset the game every time. I started looking closer and the connector there seems like it doesn't fit on that tight. Is that normal or a problem? Also, the first wire there ( a green and brown one) is very loose and I don't think making a connection anymore. I tried to find out what this connector and wire actually did but can't find it on the schematics. Does this sound like it for sure is the problem? What troubles me a little is that I ran this coil test earlier and it didn't do that but I'm thinking that wire wasn't as loose then as it is now. Oh, I found the broken spring on the bottom of the cabinet. I don't think that spring and drop target had anything to do with the resets but luckily may have pointed me in the right direction.

Post a pic of the connector in question.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

Here it is. It's actually the connector to the the lower left drop target assembly. A friend better at doing connectors than me (and has a 10 pin idc connector I can have) is going to come over Friday. I'll post if this fixes it in case some other person runs into this problem.

image.jpg

image-486.jpg

After looking and looking through the booklet, I finally found that schematic. It's actually a 9 pin connector in the playfield harness and that wire is suppose to be green-orange but looks brown to me. It goes to CPU/SND J1-P4. I'm excited I found the problem. Couple questions about the idc connector, how tight do they have to be on the header pins? Most you have to pull fairly hard to get off. This one a small amount of pressure and it kind of slides on the header pins although it doesn't come off. Also, prob a dumb question, but what do key pins do? Can't you just skip that pin?

Further investigation says this green/orange wire goes to the "Switch strobes". What's that? Lights? Maybe this isn't the rest problem after all.

Ok, I'm just kind of putting my thoughts down, sorry if I'm rambling. I've only had pins for a year so I'm still learning. The more I think about it, the more I'm starting to think that loose green-orange wire isn't the reset problem. Probably the reason the targets don't reset upon start up but running the coil test they all will pop up but then it resets. Should I be looking at that coil?

IDC are a faster connector to install, so it speeds up manufacturing. Most repair folks recommend re-pinning with Molex Trifurcon when you have issues with IDC connectors. The metal in the IDC is susceptible to changes with heat and the area of contact is small, so you can easily run into issues.

Marc

Targets not resetting at the start of the game would indicate that the switches (optos) for those targets aren't working. Once you get the connector squared away, manually reset all drop target banks, then run switch test and knock down each drop target with a finger while watching the display. Usually all or none in a bank will work, unless you have a single opto pair out, which is rare. All 4 drop target opto boards are the same part number, so you can move them around to see if you have a wiring or hardware issue.

For some reason, the IDC connectors for Stern drop targets need to be especially tight. Even a little loose will make them not work. Saw this on an AVE recently and I don't think they use the same board as WPT. If you can see any gap at all, they may not work.

I'm doubtful that the crappy IDC connection is the source of the resets.
It needs to be fixed, but that isn't it.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

Chris, do you think it could be that whole 9 pin connector? It doesn't fit snugly on the header pins. Yesterday the lower drop target coil test caused the machine to reset every time. This morning I fiddled around with it and the machine didn't reset. There is a 5v connection on this connector. Or do you think I'm likely barking up the wrong tree?

Thanks. When I fix this connector I'll try this if I keep having problems.

Don't know 100% because it was an intermittent problem but changed this connector and so far no resets and the game plays beautiful.

Damnit... Thought it was fixed but it rest twice now in the past week. I played a lot of games and it's only happened twice and no pattern that I see. It's waaaaayyyyy better than before so you'd think that connector had something to do with it but I'm at a loss now where to start.

I'm really hoping somebody has an idea what I should try next. It only resets once when in a great while when the lower left drop targets reset. The targets themselves do pop up but then the game resets. I checked all the fuse holders and they seem like they are fine and fuses themselves snug.

On the CPU board J11 pin 1= 5.08 V, pins 3 and 6 = 13.8 v ( one was negative volts)
On the driver board J16 I got the 5.08v and 13.8v. At J10, I got 27.4 vac and the 50v pins read 77v. I was surprised that was so high but I read somewhere that it should be that?

I wanted to look at and measure some voltages on the optos but I'm not sure where they are. I looked around but I'm just not sure. I'm obviously new to this hobby. I'm guessing I should replace the coil for those targets? With all the wires around it it doesn't look like it would be easy for me. I have read they are associated with Q5. Should I replace that too? Can it be tested? Where is it exactly?

I once again reseated the connector I replaced already. It's a nice tight connection but should I have replaced those header pins too? It hadn't reset since I reseated the connector but it's so intermittent that could be just a coincidence. Thanks for any help.

Reflow the headers for these pins. That would be my next line of attack.

I find that power connector to be the first most common reset issue, then the bridge.

Well, after a month of solid play it finally reset. Didn't notice what precipitated it but I'm assuming those left lower targets. After running through the coil test it never reset but I notice the pf display flicker around where it set "Stern". Sounds like the exact same problem. Guess I'll try replacing that coil also. Sounds like two WPTs doing the same thing. Has anyone else had this happen?

Been fighting this issue a long time and found green funk in the 6464 ram. Replacing with nvram and am sure it will solve the last reset issue

Coz6, this fixed your issue or you are going to try it? I'm not even sure what you're talking about. I'll have to research that.