When you say "bulletproofed" did you replace tge 40 pin connector?

Schwaggs just checked the chips pins look good.

Andy_B all conectors were replaced. Last night verify each pin of the sockets and conectors

Can you clarify. Did some of the PIAs work fine and sone not?

I decided to purchase the sound and speech board from PinballPCB. Hopefully it will be put to bed once and for all. Thanks

Most of the time when I first turn on the machine and start a game two pinballs will be put into the shooter. It doesn't seem to happen on subsequent games. Any ideas? Thanks

Check your trough switches under play field.

Out of the 10 6821s 1 was causing display issues. The only socketed 6821 PIA is for the display.

This is the one PIA I tested all the other 6821 PIA.

Just incase it was a eprom I replaced the bottom three.

I am going to the combo mod so I can remove the PROM 1-3.

Also I did do the memory test 04 for IC13 and IC16. They passed but the test still passes without IC13 also?( when I pull it)

Im having FIREPOWER withdrawal!!!!! I need my FIX

My firepower just started having a sound problem, the background sound doesn’t come on and it keeps making the tilt sound without a tilt, just tilt sound after tilt sound. It seems to be playing correctly otherwise. Any ideas on where to start?

Check J3 on the sound board (top left) and J9 (bottom on the left edge of the board) on the driver board. Reseat and/or look for cold solder joints.

I'd start simple by making sure the setting for background sounds is on and you don't have a stuck tilt switch or plumbob. Maybe some settings got wiped out for the background sounds? I know these sound like stupid suggestions, but you never know.

This sound problem happened to my friends machine the other day. When I checked on it, I noticed he moved the sound turn knob on the board and shut off his vocal sounds. I would try to turn and adjust the knob too.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I’ll dig in this weekend

Hey everyone, my FP playfield is missing the entire trough ejector assembly. According to the Williams 1980 parts catalogue, the game uses the B-7472-5R and B-7472-8 ejector assemblies. I know it uses both of these on the saucers but does it use one of them for the trough too? If so, which one? I guess later games used the C-9638 for this purpose.

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I'm seeing this on my parts assembly break downs. B-7472-7 Runway Eject Unit Assembly. Here's a screenshot of the page that deals with that assembly. Hope that helps. I saw this the other day and didn't think to check my files.
I have all the documents and artwork for this machine saved to a flash drive. I can upload this if anyone needs it. It has everything from super high res cabinet art, to stencils, to decals, parts lists, manuals, breakdowns, ext. Most of it is from Firepowerpinball.com, but not all of it is easy to find on there. Some are buried in the site so it's easy to miss them.

Eject ASsem (resized).jpg

Clytor

Hope this helps. Pictures can say thousands of words.

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I've joined the club - this one of the machines that started my pinball fascination. I just love the sound of Firepower, it takes me back to where it all began. Man I'm stoked!! Even found a few coins kicking around in the bottom of the cabinet

Look forward to reading through this thread and coming up to speed (my first SS machine)

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Had to look twice. I'm thinking "2 times 20 cents? Where the hell is that?!"

Welcome to the club and good luck with the game!

Haha! Back in the early 80's a game was a single 20 cent piece but moved to 40 cents later in the 80's - this really hurt your pocket however it's nothing compared to $2 for a game these days (or 3 games for $5).

Help Please!!
I purchased a Firepower and did a mini rehab...space limited full.
That being said I installed new flipper coils, EOS switch (purchased rebuild kit). The button switch is clean.
Now comes the kicker...the left flipper doesn't work but the right does.
I have the original manual.

Did you verify you have voltage at the coil? Did you take a pic before you took it apart so you can compare past to present?

Since you cleaned the Flipper button switches. Make sure the leaf switches still touch, when pushing the flipper button in. You might have bent a leaf switch to far back.

Definitely took photos...lots...it was a photo shoot for sure.
I tested voltage...right works and has 37 steady...left only has 8...both drop when button is pushed.

Did you verify you have voltage at the coil? Did you take a pic before you took it apart so you can compare past to present?

You replaced the coils. Was there diodes connected in your old coils? If so, did you install new ones? I forgot if those coils had diodes or not.

For the left flipper, go back towards the driver board to find where you're losing the voltage. 8 volts is bad - maybe a bad connection somewhere that you aggravated when you changed the coils. Start by lifting the power wire to the coil (With power off), then power up, start a game and measure the voltage on the wire without it being attached. Report what you find.

I’ll see if I can find the exact spot on the driver board that provides power to the left flipper. It should let you determine if there’s a board level component that’s bad.
Can you take a picture of the coil/diode in question? Just want to see if it’s right.

So weird...I followed the power wire to the solenoid board...pulled the flipper connection..didn't see anything...reconnected and now it works...

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From the pictures, it doesn't look like your right flipper is working. Haha

I like to play with a challenge!!

We solved that one...now..since playing next issue popped.
It's only giving 2 balls..ends game when 2nd drains. Set for 3.
And not sure if it's part of game but every flipper stroke scores 50 points...

The 50 points is caused by a switch being activated by vibration from the flipper. Figure out which contacts are 50 points, (I think the targets are the only ones, but I'm not near my machine.) and put a piece of paper between the contacts, one target at a time, then flip. When the points stop, you found your switch that is causing the problem. Open the gap on the switch just a bit.

Not sure what would be causing a three ball game to only go on two balls. My thoughts are a set of contacts in the trough bounce when the ball is put into the shooter lane. When starting a game, observe the ball in play indicator. Does it jump from one to two when serving the ball?

I had a similar problem but got 4 ball. I reset the mpu board back to factory. All went fine after that.

Did the new board fix all of your issues?

I still have a strange occurrence where the shoot again light will come on, and stay on the entire game, when it’s not supposed to. Not all the time, and seemingly not after one specific target is hit.
When I posted before it was suggested to switch the diode on the shoot again lamp, which I did to no avail.
Would this still suggest one of the mpu controlled lights has a bad diode and that causes it to activate?

When this happens, carefully check to see if any other lights in the Row or Column are lit.

If you start a new game, will it turn off or do you have to reboot the machine to make it turn off?

At the start of every game it’s fine
If it happens on ball one it stays on the entire game. Not sure if related but at times if you get all fire lanes completed, you get the award, but they all stay on Untill you go through another lane. I never thought much of it since it plays correctly and doesn’t happen every time. But I am wondering if related.

That is a head scratcher. You might want to start a new thread in the SS Tech forum. You will get more eyes on it over this club thread.

Are these original CPU and Driver Boards? Has the 40 pin been replaced? Try pulling the boards apart and putting them back together. You will have to take the screws out of the Driver board but not remove any of the connectors.

Have the FIRE inserts lit up like this forever or is this a new behavior?

The driver and mpu were just refreshed.
It has always done this. I didn’t notice it initially.. and Since it never effected scoring I over looked it. It doesn’t donit every game either. But now the the boards have been checked out I was thinking maybe it’s a pf issue..

How about in test? I can't remember if you can go sequential testing lights or not but results could help understand it.

Mine had a bunch or lamp random re-wiring done in the past on my FP.
To un-tangle all of that I used the Pincoder ROM #11 - Lamps test.
With that I was able to get all the lamps correctly wired and working.

Thanks.. I am not sure if the test is that detailed but I will run through
thanks

Looked at the lamp matrix... The F I R E are in the same column as the shoot again... will head there

Is IC10 by chance an AMI brand PIA?

When it locks on again, get your logic probe out and test the column back to the PIA to see if the transistor, pre-driver transistor, AND gate or PIA is locking on to cause this condition.

I will check what brand the pia is first..
You think I should investigate the board before checking the diodes in the game.? I ask bc i have confidence in being able to check diodes.
I’ll read up on how to check the path with the probe.

Was the 5101 replaced? If not I would check that too. I typically pull those out on all the boards now, install a socket, and plug in an nvram module

Question to those of you that have installed a new playfield in your game. Did you install Cliffy protectors or not?

No.

Try disconnecting the connector to the insert board next time it happens and see if the issue goes away. With a lamp matrix issues could come from an row or column that's in common.

I'd check every single diode in the game to make sure it's not shorted out against something nearby. You have normal lamps in there or LED's?

I haven't even thought of doing that, but if you're going through the trouble of a playfield swap...might as well. Especially if you're going to play the hell out of it.