Checksum Errors on my Simpson Party Pinball.

I recently started getting a CheckSum $F0FF errors when I power on my TSPP.

I thought it was a bad CPU ROM so I bought a new one from Marcos and installed it, same error message.

I thought it might be the Display ROM so I swapped out the CPU ROM v5 and Display ROM v5 with my 4.0 versions and I get a CheckSum $4FF (CPU 4.0 ROM) So I am pretty sure it is not the CPU ROM or Display ROM. Thoughts?

Looking for ideas where to start.

Thanks in advance, be Well!

I will be leaving the TSPP club in a couple weeks, and a new member will join !

I really enjoyed playing that game a lot but the gameplay started feeling very close to my WOZ, they definitely are cousins. So one had to stay and one had to live, WOZ was close from the door, it's been a love hate relationship for sometimes but the love came back.

Another thing I will miss is how reliable that game is, outside of the regular waxing, I never had to remove the glass and never had to open the tech manual.

My next game will be a shooter with enough code depth to keep going at it, surely not a theme as appealing as The Simpsons, actually my first non licensed fame, we'll see how that goes, I'm excited that's for sure.

Does the game continue to play after the error or does it stop entirely?

This is an error with U210. Do you see anything going on with that socket? Is there a pin out? Bad solder? Trace lifted? Take a look at the back of the board too. This area is just under the batteries (I hope you are running NVRAM and not batteries that may have leaked?) Take a photo of that area (the batteries and just underneath it). The more I think about this the more I wonder if you have damage from a battery that leaked.

What errors does it give you? You said "errors" so I am wondering are there multiple messages? Or is it only referencing $F0FF.

Are you sure about the error you got when you put in the 4.0 version? That should have read $4FFF (guessing you missed an F?) Just trying to make sure we nailed the problem down correctly.

Thanks for replying. I should have clarified.

V5 CPU ROM shows a $F0FF Checksum error on boot
V4 CPU ROM shows a $4FFF Checksum error on boot

I have a LOTR with the same board. So i moved the LOTR board into the Simpson and I still get the checksum errors. The Simpson board plays fine in the LOTR (Of course when I move the boards I switch the chips)

So I am pretty sure it is not the board itself, and I have 2 sets of ROMs I have tried both with checksum errors so I am assuming that it is not the ROMs themselves. I actually have 2 sets of V5 ROMs because I originally thought it was a issue with the CPU V5 ROM so I bought a new one.

I am perplexed to what else could be causing this. I am new at this so still in learning mode

Thoughts?

rob

So if the LOTR board (with Simpsons ROMS) gives you this error in the Simpsons game and the Simpson's board works in LOTR (with LOTR ROMS) and since you have tried multiple simpsons rom versions it seems it is not your roms or your boards.

My next best guess? Power issue? Have you tested the power at the board on its various test points to verify it is accurate?

The aftermarket roms do go bad after a while.

Resolution:

Error was the pinball owner (aka..me)

There was no error at all on the pinball game. I had done a factory reset, and quick boot was set to "no"

Which looks like it does a test, and post the checksum. I figured it was a error and it was just a informational message.

Sincerest thanks to all of those who jumped in to help. I have so much to learn

Now I am going to slink away and pretend I am smarter then I am!

rob

I'm out of the group - my TSPP went to a new, good home. Maybe I will be back in the future!

Glad you got it straightened out. This is why I asked whether you could play the game or not after the message because my game also posts something about the checksum but does not impact playing and it is not an error.

You only learn by doing.

I decided to sacrifice this $17 vinyl bank to test the possibility of swapping homer’s ugly head with this more appealing one that includes his torso and a donut.

Not a great fit. So close!!!

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The lighting does work through the plastic of the bank. I could sever his head and have it spin...

I agree the head isn't ideal (in the sense that it looks bizarre) however I like that it kind of looks like Rudy's head from Funhouse. I wonder if the designer did that on purpose. In that sense I don't think I'd want to see a game with Homer's full body on it. Perhaps you can just find a better looking Homer head? Just my thoughts...

I wasn’t so keen on homers massive head. So I made up my own set up that I am happy with. I used Bowling Homer just for some shirt colour. Can easily swap out for original Homer or other characters.
And a pic of my machine.

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It’s just a head from a Simpsons homer toy doll line. Not a custom designed head by Stern.

I know but I think having the head which sometimes talks during the game was a nod to Rudy (except it doesn't have eyes that move because of the obvious complexity/costs involved and also I believe that feature may have been patented by Williams and the patent was likely still in play in ~2003).

Regardless - I wish the head in the game looked more like the one on your bank. Maybe there is one out there somewhere that will work better!

Although I’m not an owner anymore, I still lurk in this thread. TSPP was my first Stern and I kept it for the longest time and yes, I do miss it. Hoping one day Stern will re-theme the pin into a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror pin like they did with the Dark Knight into Batman66. I would be all over the LE version sight unseen on that one.

I bought the same Homer torso bank holding the donut, but I never got around to swapping out the torso with the original head before I sold the pin. Glad you did the experiment on it and it’s a shame it didn’t work.

My brother is still upset with me for selling it because he wanted It for his collection Wish he would have bought it so I could still play it close by. Maybe one day.

I really like that look of Homer and his torso. How far off are you from making it fit?

I'm Not a graphic artist at all, but I wanted to make my own custom TSPP speaker box decal. After measuring and creating a template in photoshop, I added a high res background and a bunch of characters.
This is still a test copy printed on 3 pieces of plain paper (not vinyl yet) and taped together.
I also made custom side blades but I'm still refining the artwork.

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Personally, i would remove "The Simpsons" from above the DMD. The name is already on the backglass so its not necessary imo.

Yes, remove all text and don't distort the shapes of the characters.

Cool, thanks. I didn't think about that since it was part of the original image.

Yep, I was randomly sizing and placing the characters. Hopefully I'll get it completed. Thanks.

If you are looking for other feedback (not sure if you are or not) I would also note that the skyline looks great but some of the characters randomly floating in the sky seem odd (flying character okay but couch in sky does not). Couldn't you place them on a street or somehow better separate the skyline concept from the characters being randomly thrown around on the artwork?

That would go really well with the Alternate donut cabinet art. Pity it didn’t fit

I've been having a problem with the VUK to the upper playfield. Right after I installed a ColorDMD a few months ago, the switch in the VUK became flaky. I've replaced this switch previously (~2 years ago). Anyways, I replaced the switch and the diode and during test all seemed fine then I go into play it worked the first few times then went back to sometimes not registering. I went to retest and did lots of presses on the switch and noticed it for sure is missing hits often.
Not sure if I just happened to replace with another flaky switch or if there is some other issues going on here that just happened to coincide with the colorDMD install.

Anyone have any ideas before I go back in and do another switch replace?

If the switch has gone bad a second time in home use, something else is wrong.

Look for play in the switch and try careful adjustment. I've rarely had to replace microswitches, especially ones like this that don't get hit that often (compared to, say, a rollover switch).

The only other thing I can think of is that since this switch is part of the VUK assembly, make sure the switch isn't taking the brunt of the ball landing on it or something. For instance, I'd expect that there should still be some downward motion on the switch when the ball is resting on it. The ball should activate the switch, but it shouldn't bottom out.

(I didn't verify this on my game, though.)

Good luck.

Yeah, I definitely feel like something else is going on. The testing I'm doing is when the switch is not even in the assembly and activating it a bunch of times. Guess it's time to do some wire tracing, and transistor testing.

Do you have a multimeter? The quickest way to test this switch is with a meter. Put a lead on each terminal on the switch (well, one on NO-normally open) and the other on ground for the switch. Then put your meter on sound/tone. If you hear a tone when you press the switch, the switch is good.

It is most likely an issues with the wiring in the connector itself if you replaced the switch already, but a long while back there was a production issue with some of these fork switches, even when new.

not pinball related, but such a unique find, I had to share. A co-worker, who used to work in affiliate relations for the Fox network when they were first starting up, found out I had a Simpsons collection, so he offered up one of the two launch kits he grabbed back in the day. I had seen pieces of this for sale individually, but never the entire kit, in the original box. T-shirt, sweatshirt, masks of Marge and Bart, button, rubber stamp and ink pad (still usable) a 1/4" reel to reel tape of sound bites for ad spots (it was 1989), three of the posters of the family, and a three ring binder of line art, merchandise sources, a copy of Matt Groening's Simpson's font typeset, and lots of other rare early artwork.

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Just rejoined the club! This is probably my favorite machine ever. Got a quick question. Brought it home and everything is working except the back box won’t light up. Every other light is lighting up just fine. I looked in the back box, checked the manual and I’m sure some connector came loose during transport, but I don’t know what I’m looking for. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help,
Jason

It uses a regular fluorescent bulb...I'm guessing it may just need a slight turn to snap into place?

thank you for replying. I tried messing with the bulb but it didn't fix the issue

If replacing the switch fixes the switch, you can't have a transistor problem. You have a ball killing the microswitch problem. If all the other switches in the row and column work, it's just a mechanical failure. The problem would be that something is breaking the switch. There may be a diagram in the manual for how the VUK is assembled. Make sure you have all the parts, and that the ball isn't cracking the microswitch internally.

(A microswitch is just a leaf switch with more parts. There's nothing in there to break, except mechanically. It's just two pieces of metal making contact.)

Good luck -- this one will be tricky, just because a VUK is hard to see, and this one is pretty much buried.

Hey guys im about to purchase a pretty mint stock tspp. What color would you recommended for the general illumination? Warm or sunlight white and what would you recommend for the inserts? Last how do I remove that black block on the right side. I want to put mirrors on.

If I recall, I pryed the block off of mine with the back of a chisel. I think it was stapled in.

That fluorescent tube has a starter which can go bad.

I used sunlight for the Simpson’s Gen Illum and I liked it. Never bothered with the inserts, if I went there then I would want that board that makes them fade on and off.... it looks great though.

This is 100% personal preference but I found that anything other than warm was "too bright" and "too white" in this specific game for my taste.

The GI aside - be careful about putting LEDs in the inserts or you will lose the fading effects. The LED OCD board is a must on this game to retain the behavior and look of the insert lights if you plan to LED the inserts.

I did the exact same. I really like the sunlight in the game.

I've put sunlight white in every game of mine so far, except for Star Trek that really pops with cool white. I used to color match the inserts but ultimately like the look of sunlight there as well. The color matched inserts are REALLY saturated and distracting to me, especially if there are any kind of graphics on them which get color-washed out. Also, ordering a big batch of sunlight LEDs in wedge/bayonet/bendy form is WAY easier than trying to count up insert colors, and you know that they can all be used in any other games too.

Hey guys i got another question. what would you recommend to replace the battery holder?

Nvram, it’s plug and play.

Here's the $20 nvram I installed in my TSPP for reference.

anyPin DMD+ NVRAM Battery Eliminator

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Franks Battery Boards. I replaced all my machines with them! Although not plug and play, if you're good with a soldering iron, it can be done in less than 10 min. I went with Franks because I've heard NVRAM are hit or miss and didn't want to deal with possible problems.

https://noquartersarcade.com/

I have never heard of NVRAM being "hit or miss" except games which require soldering and people mess it up. There is an issue of certain games with clocks that no longer keep time and impact midnight madness (not the case on this game).

For this game and nearly all games NVRAM is 100% the way to go: never replace a battery again - never lose your high scores - and in this game plug and play. I just don't see any reason to have a battery on this board (especially AA batteries which can ruin your very expensive MPU).

No problems with the Nvram.

For the Anypin. I would need a 6264 version? Are there any tutorials on how to replace and last do i need to solder anything?

Correct - 6264 version. Plug and play - no soldering. You remove one chip and replace it with the NVRAM. The only thing that can go wrong is you can bend a pin (if you do bend it back carefully). Ideally use a chip puller to pull the chip (they cost a few dollars) or you can use a small flathead screwdriver carefully.

https://www.pinitech.com/product_images/ram_locations/ramloc_whitestar.jpg
Photo above shows you what chip you swap.

Also make sure you put the NVRAM chip in the correct direction. Take a look around post 5029 (Plus minus 10 posts) for some guidance. The group was great in helping me out there.

The pic SKORR_Arcades just posted is a good reference. You'll be installing it upside down. That seems to have confused some people in this thread in the past.

I joined the club today. Got a very nice HUO machine from a local company here in Houston. This pin has been on the top of my list since I got my first pin back in 2019.

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