Interesting. Thanks for posting.
That IC is socketed for easy replacement, just like the ULN2803 on WPC-S and later games. Good idea.
IIRC, it's an oddball IC.
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/contact
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

Those without a Dremel can also use a hacksaw, file, or simply install plastic washers or electrical tape there.

Thanks for pointing out this problem.

I had a transistor blow on one of their PD boards and called them via the phone. They immediately mailed me a couple of transistors and were very cool about it. You might try a call.

That is a pretty unfortunate location for that connector. I'm surprised it's taken this long for that to happen to someone!

Thanks for the heads up.
Interesting find.

this is great info. Would be hard to see this when mounting the boards.

Yep, had the same problem a while back. Even sent the boards back from Australia before I found the fault. I did notify Rottendog at the time of the issue.

I have a similar issue that is ongoing.
I replaced the chip only to have the issue reappear, since I hadn't figured out why it blew yet. Thanks for posting this!
The repair is to replace U17, the small chip in a socket on the right side of the board with a new a 74HCT9114. It's socketed, so no problem. The chips are available very cheap from K's Arcade and other places.
Replacing the chip solved my problem for a few games before it blew again. Have been looking for the short and not finding it.
Thanks so much for posting what has to be the solution to my problem!

Edit: Ah crap. This is not where my short is occurring. Back to troubleshooting mode...................

By any chance, did this result in your displays going dark and the game not booting? This might resolve something I was never able to resolve with mine. Fingers crossed.

I had a 2803 go bad on a MPU326 in a Gorgar. Game is long gone but I now wonder if that was the issue.

I have used many of these boards for years and still do with no issues but good to know and will have to check mine out now.

in your second picture, there is a single trace running underneath that far right screw. Could that also be a problem?

If you look close, you can see that trace is part of the ground grid.

I don't think Jim is in business anymore.

@goingincirclez

I have a similar issue with a Rotten Dog board I purchased for my SST. It was not machined correctly so you cannot correctly mount it. The hole for the center bolt which also acts as a ground does not line up correctly. The machine is playable, but randomly shuts down every so often. The people at Ks Arcade told me it was a known problem, but that I was fine only using 4 screws to mount it. When I did this it shut down almost every game. When I attempted to add more (two you can sort of wedge in there because it almost lines up) it noticeably shut down a lot less often. There is no way to wedge the center one in like the other two, so that part of the board is not grounded. It doesn't happen as often now, but it still happens... usually during a tournament or a really good game

This is the first I've heard of it. When did this happen?

That would be a bummer, Jim really took care of me when I had a problem.

I just talked on the phone with Jim last month.

Just snap that mount bracket off. You don't need that one.

When mounting regular stock boards, i only ever install the two top screws on the MPU and the two bottom ones on the driver board. Minor difference board to board, game to game, can have you shorting to ground in similar situations to that Rottendog board.

jims still in business.

Thanks for your permission to use the images goingincirclez...info added at:
http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_System_3_-_7#Aftermarket_Boards
Awesome!
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://ChrisHiblerPinball.com/contact/
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info

Thanks GIC for the great tip. I checked my Lucky Seven game and it had the same issue, although the board was still OK

jody

How did you get in contact with him? I'd like to figure something out with my issue.

It didn't. Jim and Rottendog are still around and designing, producing, and supporting their replacement boards.

--
Rob Anthony
Pinball Classics
http://LockWhenLit.com
Quality Board Work - In Home Service
borygard at gmail dot com

In case anyone is interested, this is what i'm talking about. The center/center mount is completely misaligned. The top one is kind of wedged in there.

rotten-dog_(resized).jpg

Salut,

I have exactly the same issue with the Whitestar PDB replacement from Rottendog.
I have put some isolation tape to avoid shorts.

Cheers,
flugs

Thanks. Mind sharing how you applied it?

Thanks for this post.

My firepower has a brand new Rottendog board. The right center target and a couple of the rubber switches were not working. I had a technician work on the pin. He tried everything to solve the problem but nothing worked. i remembered this post and mentioned it to the tech, and sure enough that solved the problem.

The tech put the board back in, but now there was a display problem. the first and third scores were missing two digits. He jiggled wires, checked connections and nothing worked to solve the problem. He finally took the board out and put it in my Blackout - also has a Rottendog board - to see if it was a board problem or something else. Same problem with the displays on the blackout. So, it appears to be the board.

Could the display issue be related to the mounting bracket short? Strange that solving one problem would cause another.

Check the connectors at the top of the MPU. Check that the display PIA is well seated in the socket. Check that the 74154 decoder is well seated in the socket.

Seems to get plenty of practice...

Am I allowed to chime in and say never again to Rottendog? Or will I get burned at the stake for that? Not a fan at all. It cost me over $300 in misc repairs for damage one of their boards did to my game and all I was offered was a replacement board. Not a chance in hell I'd do it again. Keep the replacement, I don't want it. Tired of sugar coating things on here to appease the fanboys. I've been screwed by other vendors and there's plenty of distributers taking advantage with higher prices on NIB than others offer and being jerks about it. Yet others will praise them. Strange world we live in.

No one will burn you at the stake.

-

Think of Jim having the hardest job in the entire world.

Pins were made to last 3 years, then they were supposed to go directly to the dump.

Pins we have in our basements are often 30-40 years old, and have been worked on by at least 50 different hacks over those years.

Each of those 50 hacks have made repairs that are very much not factory correct.

Then the hobbyist owners are usually worse than the hacks. They have none of the electronic training or mentoring that the hacks did.

-

So you have Jim who has to supply a complicated computer product to hobbyist who don't have any formal repair training or mentoring.

Obviously if the hobbyists knew how to repair 70s era computers, they would just fix the boards rather than buy new Rottendog ones.

I can't tell you how many pins I have gone to fix, that are filled with dead boards in the bottom of the cabinet. The hobbyists just plop a new board in, without fixing the actual problem.

Could you get a brand new Rottendog board with a problem? Sure, there is always that chance, just like you could get a bad NOS Williams or Stern board.

But remember, there is no way for Jim to magically see your game from 1000 miles away. There is no way for him to know what 50 different people have done to it over the years.

All he can do is supply you with a brand new board that hopefully won't get damaged by your game (and hopefully arrives to you itself undamaged).

I wonder who marked two of the OP's pictures as "unsafe"? Seriously? Unsafe maybe to the game.......

Interesting - I had oddball switch issues on my Firepower, and now column 6 switches do not work at all. I suspect I had the same problem. I put some electrical tape over the mounting hole.

Can anybody tell me which chip I need to replace on the rottendog combo? Where is it located?

I cannot find the schematics for the board. Thanks.

I started a post this weekend about column 2 being out in my Firepower. Sure enough it is the same issue as posted here. You can find the replacement IC at Ksarcade - https://ksarcade.net/74hct9114n-buffers-line-drivers-nine-wide.html. The newer Rottendog boards appear to have addressed the design flaw.

Most likely U17, the small chip in a socket on the right side of the board. As StratDoc says, should be a 74HCT9114.

Yes I put some electrical tape over the mounting tab and ordered a few of those chips. Hopefully that's the issue.

It was doing all sorts of crazy switch matrix shit before settling on one row not working so likely so.

I installed a new IC and my switch matrix issues are resolved. I ordered a couple of additional ICs in case it happens again. I cut the mounting tab off and wrapped any exposed metal in that area with electrical tape.

I made the modifications to mounting bracket, but the IC failed again yesterday after about 3 months with no issues. This time it affected the ball ramp switches 57 and 58. Has anyone else experienced problems with the IC that are not related to the mounting bracket?

Posted up a new topic related to this, but replying here as well. After three years of no issues, U17 failed again affecting the same switches, 57 & 58. Anybody have thoughts on why it would fail after three years of no issues? All modifications suggested in this post made to prevent a short.

Thanks

Carefully inspect the playfield. I had a tough to spot in issue in Laserball where a ripped spinner switch blade would rarely touch a frayed GI braid strand killing a switch matrix chip.