You did everything right. But, your batteries are dead... or, don’t exist, or, the holder is bad. All these things can be resolved. Can you use a voltmeter and measure the voltage of the batteries both in and out of the holder? The game will never remember the changes you made if the batteries are dead or the holder is corroded.

Cool. Just keep an eye on it. You will eventually want to replace the holder and mount a remote one. It reduces the chance of the boards getting destroyed when cheap batteries explode their guts. Just read up on it, there are dozens of posts about it with pictures on this site and the pinwiki.

Some may also suggest NVRAM and although it is a better long term solution, it requires some advanced soldering skills, removing a ram chip adding a socket and also buying the NVRAM. I would not try that yourself if you don’t have some long term experience with those items.

Lithium have not been on the market for decades like alkaline so their history of leakage and potential damage is not as well known.

The biggest risk with leaving the battery holder on the board is some future owner putting in batteries that leak.

If there is no holder on the board that’s much less likely.

When pinball shows start again you can take your board to one and have NVRAM installed. Borygard puts up his schedule at lockwhenlit.com.

I would also recommend installing nvram.

When it is installing I would recommend desoldering the battery holder as well socketing u25 when you replace the old volatile ram with the nvram. If you want to install it yourself, I got mine from barakandl and have no complaints with it.

This is if you feel comfortable with soldering. Do it at your own risk!

Hi--new to the forum and I am having a similar issue. I'll try to explain the differences and any help is greatly appreciated. High Speed Williams System 11 L-4. I have had it for nearly 20 years and have worked on it from time to time. It worked well the last time I played it, about 5 years ago.

This time:
Turned on, had a couple boot issues. Did it again and went through the settings and diagnostics. Then I played one ball. And it stopped. Adjust Failure no matter what I do. Batteries are replaced and fresh. Now the diagnostics show issues on about half the solenoids and the start game button dosen't start a game. Cycling the power on and off brings up the adjust failure screen again. Cycling through seems to help in that I can get to the point where I can add games. But it won't start. And cycling the power again sets me back to adjust failure with nothing I have changed, saved.

Umm, This is a lot of spew, but help getting started on effective trouble shooting will be most welcome! BTW, it has a decent playfield, great cabinet, perfect back glass, and played really well last time...

Cheers,

JB

This sounds like a battery/RAM error.

Since you replaced the batteries I would check to see if the battery holder is still good. With a multimeter measure the bottom right and top left terminals of the battery holder.

If there is voltage, turn on the machine and see what number is displayed on the seven segment display. System 11 Diagnoistics (resized).jpg

If you want to do the memory chip test it is the pushbutton that is labeled CPU on the left side of the board.

To me it sounds like you most likely have a faulty RAM. See if U25 is socketed. If the RAM ever failed before it most likely will be.

Personally if you are replacing the RAM I would strongly recommend going with NVRAM so you no longer have to worry about those pesky batteries ever going bad (possibly creating real issues if batteries leak causing alkaline damage).

I've heard good things about both people of them when it comes to their NVRAM.

You may want other pinsiders to chime in on this to make sure that what you discribed sounds like a RAM issue. I would hate for you to replace the RAM and nothing is wrong with it unless you want to upgrade to NVRAM.

I hope this helps you getting your High Speed up and running!

Thank you Pinflip!

Some answers to the tests you suggest.
-There is voltage
-The number '0' (zero) is displayed.
-The CPU test button results in number '5' with the coin door closed
-The same test with the coin door open gives an '8' for a moment and then a '0'
-U25 is NOT socketed

I am unsure about the door being open or closed during the test. But, it sounds like you are correct. A RAM issue. I will assess if I can change it.

Offering a different opinion ...

I'm not convinced it's a problem with the SRAM. The "adjust failure" means that the checksum of the contents of the SRAM is not the expected value at power on. The battery is supposed to hold the contents of the SRAM when main power is removed from the system.

I would post a picture of your board to see if there's any alkaline corrosion. Alkaline corrosion can affect the reset section and at the bottom of the reset section is the SRAM control (two resistors and a transistor).

It could still be a problem with the SRAM but I don't see any evidence that allows definitive conclusion of that.

Thanks for this idea.

Here are two photos:

thumbnail (1) (resized).jpg

thumbnail (resized).jpg

It sure looks like corrosion on the top of the middle battery terminal.

+1 for NVRAM and remove the battery holder. Send it to ChrisHibler if you can't solder or suspect you may damage the board trying.

saw this in another post ,Whenever the batteries die or are removed from the game when off if goes back to factory settings. With many of the System-11 games this also means you get "Adjust Failure" until you open the coin door. Press the advance button and get into the menu to clear. I know you have to do this on Earthshaker, High Speed and Rollergames so I think Wirlwind will probably be the same.

Go in, set to free play and save. Check the manual for specifics for this game. I think with High Speed you had to go into the settings and then back it into the test mode then save. But your game might be fine and you just need to clear this.

Now, after you clear the adjust failure and play a game you need to power the game off for a few seconds and power it back on. If it goes back to factory setting and adjust failure again then yes you are losing the RAM data or power to the RAM.

jb343 Emergency removal of those batteries and the holder is in order. That board is pricey to replace!
—
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
http://www.PinWiki.com/ - The new place for pinball repair info

Thank you all.

I am working on it--note the following
-the batteries are brand new, I had replaced the older ones. One of the old ones did have a tiny amount of leakage starting. I went back and inspected closely.
-the voltages seem correct
-I cleaned all the terminals
-the area grumpy pointed out (good eye) was suspicious, but I don't think it is my issue. In any event I removed the suspicious piece and made a replacement.
-But, I ordered a new remote battery holder

Anything I can do in the meantime? Problems are the same as I first described.

Oh, I replaced the board when I got the machine, so not the original board.

Please test power at the RAM.
https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_System_9_-_11#Testing_for_Battery_Backup_Power_at_the_RAM_.28U25.29
—
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
Http://chrishiblerpinball.com/contact
http://www.PinWiki.com/ - The new place for pinball repair info

Yes, looks like a problem. waiting for the part...
THX

status update:

remote holder installed.
voltage at pin 24 of U25 is 4.45v (ok?)
set to free play
turn off, turn on, settings are still there. Does this mean the RAM is ok?
When I press the CPU test button an '8' displays for a moment, after a second or so there is a beep and it goes to 'zero'. 'zero' is displayed all the time and when I turn it on.

But, start a game button is not working.

Thanks for all the ideas and help.

JB

and the attract sounds are working!

Your RAM is ok. The 8 then the beep followed by the 0 is normal.

Now to the issue of the start button.

First, check the gap between the blades. The gap on my start button between the blades is approximately 1/8".

An easy way to make sure the button works, providing that the switch blades are touching when you hit the start button is to to put the game in test mode. You want to go to the switch edges test and press the start button. The top two displays should display Credit Button .

If the switch blades are touching when the start button is pressed, it could be the diode on the switch.

Is the start button the only switch you are having a problem with?

Set it to free play or drop a quarter in it.

I'll clarify--the button works to set the machine parameters, such as free play.

I have added games, however, pressing the start button does nothing unless I am in set-up mode.

I performed another diagnostic and everything seems ok except the solenoid test. None of the first 15 or so solenoids fire. Some do at the end of the test sequence.

Since the start switch registers, do you have all the balls in the trough? All the trough switches are registering?

Which coils are not firing? There should be a fuse on the underside of the playfield that may be blown that goes to some of the coils.

Thanks everyone! It is alive!

fuse F2 was suspect, showed continuity everytime I touched the leads, but only for a second or two. hmm, it was replaced and things looked normal. now, fingers crossed, I will be playing.

Excellent forum.