Hi all. I am experiencing the WPC reset issue and I have found the related threads and PinWiki on the subject. I will begin the process to try to fix but what I haven't been able to find is if it is ok to continue to play while I hunt down the root or if this can cause other long term problems. Sometimes I can get through a few games before it happens so I would like to continue to play to get my fix. But not if it will cause headaches later.
Simple answer, yes. Its just rebooting.
Longer answer, it will get worse and you will go crazy and not complete a game. Re-seat the Z connector, if it goes away great if not then systematically go through the Pinwiki until fixed.
This doesn't always work. If you have a problem with your 12v supply it exacerbates the issue. I've had 2 like this.
If you're going to play it anyway, you might as well try some one-minute quick fix workarounds.
Reseating J114 (WPC-95: J105) on the power driver board, J210 on the CPU board, and a Z-connector in between (if your game has one) will help temporarily if those connectors are the problem (which wouldn't be too surprising). Those are the connectors that carry 5V from the power driver board to the CPU board. If this temporarily fixes the problem, it will only be temporary, it will come back, and replacing those connectors will eventually be required.
Of course, before reseating those connectors, it'd be better to measure 5V on the power driver board (TP2) and on the CPU board (see Pinwiki section 4.13.10). You can quickly determine if those connectors actually are part of the problem, and if you reseat them one at a time and then measure voltages, you can find out for sure which one is the problem.
Quoted from Deez:This doesn't always work. If you have a problem with your 12v supply it exacerbates the issue. I've had 2 like this.
Ok, but if your 12V is toast, going through the Pinwiki steps won't help either. I'm 3 for 3 for fixing resets with Rob's boards. Moreover, it's a cheap and easy fix that doesn't require soldering which has a high potential for damaging the board if you're not careful or skilled.
Quoted from boustrophedonic:I'm 3 for 3 for fixing resets with Rob's boards
I'm zero for one, but that wasn't the board's fault. It's a great product and I passed it on to another pinsider. My board was just too toasted and required new bridges and caps.
All that said, try the daughter board first. Pulling those caps is a chore and best left to the qualified. I ignored this advice and spent a lot of time repairing through traces on my board 
.
Got home and did some checking. At tp2 I was getting 4.43v and at game rom pin32 4.4v. This picture is a contraption made at J115. I disconnected the spade connector that is iffy and tested voltage at tp2 at 4.8v. Played a couple games before reset. Can I power down, disconnect all the connectors, then power up to see if I get 5v then add them back in one by one? If so, do I power down between each connection or can I connect hot?
Quoted from SunMonkeyAZ:Got home and did some checking. At tp2 I was getting 4.43v and at game rom pin32 4.4v. This picture is a contraption made at J115. I disconnected the spade connector that is iffy and tested voltage at tp2 at 4.8v. Played a couple games before reset. Can I power down, disconnect all the connectors, then power up to see if I get 5v then add them back in one by one? If so, do I power down between each connection or can I connect hot?
IMG_20160207_132823127_(resized).jpg
Progress is good.
Though, I reseat J101 (common to have the two red wires burnt in the connector), J102, J114, and J210.
If there is a Z connector, reseat that one as well.
So, I assume your game is a Black Rose.
The hack at J115 "fixes" a burned GI power connector. It's best to replace that female housing with a new housing, crimp-on TriFurcon pins, and a new key pin. That said, that connector isn't a root cause for resets.
Not the cause of resets either, but that stripped green wire dangling free should be addressed. I don't know what it goes to as that's not a typical wire color in that region of a WPC backbox.
If you follow the Wiki, you can eliminate a lot of potential causes easily, with no cost but your own time, and never have to heat up an iron.
--
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
I'm glad there is the wiki to guide me through steps and you guys to help me decipher them. I pulled out the board to inspect. The section to inspect the LM323K solder pointed me where to look and it doesn't look good. But I don't have the experience/reference to know if this is a problem or is par for the course. There are also some burnt traces around and again, not sure if that is a root of something or the result of something else. This is my first adventure into pinball troubleshooting. I'm not great with an iron so I don't want to hack the board in case I need to get it to somebody to repair for me but I am comfortable with minor work.
Quoted from ChrisHibler:So, I assume your game is a Black Rose.
The hack at J115 "fixes" a burned GI power connector. It's best to replace that female housing with a new housing, crimp-on TriFurcon pins, and a new key pin. That said, that connector isn't a root cause for resets.
Not the cause of resets either, but that stripped green wire dangling free should be addressed. I don't know what it goes to as that's not a typical wire color in that region of a WPC backbox.
If you follow the Wiki, you can eliminate a lot of potential causes easily, with no cost but your own time, and never have to heat up an iron.
--
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
It is a Black Rose. The green wire goes to the 3rd pin down on J115 just below the two brown.
You can play it, BUT BE WARNED, when your one shot away from setting a new Grand Champion score,.... it will reset.
Quoted from SunMonkeyAZ:The green wire goes to the 3rd pin down on J115 just below the two brown.
Oh...OK. I didn't think WMS had begun using that style wire bundle for GI by then, and I didn't see the other colors.
That burn on the back of the board, under the LM323K, is typical. Sometimes the solder joints for the two leads become "crystallized" due to the heat. It's a good idea in that case to suck the older solder out and flow new solder in. Sometimes this is tough since WMS cut the leads so close to the board. Bottom Line...I wouldn't worry about the heat damage/burn, but the solder joints would be suspect.
Post a pic from the side of J101 and J114. Also look at the back of those connectors. If the connector pins are brown/bronze colored, then the connector is burned and should be replaced.
--
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
BTW...nice, unmolested driver board. I don't see those that often. The male GI connector at J115 needs to be replaced as it's probably burned.
--
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
Quoted from boustrophedonic:Ok, but if your 12V is toast, going through the Pinwiki steps won't help either. I'm 3 for 3 for fixing resets with Rob's boards. Moreover, it's a cheap and easy fix that doesn't require soldering which has a high potential for damaging the board if you're not careful or skilled.
That board you're referring to is not a 'fix', it's merely bypassing the issue. I've repaired at least a dozen WPC boards with resets without any piggyback boards. I do admit I have moved to adjustable voltage regulators to replace faulty LM323K units.
Here are those pics. I've been working through the steps and getting more confused. Testing cap C5 I had .3 setting my multimeter to 200v ac and 1.5 at C11 which seems right from what I read. Now I still get the 1.5 at C11 but no reading at C5. Testing BR2 using the diode setting using the oddball pin with black. I was getting readings but when I flipped red and black per the instructions I got the same readings that way. Now when I test I get 001 on all points either red or black. Could be my meter I suppose, but odd the readings change. Is that normal after testing?
Quoted from schudel5:That board you're referring to is not a 'fix', it's merely bypassing the issue.
I'm not sure what you mean. It is a fix for MPU resets & a better design than putting the MPU on the 5V linear regulator. For most machines, the 5V is right on the edge of the watchdog trigger point, so this is a fine solution. If your 5V linear supply is very low (in other words, at a point at which your issue is no longer resets but your game won't work at all), then yes, you need to fix it since the other 5V loads will fail.
Replacing the linear regulator with an adjustable one is an ok solution too if you have soldering skills, but you are burning off more power (and generating more heat) compared to using a switching regulator like the daughterboard.
Quoted from boustrophedonic:I'm not sure what you mean.
What Mike was referencing was this:
http://www.ezsbc.com/index.php/featured-products-list-home-page/psu5.html#.VrtFmkauy3Q
It's an adjustable replacement solution for the LM323K. Good idea.
--
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
Quoted from ChrisHibler:It's an adjustable replacement solution for the LM323K. Good idea.
Looks cool! Thanks for the link.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wpc-resetting-ok-to-play and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Glendale, AZ