Bubbles Board issues

jerryme

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So here is the deal I got a Bubbles today finally. When I got it home I plugged it in and smoke started pouring out of it, the power supply inputs almost caught on fire, a flame ran down a trace and melted a chip. So I took the board set out and tried it in my Joust. I got the same stripped screen I had before the power supply burned up. So I swapped out the CPU with a Joust board. This fixed some of the screen. Then I swapped the ROMs to a working rom board. This made the game finally run through the Carpet screen then the All Systems GO screen comes up and there is a 0 on the ROM board. Then a weird colored line comes across the screen and the game restarts and does it all over again. Any Idea what I might try? Let me know. Bart
 
The Bubbles MPU boards only work with Bubbles ROM boards.

If you try swapping the MPU board with a Joust MPU board, it will look dead. If you swap the Bubbles ROMs into a Joust ROM board, and plug it into a Joust MPU board, it will run the ROM test and then lock up trying to run the CMOS RAM test.

Bubbles uses a larger CMOS RAM area than Joust, Robotron, etc. There is a hardware mod that involves soldering another CMOS RAM chip on top of the current one and running a jumper to the missing address line.

BUBBLES MPU board + BUBBLES ROM board = WORKS
BUBBLES MPU board + JOUST ROM board = FAIL
JOUST MPU board + JOUST ROM board = WORKS
JOUST MPU board + BUBBLES ROM board = FAIL
JOUST MPU board + Joust ROM board with BUBBLES ROMS = FAIL

ken
 
How can I identify if the MPU and ROM board to make sure that they are original bubbles boards and not from another game? I put it back with the original boards and all I get are vertical lines and no rug pattern. PLEASE HELP!
 
Ok so I did some research on http://www.robotron-2084.co.uk and from what I figured out the game came with the wrong MPU in it. It has 5770-09656-00 REV. C (used in Robotron, Joust and Sinistar) and the MPU should be 5770-10179-00 Rev. Let me know if I am right and if this would stop the game from working. This is the board that came in it. I appreciate the help. PEACE Bart
 
Ok so I did some research on http://www.robotron-2084.co.uk and from what I figured out the game came with the wrong MPU in it. It has 5770-09656-00 REV. C (used in Robotron, Joust and Sinistar) and the MPU should be 5770-10179-00 Rev. Let me know if I am right and if this would stop the game from working. This is the board that came in it. I appreciate the help. PEACE Bart

Bart,

Okay, also... check to see if your ROM boards is a Bubbles ROM board(5771-10177-00) as well or if it is running a Joust/Robotron ROM board(5771-09840-00).

Are they using the ORIGINAL Bubbles ROM's by Williams?

If you also have the matching Joust/Robotron ROM board paired with your Joust/Robotron MPU board then:

A) Former Bubbles owner modified the game and converted the ROMs and you may simply have a corrupt ROM.

B) Former Bubbles owner tried to repair the game by using other Williams hardware - not knowing that the ORIGINAL ROMs would be not compatable without modification (Most likely scenario) The boards look similar, it's a common mistake.
 
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Yes I have the right ROM board and they are original ROMs. I did talk to the previous owner and he is going to try and locate the appropriate board for me, I hope he has one. Otherwise anyone got and extra Bubbles MPU they would like to sell just in case. Let me know. PEACE
 
I just replied to your PM I'll quote it below:

You are correct. The REV C motherboard will not work with a Bubbles ROM board. You might want to verify the part number on that as well. The Bubbles ROM board should be 5771-10177-00.

If it is a Joust/Robotron ROM board (5771-09840-00) with Bubbles ROM, it won't work because the ROMS are expecting the larger CMOS RAM on the MPU board. It will run through the RAM test then lock up and the watchdog will reset the CPU.

I have a couple of working Bubbles MPU boards. Let me know if you need one.

ken
 
Here are some pics of the Game. Hopefully I will play it soon!!
 

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Not a bad looking Bubbles!!

I can see why you are dying to play it!

Sounds like Yellowdog has a board available if the original seller doesn't come thru for you.

Best of luck!
 
It works!!! I got 1.2million on it already. Thanks for the Help!!

Top 10 Bubbles scores as verified by Twin Galaxies:

Code:
1     1,566,960     Yasuhiro Oda         Aug 01 1984     Referee
2     1,365,970     Joe Malasarte        Jul 02 1985     Referee
3     1,364,360     Mark Bersabe         Apr 12 1984     Referee
4     1,099,250     Greg R Bond          Jan 08 2004     Video
5       998,810     Phil Britt           Aug 23 1983     Referee
6       871,520     Steve Harris         Aug 04 1983     Referee
7       871,270     Kelli Howk           Dec 01 1983     Referee
8       725,360     Tim Collum           Aug 25 1983     Referee
9       598,770     Dwayne Richard       Jun 01 2004     Referee
10      212,250     Steve P Thornock     Aug 12 2001     Referee
 
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