My first pin - a freebie

smalltownguy2

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Good lord what have I done!

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Man I thought there was a lot to learn about vids. This is an entirely different matter.
 
Well ya can't beat free. Just try not to do what I did when I got a beat up one for pretty much free...I've put hundreds more into it than it's worth, but only because I wanted it to look purdyy when it was done.

Yeah vids and pins are two different monsters. To me pins are more fun to work on because of all the parts. So where do you plan on starting on this new toy?
 
Luckily I have the complete schematics and manuals, so I guess I have a bit of reading to do.

The game powers on, but doesn't complete the post. Just playfield and backglass lights come on.

Batteries on one of the boards expired in 2005, so I know it's been sitting for at least 6 years.

I don't even know where to start.
 
Luckily I have the complete schematics and manuals, so I guess I have a bit of reading to do.

The game powers on, but doesn't complete the post. Just playfield and backglass lights come on.

Batteries on one of the boards expired in 2005, so I know it's been sitting for at least 6 years.

I don't even know where to start.

easy, mpu, remove batteries, clean corrosion, replace cmos ram 5101, ....oh sorry!
 
Thanks for the link - I've been doing a TON of reading the past few weeks. I have followed the flowchart quite a bit, and I've narrowed my issues down to the driver board. I pulled the board and powered up the pin without it, and the CPU board acted just the way it's supposed to (lights come on, go off, then come on and stay on), so that tells me the issue is with the driver board.

Further inspection revealed that there's a charred area where Q41 USED to be.... *grrr* :mad: Q41 maps to the credit knocker solenoid, so I will double check that one to make sure it's OK. Does anyone know if I can run the driver board without that transistor? If not, I see that driver transistors Q17 and Q19 are listed as 'not used'....can I pull the transistor from those locations?

Q10 in the 'special solenoids' section was also pretty burned, but still there. Tracing that one brought me to the 'right kicker.' I will test the transistor to see if it's OK.

I also noticed that my back left jet bumper's switch was stuck closed. So I bent the leaf lever a bit and adjusted it to match the other 3 jet bumpers.

More to follow...
 
Keep in mind that, if you get totally frustrated, Rottendog just released its MPU326 - Williams System 3, 4 6 & 7 Combination MPU & Driver Board: http://rottendog.us/mpu327.htm. A little pricey at $275 but since you got it for free it might not be too hard a pill to swallow.

... but try and fight through the issues. It is super rewarding to make a dead game play again. I am two coils short of having my Flash 100%.

Good luck!
 
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Board repair

I sent some of my boards to the coin op cauldron a few times. Clive at coin op always does a very good job. May be cheeper to have it fixed if it's not hacked into. I have also bought a few boards from Jerry at Rotten Dog. His boards are good and a fair price. And if you have problems with any of his stuff you get to talk with him. The maker of the board. So you can't go wrong with a rotten dog board. It may just be an easy fix. Test all of your coils and look for touch shorts under the playfield. And just like arcade games always check all of the fuses. Don't just look at them. Test them :) Good luck and good find!
 
Free is the best deal. You have been bitten by the pin bug, it's like crack. It will make you sell or trade all of your vids for pin money. Bookmark www.pbresource.com Great advice, great products at a good price with old school service.
 
Now, now you got a free pin, don't go cheap! :) Buy the transistors necessary, don't pull from other parts of the board. Here is another great site:

http://www.firepowerpinball.com

Has excellent schematics

Oh, I'm not going to go cheap, I'll get the parts I need. It's the waiting for shipping that I can't stand.....

I have to place a Digi-key order this week for some parts I need for work, so I'm going to try and find the part nos for the headers, IC sockets, female driver board connectors, TIP102's, etc.

I think I will get the Rottendog board, just because I'd like to get the pin up and running. Besides, if I repair my boards, I can sell some stuff to recoup $$.

Thanks for all the leads on helpful sites. I still have lots of reading to do.
 
Oh, I'm not going to go cheap, I'll get the parts I need. It's the waiting for shipping that I can't stand.....

I have to place a Digi-key order this week for some parts I need for work, so I'm going to try and find the part nos for the headers, IC sockets, female driver board connectors, TIP102's, etc.

I think I will get the Rottendog board, just because I'd like to get the pin up and running. Besides, if I repair my boards, I can sell some stuff to recoup $$.

Thanks for all the leads on helpful sites. I still have lots of reading to do.

If you want to sell your existing driver board let me know, I have a system 6 game that could use it :)

Firepower is a great game and worthy of one of those combo boards. Its typically an easy game to sell so you won't hurt yourself. Just make sure you service your power board before putting the new combo board in. Even if its working.
 
Free is good but Free Williams is better, at least for me. I like Williams ones the best... don't know why tho.
 
A free firepower! Fantastic machine, one of the best early solid states, no question about it. When it's running right, it's fast as hell. Just wait till it's running, cleaned, waxed and tuned.

Firepower is a pretty standard System 6 machine, the only real oddball is that the CPU board uses a different ROM chip configuration on it. Don't damage the upper 3 ROM chips, as you can't burn any replacements for them, and have to convert the board to take more common chips.

There are some parts replacements that are almost mandatory to make it reliable. A new 40-pin connector on the driver board is the biggest one. If it's got Scanbe sockets for the EPROMS, chances are you will have to replace them at some point. Add in the rectifier fuses. New connectors all over the place too.

Getting it going isn't necessarily hard, but you need to take a pretty systematic approach to it. If it's booting up, and the displays show any data at all, you're in great shape. Otherwise, it can be a pain to get it booting properly. What is/isn't the machine doing currently?

Now, if you don't have them, here are a few more links for you.
www.pinrepair.com (Read his System 3-7 section from top to bottom, lots of great info)
www.greatplainselectronics.com (Fantastic parts source, I highly prefer him to Digikey)
www.Jameco.com (Good selection of 6800 series components, such as the all-important 6821 PIA chip)
www.siegecraft.us (my own page, with info on my own Firepower machine)
www.firepowerpinball.com (as already mentioned. Best diagrams for the machine you can find)

As to troubleshooting it, it's best to start with the all important question #1. Any corrosion around the battery holder?

Then, question #2.... does it boot up, and give you any info on the score displays? If so, what does it show?

Oh, and you'll want to get one of the LEON test ROM's for it. Very handy chip to have. Got a burner?

-Hans
 
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Thanks for chiming in - I was hoping you'd see this thread :)

No corrosion, so that's good.

It does not currently boot.

Tonight I'll test the voltages on the MPU board to see that I'm getting the right inputs. I've already checked the voltages coming out of the power suuply board and they are fine.

Coils are all measuring out good.
 
You said that when you power it up without a driver board installed, you get a flash followed by steady LED's? If that's the case, voltages are likely going to test ok. Though I still recommend new molex connectors on the power wiring and verifying it at the CPU test points. Start at the beginning, and work your way through systematically. Try chasing symptoms, and you'll just go insane, too many things interconnected at this level of the problem.

Voltage testing on the CPU board is easy, it's got test points all over the place. Your schematic book, or the firepower website, should show you which ones should be seeing which result. You're mainly concerned with the +5v and +12v at this point. I doubt you'll be seeing any problems there. But the reset and blanking ones are handy to know where they are for future tests.

If your voltages are checking ok, best bet at this point is to get your hands on a LEON test ROM. It's a damned powerful little tool. The self-test built into the Williams ROM's is only partly useful. This will test out your RAM's, PIA's and CPU circuits.

Just to play magical fortune teller.... my money is on the PIA for the switch matrix being bad. Very common failure that locks up the whole damned machine. But its WAYYYYYY too early to even think about replacing it.

How's your soldering, and more importantly, your de-soldering? Some parts can be pretty tricky, especially that switch matrix PIA if it's got a lot of heat soak damage.

-Hans
 
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