six million dollar man pinball sound has changed??

wikedauto2010

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ok so i turned on my SMDM pinball yesterday and hit play and the music it usually plays is now different...WTF?? i havent had it that long and dont know if it has different sounds but it worried me to hear. What do you guys think is wrong or what should i check...
 
Looks as if one if the pots on the sound board may be going out. Could also be a poor connection on the sound board or cold solder joints. Also make sure the soundboard is grounded and is snug up against the retainer behind the board and is secured with the proper screws.
 
I'm not sure I agree with that diagnosis (sound pot going out).

I think you have one of the following:

1. Damage on the MPU (acid leakage from the battery)
2. Damage on the vocalizer / sound board. Look for 3 overheated diodes in the lower right corner of the board.
3. Tarnished legs on the ROMs.
4. Dead battery, allowed the settings to shift from what you had them at to something else.

#4 is the easiest to test out - go to Self-Test, and check your settings. The sound settings are above all the usual solenoid and lamp tests.

Look at the MPU for any corrosion damage.

Look at the sound / vocalizer board ROMs, clean the tarnish off the legs, and try again.

Look for the lower right corner of the vocalizer board, and see if it looks like it has been to an unauthorized barbeque.
 
There is no vocalizer on a Six Million Dollar Man machine, just a standard early Bally sound board. But I agree with you, it could be some issue with the board itself.
 
Let's make sure something is actually "broken" before you try doing any repairs...

Reference page #7 of the manual (available from IPDB if you don't have one - see: http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2165)

Note that you can change the sound settings between "tune", "chime", and "noise" depending upon how you configure DIP switches #8 and #32 under "Sound Option" at the top of that page...

You may have a flaky DIP switch, or if you were mucking around in the head recently, may have accidentally changed one. Regardless, try these before assuming you have a bad sound board, assuming the sounds are just "different", vs. missing/corrupted.
 
You'd be surprised how much the frequency pot on the sound board will change the sound if it's set at a different value, or if it's flaky like the gentleman was saying above. One pot changes the pitch of the notes, the second pot changes the duration of the tones. If the setting changes a little bit it can make the notes really low, or really high, or have little chirps, or long drawn out overlapping sounds.
 
Let's make sure something is actually "broken" before you try doing any repairs...

Reference page #7 of the manual (available from IPDB if you don't have one - see: http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2165)

Note that you can change the sound settings between "tune", "chime", and "noise" depending upon how you configure DIP switches #8 and #32 under "Sound Option" at the top of that page...

You may have a flaky DIP switch, or if you were mucking around in the head recently, may have accidentally changed one. Regardless, try these before assuming you have a bad sound board, assuming the sounds are just "different", vs. missing/corrupted.

i downloaded the manual and saw the dip switch page. I just honestly dont understand how to change them. i know you just push the little button up or down but how to read the manual to tell me how is what im having a hard time with. everything looks good and clean in there and the sound is just different now and honestly annoys me cause it seems wrong. the sound for the credit of "were in the money" still works perfect just the start the game sound is different all of the sudden.
 
So the sounds arent distorted, low volumes, etc. Its just playing the wrong notes for startup music? Possibly the connector on the sound card has dirty pins or dry joints on the back of the header. Other than this the sound board may have a problem and need repairing.
 
So the sounds arent distorted, low volumes, etc. Its just playing the wrong notes for startup music? Possibly the connector on the sound card has dirty pins or dry joints on the back of the header. Other than this the sound board may have a problem and need repairing.

Yea nothing changed volume wise or they arent distorted just different. Ill look at yhe connectors and see
 
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