Stargate: weird game play noises

Smart Bomb

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I finally got the wg7000 in my stargate working...so i go to play a game after two months off and on troubleshooting and the gameplay sounds are odd now...the game played PERFECT before i had these chassis issues..perfect game sounds......

im thinking the multiple turning game off and on during chassis repair may have ruined something pertaining to the sound....some of the sounds are correct and others aren't.

Am i thinking properly that the continuous installing-chassis-turn-on-fuse-blows-turn-off wash, rinse, repeat may had ruined something on the main pcb?

the game was absolutely solid before this chassis troubleshooting, now it still plays perfect but sound is screwy.

im going to post a youtube vid shortly...seems like Sound #5 is wrong.
 
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Williams classic hardware has a very rudimentary scheme for sound playback. the sound calls are actually directed off the rom board to the sound board via the harness with the green wires. if there's any break between that connection it can throw off the sounds. I erroneously said it was 8 wires in the past, meaning 8 signals, but looking over the schematic there's handshake and ground wires, with 6 outputs from the rom board. it will thus play 6 individual sounds by grounding, then it will be combinations of wires to reach the next row of sounds. this is where having one of the wires not connecting can be an issue. :)

although the harnesses use IDC plugs, I've never seen this caused by the wiring, unless someone got real violent by ripping the plug out by the wires.

I've fixed the issue where you hear a repeated ticking in the silent attract mode or sounds cutting out during gameplay by reflowing the headers on the rom and sound boards. the factory headers are acceptable for this application. pull both rom and sound boards out and lay them face down and test continuity between them with the green harness connected.

there's also the 6821 PIA on the sound board that these signals go into. if the 6821 is bad it will produce some really bizarre sound output. it will play just about every sound in the game wrong. this chip is not socketed unless the sound board was serviced previously.

is this a 2nd Stargate you have?
 
Williams classic hardware has a very rudimentary scheme for sound playback. the sound calls are actually directed off the rom board to the sound board via the harness with the green wires. if there's any break between that connection it can throw off the sounds. I erroneously said it was 8 wires in the past, meaning 8 signals, but looking over the schematic there's handshake and ground wires, with 6 outputs from the rom board. it will thus play 6 individual sounds by grounding, then it will be combinations of wires to reach the next row of sounds. this is where having one of the wires not connecting can be an issue. :)

although the harnesses use IDC plugs, I've never seen this caused by the wiring, unless someone got real violent by ripping the plug out by the wires.

I've fixed the issue where you hear a repeated ticking in the silent attract mode or sounds cutting out during gameplay by reflowing the headers on the rom and sound boards. the factory headers are acceptable for this application. pull both rom and sound boards out and lay them face down and test continuity between them with the green harness connected.

there's also the 6821 PIA on the sound board that these signals go into. if the 6821 is bad it will produce some really bizarre sound output. it will play just about every sound in the game wrong. this chip is not socketed unless the sound board was serviced previously.

is this a 2nd Stargate you have?


Yes..my personal stargate i recently had monitor issues with...i made threads about it in monitor section. Through all of the monitor issues, the molex connector that comes from the pcb to the chassis, one of the wires loosened from the molex...i reinstalled the wire back into its position on the connector and i still have the sound issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqIznsbfgpU&sns=em
 
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Actually the test sounds are correct....i youtube'ed other stargate board vids and one vid had the sound test and all 5 sounds in that vid match my vid so now im really confused...sound test is legit yet some, not all, game play sounds are wrong or missing all together...weird.
 
If the ROM is bad, it can cause incorrect sounds. The test verifies each of the sound lines and as far as I know, the handshake lines are not used.
 
Had this issue with a Robotron once. Turned out to be the processor on the sound board.
 
I now realize why the games after Defender only play 6 sounds. 6 signals, if any of them were dead, you'd know when there's a sound that doesn't play. mind=blown.

of course, that's for diagnosing the wiring harness itself. or the headers. I don't know what that handshake component does, I wouldn't think the two boards necessarily need to communicate back and forth, the rom board is merely shooting signals to the sound board saying "play this sound now".

it's too bad Williams hardwired the PIAs. that would make figuring them out a lot easier. :p

I don't remember if the jumpers were the same or if the roms were identical, but I've run Defender/Stargate with the other games sound boards and they work just fine. you might be able to borrow the rom out of Defender to plug into the Stargate board if you don't have a programmer.
 
wtf?!?!..now I have NO SOUND!!

I removed the sound board...reseated the two chips (no bent legs)..no blown fuses...reinstalled...no sound.

I install ANOTHER working sound board...no blown fuses....no sound.

So i went from having perfect sounds.....to a few missing or sounding odd...to no sound at all!!!

this hobby frustrates the hell out of me.
 
luckily i had a third working sound board....i put it in and it works..all sounds present and correct.

So just like that, out of the blue, the original sound board no longer works...and that second one, all of the sudden doesn't work.

and what sucks beyond that is, the first game i played with sound, i warped 3 times..I NEVER warped three times before..I was shocked!..since the game came out in early 80's i only thought u could warp twice..it never dawned on me to warp a 3rd time and today, at 46 yrs old, i warped 3 times and I got my highest score ever 153,700 (i know, its low..but for me its high)..i got to level 12 or 13..i cant recall really....so i go to put in my full name since i had the "all time" highest score of the game...i put first, middle and last, in full...and the game freezes up!!!....i had to restart it...then it i get an error screen saying i had to open the front door and restart...i do that...game lights right up...my high score and full name: GONE!!!

im done for the day.
 
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