Williams Solved Firepower II (Williams, 1983) random bell issue

[aborup]

I've finally got my Firepower II (Williams System 7) working GREAT! New balls, rubbers, repaired plastics, and touched-up play field. This is an awesome game.

I'm having one weird issue, though.

Randomly (maybe once after a few play hours), the bell goes off for no reason and keeps constantly ringing until I power the machine down. If I fail to power down, the solenoid fuse blows.

There seems to be no correlation between play activity and the triggering of this bizarre event, but I can't say for sure.

CPU diagnostics are fine as well as those run from the coin door.

Has anyone seen this type of problem before?

 

[spalmer]

Odd behavior. Even if the driver transistor for the bell were locked on, it should not blow that fuse. I would recommend having the 40 pin interconnect between the MPU and driver board reworked. It is possible that as the game warms up, you are getting a bad connection causing the driver board to loose the blanking signal. That would cause solenoids to engage and blow the fuse. It would also explain the bell.

 

[aborup]

Okay...
So perhaps I was hasty in saying that the "locked" bell ringing was blowing the solenoid fuse. It very well could be two separate issues. The bell ringing (which doesn't seem to lock the game in play - just becomes unbearable) will only quit with a hard power down.

The solenoid fuse has blown 3 or 4 times in the last 3 or 4 months. It just "happened" to have blown the last time the bell ringing locked on.

Is there a way I can diagnose the source of these troubles? I'm a real beginner with electronics, but am game to learn. My most sophisticated tool is a multi-tester.

I'm hesitant to do board-level soldering, but have done it before.

 

[babypigeon]

Are you still having this issue? I just got a Firepower II machine, and it was working pretty well, until it just stopped. When I turned it off and on again, the bell was just constantly ringing, and the ball lock and ball eject coils are constantly on, and started to smoke. I'm wondering if you figured out how to fix it. Thanks!

 

[pinballdaveh]

Bell issue

i checked the schematic and the bell circuit looks no different than any other solenoid circuit, it uses the same darlington transistor and pre-driver transistor. i agree that the issue is the 40-pin inter connector. This interconnector mostly consists of data lines, and if one of those fail, the boards cannot talk to each other correctly. with the extra heat created by the transformer in the head, sometimes temperature changes can affect board connections. changing the connector by the novice hobbiest is a might bet for them to try to do.

has anybody ever checked out the local TV repair shop in your area for possible electornic board repairs? check and see if they would do the soldering parts replacements for a specific bench fee. that is if you dont want to send the boards to the other repair shops.

check out great plains electronics for the connectors and capacators that would need changing. usually power supply and sound boards usually will have capacator kits.. they should have a contact us link on the website.

when ordering parts, try to order as many new connectors as you can when going for repairs to maximize board efficiency. on this site i have also seen z connectors

i hope this information ive given you helps in your repairrs... good luck!!!

 

[faralos]

the operators handbook may have your solution
I can't wait until it downloads completely as it's 56 pages in length
including a diagnostics area
http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/857/Williams_1983_Firepower_II_Operators_Handbook.pdf
but it may have an answer somewhere within it

 

[aborup]

babypidgeon-

I did not actually resolve my issue since it quit happening. After doing a lot of research here and elsewhere, I have come to agree that this problem (and others like it) are caused by the aging 40-pin connecter between the MPU board and the driver board. I did "wiggle" it the best I could to help its connection, and perhaps that is all it took to stop my issue.

If money allows, I will take the next step and buy one of these NEW integrated boards that do away with that pesky interconnect and have all the latest electronic parts versus those 30 year old components on my original boards:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-new-W...U-Driver-Board-Free-US-shipping-/271224639419

 

[faralos]

if wiggling it took care of the problem look at the connection
it may just be loose or dirty and if dirty just clean it with a pencil eraser
on the copper connections themselves (like we used to with the old NES systems games)
or use Blue Shower or another contact cleaner
http://www.techspray.com/p-17-g3-blue-shower-cleanerdegreaser.aspx