Williams Fish Tales (Williams, 1992) strange issue

[cswilson]

Hello Everyone,

I've got a strange issue with a fish tales machine, it seems to have gone pretty wacky...

It's passing all the self tests, but refuses to start, launch a ball, or do anything. It sits there acting as though its trying to clear a jammed ball, firing the plunger and moving the reel, and various other mechanical items at random.

I ran through all the self tests and did find one bad switch, which I replaced (was the 3rd ball sensor switch) and now no more error but same issue.

I have tried just about everything I can think of, and chopped it up to bad boards, however, I was able to swap the boards between a friends machine that is working and we seem to be having no issues with any of them.

I'm at a loss, all the self tests pass, switch edge test is now showing any switches malfunctioning...

Every now and then when it starts up its saying fuse J114 and J115 are bad, I replaced both and both are showing good continuity.

I've tried removing and replacing the balls before, during and after powering up all with different effects, I did get the machine to play once by doing this but it has not done it since.

Any suggestions on where else to start would be appreciated, I just got done cleaning all the contacts with spray cleaner and a light brush, and swapped the boards out to see if one was bad...no idea.

Any help is greatly appreciated, once again...i'm at a dead standstill.

Chris

 

[Coil_Smoke]

Do your ball trough switches pass the levels and edges tests? It sounds like your machine is waiting/searching for a ball. Look for a broken connection in wires around those switches. Wiggle the wires while switch edges diagnostic is running. I know it is hard to get the ball trough switches to all close with the playfield raised .This might help as I found a broken wire in my "Dr.Dude" ball trough circuit just by moving the wires with switch edges running...C_S

 

[pinballdaveh]

the switch matrix is controlled by 12volts dc coming from the driver board. the code check fuses F114 and F115 is actually the cpu looking for that 12v made by the driver board. when check fuses code comes up on display, with dmm check voltages on driver board at TP8 should be 15-18 volts dc and at TP3 should be 12 volts dc . if these voltages are missing the switches and switch matrix will not work properly. check these voltages and post results for more advice.