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I'm trying to troubleshoot a Williams Reel 'Em In Video Slot. 
The unit will not turn on.  The CPU board has a "8" on it.. on the other board the led lights are lite up.  The game doesn't appear to be posting/booting.  Any helpful tips would be great.  I've spent alot of money on this unit not to let it collect dust and rot.  I've checked the eprom checksums.   They are all correct.   But if anyone has any helpful tips let me know!

-Ron :138-

An "8" indicates one of a couple things.  Either the XU2 or XU3 is bad....or the CPU Board is bad...or the battery could be bad.

Some questions for you:

Is this the first time you have turned it on in a while?  If so, how long?

When you first power it on, how many "Bong" sounds are you hearing as it turns on?

Is your 1.5 card a "plus" model?  Look closely at the board, and look for a tiny cream colored reset button?  Do you see one?

Do you have a "multi clear chip" for this machine?

This is the first time turning this game on within a year. I stopped working on it because of this problem.  I did change the battery with a new battery.  There is no bong when its turned on.  It is the CPU 1.5 plus with a small reset button in the corner.  And I don't have a multi clear chip for this game.
-Ron

Ron,

Did you change the battery recently or a year ago when you last tried working on it?

When you purchased the machine was it running at that time or was it a prioject machine?

And, since you do not have a multi clear chip that is probably your problem.  After changing the battery, when you start it up for the first time, you need to do a clear, and go through the system set up giving it denomination and hopper information prior to game startup.

If I were in your shoes, I would pick up a Multi-clear from one of the dealers at the top of the page, I think Jim at Blueridge may have that.  And, if I changed the battery out a year ago, I might go ahead and do it again.  Then, after you have that in front of you, come back and lets start again.

Don't worry...we will get it going for you.

Make sure the board is fully seated in the farthest left slot in the cage. If they are not seated in the backplane correctly you will not get the bong and get a constant "8".

 Dan (tacman)

I doubt a Williams XU3 clear chip will work on this unit.  I have one of those. 
-Ron

check your pm mail  :88- :88-

Actually the XU3 clear chip you have might do the trick....sit tight...typing up instructions for you now.

Modified Ram Clear Instructions for WMS 550

1)  Power down the machine.

2)  Disconnect the video cable.

3)  Ground yourself, and remove CPU board from the machine.

4)  Verify that all game Eproms are installed including XU2, XU3, XU4, XU5, and possibly XU17, XU18, XU 30, XU31 (sound) depending on your game.

5)  Remove the XU3 and replace with you XU3 Clear Chip

6)  Slide the CPU board back into the machine, press firmly making sure it is fully seated into the back plane.

7)  Reconnect the video cable and power on the machine.

You should hear 1 "Bong", the BV should cycle, Lamps turn on, and finally the monitor should come up with the Set Screen.

8)  Touch the CC16 button, new menu opens, touch USA, new menu opens, touch your denomination (probably 5 cents), then touch Coin.

9)  On the left, now look for the Accept button and touch.

10)  A new button appears saying Confirm, touch it.

At this point the machine should "Bong" one time, after the "Bong", power down your machine.

11)  Disconnect the video cable, remove CPU board, replace the XU3 Eprom with your XU3 Game eprom, put the board back into the machine, push firmly, reconnect video cable.

12)  Power the machine on and pay attention to the number of bongs you hear, and write down any error messages you receive.

13)  A message should come up on the screen that says "Memory Cleared".  At this point press the white Diagnostic button just below your screen one time, and the game should come up and play as normal.  You can also press the same button again if you want to go in and adjust any settings like machine volume and hopper limits, etc.

If all does not go well, battery may be an issue as it has been sitting for a year.

If all goes well...game should play as normal....and you will be saying "damn, and I let this thing sit here for a year and all I had to do was that ???"   :25-  :25-  :25-

Hey Ron,

I had the same problem.... I read on another post that someone said remove and re-seat the CPU and all game chips.  I removed the square processor chip, re seated it and all the game chips and the board came up... it bonged 5 times... not having a second set of the same game chips or bin files I put in a different game and it's been running perfect ever since. It's been turned off and on many times and no more 8 error.

Note that I had done the ram clear with no results... it had to do with that square chip being re seated.

Steve

5 "bongs" is the result of the XU-18 eprom being bad or not fully seated on the board.

I thought 5 Bongs was a Michael Phelps party with four of his friends?  :30-  :72- :72-   :96-

Yep 5 bongs is the XU-18 and it was seated correctly... my chip was just bad. That's why I put in a different game set and it works fine.  The problem I solved by removing the square chip was the 8 error that was constant no matter what I did. Once the 8 error was fixed I got the 5 bongs which told me I  had the other XU-18 problem.

Just out of curiousity, does your board have the reset button near the front and did you try that prior to removing the main board CPU?

Yes it has that button and it didnt seem to do anything to help. After I removed the cpu it needed to be clear chipped, but clear chipping before did nothing.

New to this forum I have a 550 with Reel them in boards installed, It has critical error 13 showing on the screen along with the ram clear error (the 8 lights up then goes off). I have installed the ram clear chip, however the 8 lights up and I get nothing on the screen. I then reinstalled the ram chip XU-3 back to error 13. I install the ram clear chip in XU-2 it then still came up with error 13, however after reinstalling the XU-2 I got  a single bong then ultimately ended up with the error13. no more bongs after that on power up. Help, do I simply have bad ram chips (and if so where do I get new one)? thanks

If all else fails, replace the socket at XU-3's location.
I have seen them actually wear out!
Use a good quality socket (Augat)
Look for "nasty" pins on chiips, if it looks dull or dirty, use a Xacto blade to polish it bright.
Look for pins that "knuckled over"...sometimes they will fold over, looks fine from the edge, but the pin is not even in the socket...
DO NOT USE CONTACT CLEANER!!!!!! it just makes a god-awful mess and fixes nothing.


Kirk

Thanks Kirk will try that tonight (provided its not another 13 hour day)

Small world, I have two Williams 550s, one I got from Kirk and the other one from Billy the kid.

One of the MPUs has something wrong with it and every time I remove it from a machine when putting the board back in I must spray electrical cleaner on the pins that plug from main board to mother board. This board will do it in either machine, if I don't spray the pins it will not work, if I do spray it it's good for ever, or until it's removed again.

Kirk it started out with the one I got from you, I sold it to a fellow and it gave him the problem so I switched boards from the other machine and all was good. I don't know if the board ever gave you any trouble or not, I really need to know for the lawsuit I will be filling against you. ( I later bought the machine back )

Kirt got a Top glass for Mata Hari, thanks to Brokenticker, it only took two years to find !!

My experiences have been the seating of the I/o board.  I would pull both out and reseat them, it may take a couple times. 

Where are you placing the ram clear chip?  I believe it should go to xu 3 not xu2, i have a couple of these  machines and love them but its been a while since I changed any games.

By the way what board are you using a 1.5 or the 1.5plus?   Can you send a picture of your board and chips?   

Lenny

I have two 550’s; both have given me grief with the crazy 8 and critical memory failures to the point that I stoped playing them
I tried everything I could think of and no luck, I ended up pulling out the cpu's on my 1.5 boards and cleaned all the pins, I used a small precision screwdriver to gently scrap the pins and make them bright and shiny, just go easy on them as they seem to be soft, if you bugger one up, you can get a new one for about $10, I put them back in and my games have worked flawlessly since,  

Wow, I sure appreciate all the ideas, not going to work on tonite,all my machines are in my barn (circa 1900) and it's 5 degrees in there. I am amazed  at all the help, really feel welcome.

update I removed the board it is a 1.5 plus cleaned the pins on the memory chips, and I got an 8 showing for a moment on it followed by a bong, it continuously did this until turned off. I then though i would put the clear chip into xu3 powered up (the 8 was on all the time) nothing on the screen. powered down put xu3 back in and now the 8 comes on go's off no bong and nothing on the screen. the battery is in correctly and has 3.5 volts. when i push the little yellow button the 8 lights up as does the red lamp separate from the rest on the I/O board. I tested the sockets they are fine.

Was this machine ever working while you had it?  You might just have a bad set of eproms.  Can you take a picture of your mpu board and post it so I can see if you at least have a complete set?

lets see if this works

told it needed a little work

Jumper JP3 needs to be in position 1-2 as the sound eproms for Reel-em in are 4Mbit, not 8Mbit.  Try that.  It should in fact say something like 4M or 4Mbit on the label of the sound eproms, which are XU17,XU18,XU30,XU31