New Life Games Tech Forums

Help needed......
A friend has an Williams Reel em' In video slot machine. It has recently developed a problem with the sound. Here are some of the symptoms and I hope that someone out there can help with advise on how to get this machine working again........
1. When the machine is turned on.......you hear the normal bong sound
2. When a coin is inserted or an attempt is made to play credits...... There is quite a delay before the machine will recognize that a  
    coin  or credit has been played
3. When the play initiates, a loud static sound comes from the speaker, but there are no game play sounds
4. As the game plays........the virtual reel spins are much slower than normal
Thanks
Jerry

I don't know crap about Williams games, but based on what you've described I would reseat the sound card/chip and restart the game. If it's a sound card I would clean the connections while it's out

Thanks for the info........now, not being at all familiar with this machine..........I need to know where the sound chip/s are located.
Anybody that knows where the chip/s is/are located and would be willing to post a photo, I would be very grateful.
Jerry

I had something similar happen to my  550 setup a few years back.  I replaced the eproms and it fixed it.  It is most likely your sound eproms XU17 XU18 XU30 and XU31.  They are on the right side of the board on this picture.

Thank you for that information. At least now I know which chips to pull, clean and re-seat. With a little luck, that might solve the problem. If not, I'll have to try to find some replacement chips.
Jerry

Well......I pulled all 4 sound chips and checked them to the checksums that were on the labels and all checked the same. I assume, that means the chips are OK. I also checked the 2 game chips and their checksums checked OK. I then, sprayed all sockets and chips with contact cleaner and put them back on the board. Now, there is no bong sound when turning the machine on, nor is there any other sound coming from the speaker other than sort of a click sound when the switch is turned on. The game plays, but it is VERY sluggish. I takes maybe, 10 seconds to recognize a coin being inserted and when the button is pressed to start the game, there is a delay and the last few simulated reels go extra slow. I checked the speaker and got a reading of 8.2 ohms. Markings on the speaker show 8 ohms, so I assume the speaker is good. There are two boards in this machine.......the one with the sound chips is marked as follows: PCBA Slot CPU Video P/N 5779-14192-03  A-18402-33. The other board is marked as follow: PCBA Video I/O P/N 5779-14230-01  A-18886-01.
This is a Williams Model #550 Reel Em In Video slot. Can anybody give me an idea as to what might be the problem and where might I either get these boards checked/repaired or find replacements for them? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
P.S. I also noticed that the board pictured in a previous posting here, is not the same as the board in the Reel em In machine.
Below are pictures of the actual boards in this machine. The CPU board is A-17677-03 P/N 5579-14192-03 and A-18402-33 video daughter card. The I/O board is A-18886-01 P/N 5779-14230-01

Never had a 550 but is there a jumper for sound chips that are 4MB vs. 8MB?
On the 40X machines they use a jumper for these and when not set correctly they have similar symptoms.
 :103-
Rick might be able to shed some light on this.

The machine had been previously working OK, until these problems popped up.

The board A-18886-01 that is the Video/IO board has several red LEDs along the edge toward you that light or don't light up when the machine is turned on. Can you post a picture of the card cage showing these LED's or tell us if they are all lit normally?  They will indicate the status of the main power supply voltages. I think in many respects the model 550 is similar to the older model 40X.

Since you no longer have the power-up bong now that you removed the cpu board chips and reinstalled them I'd double-check that you didn't get one of them reinstalled backwards or with a bent pin or in the wrong socket. The notch on the ends of all the chips should go in the same direction, and they should match the socket they are inserted into.

There are a couple of manuals for this machine in the library here:
http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=downloads;cat=122 (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=downloads;cat=122)

The machine belongs to a friend. I was at his place today and noted that all of the LED's were lit (red).

When you go back over there I'd pull the cpu board and double-check all the chips to make sure they are in the correct socket, not installed backwards, etc. While you have the cpu board out take a picture of it to post here since you said it does not look like the cpu board in the photo Rick posted. You can attach up to 2 pictures per message/post. The more info provided the more likely one of the folks here can help. Does your friend have any other WMS 550 machines you can use to substitute boards from?

Also, the part number for the cpu board (with the sound chips) that you posted is just the p/n for the video daughter board that is attached to the cpu board. Look elsewhere on the cpu board itself for the cpu board part number. I think maybe the photo Rick posted is a newer version of the cpu board with the video daughter card built-in so it no longer has a "daughter" card that gets attached. Your friend's machine may have an older version of the cpu board.

I double checked the position on all of the chips and made sure that all legs were in the sockets and were installed in the correct sockets.
My friend doesn't have another 550 Williams machine to flip flop the boards in. That sure would make things easier.
Other numbers that I noted, but not sure where I saw them are: W102 8184, A17677-03, A-000051-31.
I also found this information while scrolling though screens on the monitor......Version V108-X-0-241 Reel em In 2.41  OS Version 2.51

That's good that all the chips are back in correctly, but odd that you no longer even have the power-up bong. Did your friend buy the machine from someone locally that may be able to help or have another similar machine so he could test the 2 main boards?

That part number A-000051-31 is the WMS cpu board assembly number for the cpu board with the daughter board attached. Kind of like a higher-level p/n than the individual board numbers. Since it is a ways over there you might want to download the WMS 550 Service Manual and be looking it over to get an understanding of things since you may be helping your friend some more. There are some diagnostics built-in to the machine that could be helpful to eliminate things and maybe help narrow the problem down. I don't have a model 550 but there is likely someone here that is familiar enough with them to give better advice.

When you do go back over there recheck that all the lites on the I/O board are on steady and fully lit, no flickering.

As far as you know nothing was done just prior to the machine flaking out, it just started acting up one day when he powered it up. No parts replacements, no software upgrades, so beverage spills into the controls, no electrical storms in the area with the machine on, etc?

Of the 2 manuals in the library it looks like this one is the better copy:

http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=936 (http://newlifegames.net/nlg/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=936)

The machine just started to act up one day when it was powered up. Nothing was replaced or done to it prior to that.
I just emailed my friend to see if he could take pictures of the boards so that I can post them here.
By the way...thanks for all of the help and suggestions given here. I really appreciate it.
Jerry

I don't think this would matter but you might check the battery on the cpu board to make sure it is not getting low. If too low it should have given a fault/error on power-up so this isn't likely, just something that popped in my head and it is easy to check. Normal voltage is about 3.6v. I'm about at the end of ideas, sorry......   but there are more technical people here than myself, but they don't always check in on weekends or night time, so may need to give them a little time.

If the machine no longer gives a bong on powerup and the LED's on the I/O board are all lit then this can indicate a problem with the cpu board unfortunately. If it gets down to testing the boards and you don't have one to sub in to his machine you may decide to send the board off to have it checked/repaired. But before doing that I'd get the opinions and suggestions from others here. I think the speaker is attached to the back of the coin tray, right? You did get the coin tray reattached correctly to the machine so that the speaker connector mated properly?


correction per op - the speaker is not on the coin tray, it is mounted near the monitor.

I thought it rather odd that there was not some sort of error message on the screen. I didn't check the battery, but I should have. that would be too easy of a fix, right? It has a holder that you can just pull it out and snap in a new one....but then....a clear chip is probably needed and I didn't have one for a 550 machine, just ones for the older dot mation machines. You would think they could standardize things so you wouldn't need to have so many different ones.
As far as the speaker goes it's in the top of the machine along side of the monitor, not like on the older Dot Mation machines.

With no error message on the display I was hoping that the speaker was just disconnected and that's why there is no power-up bong. Yeah, bad battery would be too much to ask for a repair but it is worth eliminating due to how easy it is to check. Sometimes people check a battery, it is low and when they remove the battery they find it leaked onto the board causing the problems with erratic operation. What do you attribute the machine was giving a single bong on power-up then it stopped doing that? Did the boards get fully inserted into the card cage when putting them back in?

Maybe in the manual it covers an in-depth diagnostic test that can be run or displayed on the screen to show that the I/O board and CPU board are functioning ok. Sometimes if you can't prove what is bad you have to start proving what is good just to eliminate things so you can narrow it down to a smaller list of possibles. If you don't get any more suggestions here feel free to add a post saying "anyone got other ideas I can check?". Adding a new message freshens the thread and it shows up on the "new messages" page, might catch someones attention.

I noticed in Rick's cpu board photo that there is a small pushbutton switch near the edge of the board, you can probably reach it when the board is installed in the card cage. It may be a reset switch, might check in the manual to see if it is referenced for troubleshooting or other fault problems. The cpu board also has a diagnostic 7 segment display near the edge, maybe it will show a fault code when the machine is on that is mentioned in the manual.

I edited a previous post in this thread and wondered if your friend had bought the machine from someone local that might be able to help with ideas or could check the boards in another similar machine.

Jerry  I have one Williams 550 that every time I pull the MPU out and reinstall it I have to spray electrical cleaner on the pins that plug into the mother board. No cleaner, NO wprk.

I've got the files for Reel em In if you need them.

I tried that too. I sprayed....and still no sound, and what is really strange to me is, how slow the coin in is, and how slow the game play is. Any thoughts on that?
Just wondering......By chance, would a full ram clear be anything to consider here?
Another question....Would a ram clear 5 cent chip for a Williams Model 400 machine work in the Williams Model 550  5 cent machine?

Jerry  Up front please understand what I'm getting ready to say I don't know if it's true or not. That said I'm pretty damn sure they use the same power supply in a 550 as a old dotmation. Dotmation are know to have real weak power supplies.  :103- :103- If every thing is working in slow motion, will a weak power supply cause that ??  I don't know !!

For sure the clear chip for a 400 is different than a 550. If you like I'll send you the clear you need. ( It's in the mail )

Thanks for the info Buzz.
Just wondering if the LEDs would still light up if the voltage was low.
Do you think the ram clear would be any help? I don't think it would hurt any, but most likely, it wouldn't help, right?

Your asking the wrong guy,  but a LED flash light will lite up even if the battery's are half dead. Geezs with reasoning like that I'm gonna have to start squatting to take a leak.