Dirty Harry Williams 1995

[charliepr]

Hello I have a Dirty Harry Pinball Machine that was given to me, and it needs some fixing. I have no idea how to do this never messed with any pinball machines. The problem I can tell by looking over all the boards is the WPC CPU Security Board Assembly. It had batteries in the holder, looks like for a verryyyyy longggg time. Since all the acid is all over the board and chips it even went all the way up the wires that come out from the holder to the board it self. I tried to turn it on but nothing happens no lights come on, just a ding sound and that's it. If any one can help me with this project i sure could use a lot of help. Don't know if the board can be fixed or if its even the problem. Thanks in advance for any hint, help or suggestions. 

[smartbomb2084]

Bad news....

The corroded CPU board is your problem and if it is as bad as you say then it is probably unrepairable and will need replaced.   About $300 if you are lucky

The loud 'bing' you hear when the game is first turned is the Sound Board checking itself and finding itsefl 'OK' by producing only one bing.  This also tells us that the Power driver Board is making +5V  or the Sound Board would not boot either.

Don't be discouraged....depending on the rest of the game's condition it can be worth up to $1200 AS IS.

Not bad for FREE!

[ChadTower]

It might be repairable but that's a time consuming effort that will require some knowledge.  Most of the time I just replace everything in the acid damaged area and then start checking every single trace to see if any need repair.  They usually do.

It's a great opportunity to learn here if you're not in a hurry.

[smartbomb2084]

Dude, the OP knows squat about pinball and probably has ZERO soldering skills...and you want him to start delsoldering corroded parts from a CPU board,  put in new ones, and check traces to see if they work?

Give us a break.. willya?

[charliepr]

OK, this is a start at least some good news about the other boards been OK "probably". I don't know about Pinballs, but I do know about soldering and desoldering. So I should try by finding all the parts that have acid damage and replacing them. One more thing I forgot to say is that all the little red lights on all the boards including the CPU stay lighted, once I turn on the machine. Don't know if they should do that. They machine it self is in very very good condition it is worth trying to repair.. Didn't know it could be worth in that price range thou.

[Ken Layton]

Suggest starting with the repair guides here first:

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_WPC

Battery leakage damage repair on the WPC cpu boards is very tricky. The foil traces are very tiny and fragile. Quite frequently there will be foil eaten away underneath one or more chips below the battery holder on the parts side of the board. Sometimes it can eat away traces under some of the resistors and capacitors in that area too. These repairs often require soldering jumper wires on the back side of the board. Be prepared to take several hours worth of time time repair one of these boards and use high quality desoldering equipment to avoid creating more work for yourself.

In my opinion, it's just not worth repairing these boards. Nowadays I will only repair one of these boards if the damage is very minor. I have so many other machines to service that I can't ---fudgesicle--- around all day trying to repair the board. It's better to buy an aftermarket reproduction cpu board.

[ChadTower]

Dude, the OP knows squat about pinball and probably has ZERO soldering skills...and you want him to start delsoldering corroded parts from a CPU board,  put in new ones, and check traces to see if they work?

Give us a break.. willya?

That's why I called it an opportunity for someone who isn't in a hurry.  It's his decision - make it a long term learning project or get the game fixed quickly. 

And it turns out he can solder.  That's the big first step here.

charliepr, post a pic of the damaged area, and we'll all have a better idea of what we're dealing with. 

Ken's advice is sound from an operational standpoint.

[charliepr]

Suggest starting with the repair guides here first:

http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Williams_WPC

Battery leakage damage repair on the WPC cpu boards is very tricky. The foil traces are very tiny and fragile. Quite frequently there will be foil eaten away underneath one or more chips below the battery holder on the parts side of the board. Sometimes it can eat away traces under some of the resistors and capacitors in that area too. These repairs often require soldering jumper wires on the back side of the board. Be prepared to take several hours worth of time time repair one of these boards and use high quality desoldering equipment to avoid creating more work for yourself.

In my opinion, it's just not worth repairing these boards. Nowadays I will only repair one of these boards if the damage is very minor. I have so many other machines to service that I can't ---fudgesicle--- around all day trying to repair the board. It's better to buy an aftermarket reproduction cpu board.

Where can I find an aftermarket cpu board? economical, 

[charliepr]

Heres a link to the pics. I couldn't upload them here.

Code: [Select]

http://postimage.org/gallery/1kjrpjzg/2a9ac9ad/

[ChadTower]

Cool.  I can't see that from where I am right now.  I'll have a look tomorrow.

At this forum there is a thread in Project Announcements where people attach their pics.  Then we use the url from that hosted image and put it in line with our posts elsewhere.  It works well.

[smartbomb2084]

The 2 most important pics you posted are out of focus when you see them full size...

retake them if you can.

[charliepr]

The 2 most important pics you posted are out of focus when you see them full size...

retake them if you can.

OK, can you tell me witch 2?

[PL1]

Don't bother with more pics.

Based on what I'm seeing in the photos, your best bet is to follow Ken's advice and get a replacement board.

The degree of damage to traces covering more than half the board in photo GEDC0006 makes it extremely difficult to repair and even the component side in photo GEDC0009 shows a few traces eaten away.

This board is almost guaranteed to be a serious money pit and plagued with latent defects.

Save yourself a metric buttload of time, money, and frustration -- get a replacement board.

Just make sure that any acid has been neutralized/removed before you transfer the CPU/ROMs to the replacement board.


Scott

[charliepr]

OK everyone just what I though, the board is damaged to much for repair. In fact every time I touch it a piece of trace falls of. No where can I get a replacement for a fair amount of $. Thanks

[PL1]

Disclaimer:  Haven't done business with this place.      Caveat Emptor.

Found a German site here that has them.

There's also a bare NOS board (no sockets, no resistors, no diodes) here on e-Bay in Australia, but IMHO it's not worth the effort by the time you buy/transfer all the parts.

I usually stick to Visual Pinball, so someone else may have better sources for this.

Prices in the ~$200 range appear to be common.


Scott

[smartbomb2084]

When you find a working non-corroded  WPC SECURITY or WPC-95  CPU board for $200...  count me in for a couple.

Like I said in the first reply to the OP... If the board is as bad as you say then it will need replaced...

Wat's with all the rhetoric?

[PL1]

When you find a working non-corroded  WPC SECURITY or WPC-95  CPU board for $200...  count me in for a couple.

A working non-corroded WPC-S board sold on e-bay for $202.50.

The WPC-S linked above goes for 139 Euros (~$188) without ASIC or 174 Euros (~$235) with.

They also have a WPC-95 board for 159 Euros (~$215) without ASIC or 194 Euros (~$262) with.

Wat's with all the rhetoric?

If OP had experience with trace replacement/board repair, he probably wouldn't have asked about the board.

I mentioned "money pit" and "latent defects" to steer OP firmly toward the replacement board since this would be a really tough board to learn trace replacement on due to the degree of damage and the size of the traces.


Scott

[ChadTower]

Yeah, that's too tightly packed for a beginner.  Replace the board and keep that one around in case you want to try and play with it after you've fixed a few pins.

Yes, you'll get more pins, and you'll learn to fix them.  That's how this hobby works.