Difference between revisions of "Williams WPC"

Revision as of 23:18, 6 May 2011


Note: This page is a work in progress. Please help get it to a completed state by adding any useful information to it.

1 Introduction

This guide covers Williams WPC, WPC-S, and WPC-95 games.

2 Game List

2.1 WPC (Alphanumeric)

2.2 WPC (Dot Matrix)

2.3 WPC Fliptronics I & II

2.4 WPC DCS Sound

2.5 WPC-S CPU

2.6 WPC-95 CPU

3 Technical Info

Motorola 68B09E, running at 2Mhz. It is an 8-bit/16-bit CPU with a 64KB address space. Bank switching is required to address more than 64KB. The game ROM size varies from 128KB to 1MB, depending on the game. 8KB of battery backed RAM is available.

For more information, see The FreeWPC Manual

3.1 The WPC Transformer

3.2 The WPC System Boardset and History

3.3 WPC CPU Generations

3.3.1 WPC CPU

3.3.2 WPC-S CPU

3.3.3 WPC-95 CPU

3.4 WPC Power/Driver Board Generations

3.4.1 WPC-089 Power/Driver Board

3.4.2 WPC-95 Power/Driver Board

3.5 WPC Dot Matrix Controller board

3.6 WPC Sound Boards

3.6.1 WPC pre-DCS Sound Board

3.6.2 WPC DCS Sound Board

3.6.3 WPC-95 AV Board

3.7 WPC Fliptronics Boards

3.7.1 WPC Fliptronics I board

3.7.2 WPC Fliptronics II board

3.8 Miscellaneous WPC Boards

Note: Some of these might best be located in the "Game Specific Problems & Fixes" section. Perhaps the pervasiveness of their use within the WPC game list would drive the decision.

3.8.1 WPC 7 Opto Board

3.8.2 WPC 10 Opto Board

3.8.3 Auxiliary 8-Driver Board

as used in TZ, DM, IJ, etc...

3.8.4 Trough opto boards

3.8.5 WH2O & CFTBL chaser lamp boards

3.8.6 HSII & CFTBL triac board

4 Problems and Solutions

4.1 MPU boot issues

4.1.1 Relocating the battery from the MPU board

Relocating the 3xAA battery pack from the MPU board is always a good idea. Leaky alkaline batteries are the #1 killer of MPU boards. Simply removing the batteries is not an option with WPC games as you will always receive a "Factory Settings Restored" message when the game boots.

Options:

Remotely locate the battery holder somewhere below all other boards. This ensures that even if the remotely located batteries leak, they won't leak onto (or even drip onto) any circuit board. Replace the batteries annually, dating them with a Sharpie! as you do.
Replace the 6264 static RAM with a SIMTEK non-volatile RAM. These RAM chips are increasingly hard to find but offer a nice alternative to changing batteries annually. This method requires desoldering/soldering on the MPU and also has the down-side of not maintaining the Real Time Clock (meaningless in some games...nice in games like Twilight Zone that moves the playfield "toy" clock to the current time during attract mode, and Who?Dunnit which has a "Midnight Madness" feature.

4.1.2 Repairing Alkaline Corrosion

4.2 Game resets

4.2.1 A disciplined process to eliminate WPC game resets

4.3 Solenoid problems

Before proceeding to diagnose solenoid or flasher problems, see this section: How are coils driven?

4.4 Lamp problems

4.5 Switch problems

4.6 Display problems

4.7 Sound problems

4.8 Flipper problems

@@ Line 113: / Line 113: @@
 ====[[A disciplined process to eliminate WPC game resets]]====
 ===Solenoid problems===
+Before proceeding to diagnose solenoid or flasher problems, see this section: [[How are coils driven?]]
 ===Lamp problems===
 ===Switch problems===