Williams 400 Dot matrix machine not working

[ucanwin]

My Williams 400 Big Bang Piggy Bankin' dot matrix machine is not working. When turned on, Williams appears on top screen, machine bongs, bill acceptor cycles, all 5 LED's are lit, LED on far left side of board is also lit, nothing lit in wins, credit, bet windows. Florescents light up and hopper is running continuously. Any thoughts?

(edit to fix tiny font problem)

[dale]

My hopper ran on its own also, turned out to be the IO board.


Dale

[rokgpsman]

The red LED that is lit on the far left side of the I/O board is a bad indication, it should always be OFF. I think it could mean there is a problem with the bottom board in the lower power supply. But you can first try replacing the 2 boards in the card cage (I/O and cpu) one at a time since that is easy to do, just to eliminate them as a possibility and because of the hopper problem.

If that doesn't fix it then I'd try another lower power supply. If another lower power supply fixes it then suspect the bottom board inside it.

Did you have an electrical storm recently that might have damaged the machine?

[ucanwin]

Just prior to this problem mentioned,  the machine was working fine. I am having problems with another dot matrix machine, and I put the dot matrix setup and the I/O and CPU boards from the other machine into this one to test. They worked fine also. I removed that setup and put the Big Bang Piggy Bankin' parts back into the machine and powered it up.................then what I wrote above happened........the hopper just keeps running. No electrical storm.

[dale]

Just try the IO board to narrow it down.


Dale

[ucanwin]

I have two dot matrix machines. Swapping parts back and forth has just caused me more problems. I went from a perfectly working machine, to both machines not working now. It seems like there are no working parts available for these machines. I don't have any spare working parts to just keep flip flopping them. The results are that everything just ends up not working.
I will try the other I/O board. I know that it is good as I just had it in this machine prior to putting the original parts back into it that were working also. Just hope that it doesn't go bad too.

[dale]

You said you swapped parts out of your non working machine to the  Pig and it worked. You aren't gonna learn the quirks of these machines if you don't try to narrow it down. Swapping the IO is nothing as long as the jurisdiction is the same. So relax, take your time, its hard to screw things up as long as the machine is off, the chips are in the right way and you are patient. These WMS 40X are really an easy machine to work on. One step at a time. Now, just swap the IO board out ONLY. It can cause many weird problems including the one you described.


Dale

[rokgpsman]

.....I have two dot matrix machines. Swapping parts back and forth has just caused me more problems. I went from a perfectly working machine, to both machines not working now. It seems like there are no working parts available for these machines. I don't have any spare working parts to just keep flip flopping them. The results are that everything just ends up not working.

just my opinion,,,,,

It is getting harder to find parts for these older machines, that is true. The WMS-400 models were never as plentiful to begin with as other machines like the IGT S+ and S2000 machines and it has gotten even harder as the years have gone by. I know of owners that decided it was time to move on, they bought a different machine that was much easier to get support for, like parts and tech help. That may be an option for you to think about, nothing says you have to keep a machine that is frustrating you. You've probably seen here on NLG how low prices have dropped on some of the S+ and S2000 machines, and that's from certified dealers that are NLG members. You may have similar deals in your area. If I had a car that I liked and had for a long time but it was breaking down all the time I'd be looking for a different car.

[ucanwin]

Thanks for your input. I have other machines, but I especially like the dot mation machines that I have.......when they are working.
I just went to where my Big Bang piggy Bankin' machine is, and swapped out the I/O board as suggested by another member on NLG. It appears that something went bad on the board that was in the machine originally between being good when I took it out, and bad when it went back in. Go figure.
At the moment there is life...sort of. There are all 5 LEDs lit...not the one to the far left side of the board and the digital read out shows need clear, and of course I did not have my ram clear chip along with me. So, I will have to go back and do the ram clear. Hopefully, that will get that machine running again.


Now, for my other Jackpot Party machine, I will be in need of a working I/O board to replace the one that I just put in the Piggy Bankin' machine. and most likely the large lower board in the power distribution box at he bottom of the machine that keeps blowing the F-1 10 amp fuse (the slo-blow fuse that I have been unable to find locally so far). I only have been able to find the 10 amp fast blow fuses that blow as soon as the 12 pin connector that goes to the back plane board is connected and the machine is powered up. The lower power supply is new.

[ucanwin]

Update on problem with the Big Bang Piggy Bankin' machine....
With a different working  I/O board installed, this came up on the display when the machine was powered up........
Tilt   JUr CHNGE  1(all 5 LED's are lit, but NOT the LED on the far left side of the board)
I then turned the key switch on the cage door and the this message came up on the display........ Tilt  nEEd ClEAr
Then I turned the machine off and removed the XU-3 chip and installed the .25 ram clear chip (correctly positioned notch), put the board back in and powered up the machine. Now there is nothing in the display windows. The machined bonged and the bill acceptor cycled, and Williams appeared in the top window, but that was it. (all 5 LED's are lit, AND SO IS THE LED on the far left side of the board).
Any idea what is wrong now?

[dale]

Big Bang Piggy can be STANDARD or LAS VEGAS jurisdiction depending on the % and if you have the ELVIS chip. Jackpot party is STANDARD. Put the jumpers in if necessary. Should have popped right up without the clear if you had didn't do anything else. Besides the power supply the IO board is the # 2 culprit with these machines and will cause the most bizarre events.

[ucanwin]

You mentioned jumpers.........can you clarify? I am not familiar with that.

[dale]

here ya go

[dale]

Here's another

[dale]

AND STANDARD

[ucanwin]

Thanks for showing the jumpers for LV, NJ and Standard. Now how do I determine the correct jumper for my machines? I have swapped boards from machine to machine and have lost track of which one goes in which machine. I was not aware at the time of jumper arrangements, so I did not mark the boards.