I always liked the sound library in this game. Such unique sounds for the time when this game was built. Thank you for sharing your efforts Ron. Have a great weekend.
@@LyonsArcade from the early solid state era it's among the best, still great today. there are so many great games. i have a williams high speed (1986) another great steve ritchie title
@@LyonsArcade That was actually a product of a German (later Italian) company named Wittig Technologies. The same company made a handheld scope called the Multiscope and a small colour display unit called the Key-Scope.
It's called destructive removal. You decide which part is what you keep and what can be sacrificed. In this case the part to keep is the PCB, the part to sacrifice is the suspected bad chip. You can slice the chip into 14 pieces if have to, in order to save the PCB.
The PIA is how peripherals are attached to older CPUs. They are generally parallel on one side and serial on the other. They have counters, shift registers, and will signal an interrupt. That way, the CPU would know what device of the 2 is being used. The PIAs are supposedly interesting in that folks have used them for producing sound or counting. Often, they use those features in addition to the primary role.
I love this game but I'm not very good at it. I didn't play it much back in the day, even though I loved it. It ate through quarters too quickly. I used to love to play Genesis and Earthshaker. My quarters lasted longer. Firepower is a quick game with a lot of targets that angle the ball straight down the middle. Like have said many times, these designers knew how to suck you in. If it was too easy nobody would play it and nobody would want it in their arcade. I am sure Firepower was a good money maker. Great video as always.
Yeah imagine how hard it must be to design one of these, to not be so easy people can play it non stop for a quarter, but at the same time, not make it so hard that people would never play it. That would be really hard to achieve...
Love your videos. Would love to see what you do when you shut camera off to do things like soldering, etc. I know you're a one-man show but it would be very helpful. In this one for example, would be helpful to see how/where you connected the clips for the logic probe. Looks like they go to + and - somewhere on one of the boards?
In the late 90's the companies just went overboad and did stupid things on the games, something like Data East's Last Action Hero is loaded with ridiculous stuff, it has a CRANE on the playfield that moves. Or games like Cactus Canyon had all kinds of crap on them and didn't sell very well, etc. So I'd say dollar for dollar is was probably something from the mid to late 90's, but yeah Firepower probably was expensive for it's time too...
I clicked the like button so it wasn't stuck at 666. I'm also the 100th comment. Have you done a video on or have you heard of the story of the painted red quarters of the 80's?? I often sort through coins and it's my belief that late 70's and early 80's quarters are usually thrashed because of my video game addiction. Many of them dumped in a sitdown machine in a Pizza Hut lobby.
Yes we've ran into all kinds of stuff like that, usually when we seek outside help though we can't find anybody that knows how to fix it, LOL There are people a lot better than us at repairing things, but they're not on forums or anywhere where they can give you advice. Also usually the problem isn't something that can be accurately described, without also discovering the source of the problem. So if I have one that's doing something strange, and I ask somebody how to fix it, they're not going to know unless they know exactly what it's doing, which if I knew exactly what it's doing the solution would be apparent. I often have arcade PCB's or monitor boards that we can't figure out and have to send out to somebody else or buy another one. We have a buddy of ours trying to figure out a Choplifter PCB right now....
You mentioned in one of your videos that you had listed parts for boards such as connectors Etc I went to your parts page and did not see any items like that. could you please post a link. Thanks Keith
Williams-related question. What made the flippers on Williams machines get weak? During all the time I spent in arcades in the eighties I noticed the flippers on Williams machines would get weak, but I don’t recall any other brands exhibiting the same thing. Do you suppose this was just connections on connectors going bad?
@@LyonsArcade Really? That surprises me. We had three arcades in the town where I grew up. Every single Williams machine in all three arcades would eventually get weak flippers. It was just a matter of time, and all us kids knew it. We’d get mad when it started happening and the arcade owners took their sweet time to fix it. Hehe. Seeing the connectors as you fixed this machine got me wondering if it was a corrosion thing. All a block or two from the ocean, so maybe salt air hastened it. Not sure why no Bally or Gottlieb or just non-Williams machines ever seemed to suffer from it. We’re those Williams connectors different than the ones used in other brands?
PIA = Pain in a** chip. We all know that lol. I have had so many issues in retro computers (like Commodore 64's and the like) where PIA's are a high failure part.
Great video Ronnie. What made you look at the coin door diode? That was some great work Ronnie, that is why you are the best. See you on the next video. Thanks Ronnie
Sometimes when you have switch problems, it's because the coin switch is stuck on. It's one of the only switches a player can have access to in their house, easily... another one is often the outhole switch. So something will break or stop working, and somebody has it in their house, they start messing with things... or a kid starts messing with things, and they reach in and bend the switch or mess up the switch that the ball lands on in the outhole. Or, they bend or mess up the switch on the coin door. You can see how the switch on like a drop target, is nowhere near the coin door so it's harder to actually bend that one or screw it up, you'd have to take the glass off and lift the playfield up! So if you've got a switch problem that may be one of them is stuck, or shorted, or bent, or something, look at the coin door first! Thank you for watching as always buddy it was a hoot to meet your dad the other day!
@@LyonsArcade That is all he talked about all week to his friends. He had fun that day. Thanks for spending some time with us. See you soon. Thanks Ronnie
It's the Vampire Tools VT-001, you can see it here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0849MCLDW/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=lyonsarcade-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=e42cc5c6951c1dd50fa4ed4fd3df6052&creativeASIN=B0849MCLDW
just wondering if you could help me out. I'm trying to figure out what kind of connectors to buy for the boards on my pinball machine. try to look up something simple as an edge connector for my power supply Williams system 4 so that being said is there any site that will show me any connectors for any pinball machine in what part number it would be.?
They refer to them by the distance between the pins, the main ones that are used are ".100" and ".156".... the ones on a Williams board are .156... you can get all of them at www.TwistyWristArcade.com . I don't think they call them edge connectors that might be why you couldn't track it down, they're usually made by Molex and usually just called "pin connectors".... the male side goes on the board, the female side is the socket the wires go into.
@@LyonsArcade You really are on things getting back to me so quickly. Thanks for all the info when it comes to pinball you're a wealth of knowledge... Thanks again from the rookie Keith
This was also the first game with Lane Change (TM). Did they really waste the very expensive Harris CVSD chip on just one phrase in the game? (This is the same chip that told pilots to "Pull Up!" as early as 1973)
Enjoy the videos even though I don't comment on each of them..trying hard to understand electronics..on waiting list at hospital for double knee surgery..anyway enough of that shit..on with the show 🎬
Thank you for watching Naytch, hey don't feel too bad Hulk Hogan has two new knees and two new hips! If he can get through it you can get through it BROTHER
JOE CLASSIC, I'm not sure what is the purpose of using those diodes in the switch matrix because when the switch is OPEN the diode is not doing anything and also when the switch is CLOSED the diode is not doing anything either, so I have no idea why they are using those diodes. When you removed the switch contact connector and also the other connectors which i don't know which other connectors you disconnected to the switch matrix circuit, the signals were pulsing on the logic probe but where was the pulsing input signals coming from to be applied to the switch matrix circuit from the ROM Test program? When you put the pinball game in TEST Program its sending pulsing signals to the switch matrix circuit even with the Switch contact connect has been disconnected?
@@waynegram8907 The diode _isolates_ the switch from the other switches on that row of the switch matrix. Joe talked about how the switch matrix "strobes" the various columns of the switch matrix one at a time to see if a switch on that row has closed. Well, what if the ball closes some _other_ switch on that row? For example, using _Cirque Voltaire_ as an example, what if someone hits a pop bumper at the exact same time as the CPU is strobing the right slingshot (the pop bumpers are all on the same row as the slingshot)? Without the diodes, the CPU would think "Oh, that must be the slingshot!" So, that's what the diodes are for... to keep the CPU from getting confused about which switch just closed.
It’s to prevent the voltage from the scanned column going into another column if multiple switches are connected. The scanning is faster than these mechanical switches open and close. So it prevents phantom reads.
@@SpearM3064 I'm not understanding why the CPU would be confused when the All the other switches in the SAME column are OPEN switches so it wouldn't matter if there is a series diode because the OPEN switch is preventing the scanned frequency signal to pass through. The Scanned frequency is scanning the columns and rows and is looking for the CLOSED switch. So I'm not understanding how the CPU would be confused or cause Phantom READS. The OPEN Switches even if you ( removed all the diodes ) shouldn't cause Phantom READ. If two or more switches are CLOSED this means that the scanned frequency signal is able to pass thought the closed switches which would cause problems and errors if you didn't use diodes which doesn't make sense. The diodes are allowing the scanned frequency to pass in ONE DIRECTION and blocks the other direction but the scanned frequency is still the same frequency unless the diodes change the duty cycle of the same frequency when multiple switches are CLOSED?
Hi Ron. Thanks for the awesome video!! This machine brings back great memories. In 1980 I was in my first year of college. This pinball machine was in the dorm lobby. I spent many quarters I probably shouldn't have on playing this machine. I had a love/hate of the game at the time trying to get multi-ball. Boy, what a great feeling when you actually got one. There is a nice switch diagram online for the machine with a picture of all of the switch locations on the playfield at www.firepowerpinball.com/downloads/SwitchWiring.pdf. Keep up the great work. I look forward to watching your videos every MWF!!
I'm not even a huge pinball fan but I appreciate the troubleshooting skills here.
I always liked the sound library in this game. Such unique sounds for the time when this game was built.
Thank you for sharing your efforts Ron. Have a great weekend.
Thank you Allan, glad you enjoyed it! It's one of the greatest games of all time, it holds up even today in my opinion.
Yeah, those classic Williams sounds really make this game so awesome.
Also cool is the stacking of all the scoring sounds, it's fascinating.
@@LyonsArcade from the early solid state era it's among the best, still great today. there are so many great games. i have a williams high speed (1986) another great steve ritchie title
A friend of mine built his own logic probe. It used a 7 segment display. It had H for high, L for low, P for pulse, 0 for open.
That's very cool... I'd like to have one with a scope built into it, they made them for awhile....
@@LyonsArcade That was actually a product of a German (later Italian) company named Wittig Technologies. The same company made a handheld scope called the Multiscope and a small colour display unit called the Key-Scope.
@@LyonsArcade Fluke sells a handheld scope meter but they are kind of expensive for what they are.
It's always great to see your methodical step by step approach to problem solving, something that is not too often seen these days. 😎
Thank you SiaVids that's very nice of you to say
That logic probe was my first hi tech tool when we started getting electronic games in the late 70s.
They are remarkably helpful!
Firepower brings back great memories from my teenager days. Have a nice weekend Ron.😀
Thank you Petri547, I did have a good weekend!
Those pops are really snappy. No wonder this game has such a great reputation. Very cool detective work Ronnie.
Great job bro 💪🏻🙂
Thank you Ringo!
It's called destructive removal. You decide which part is what you keep and what can be sacrificed. In this case the part to keep is the PCB, the part to sacrifice is the suspected bad chip. You can slice the chip into 14 pieces if have to, in order to save the PCB.
That sounds right :) Thank you Randy (as always)
The PIA is how peripherals are attached to older CPUs. They are generally parallel on one side and serial on the other. They have counters, shift registers, and will signal an interrupt. That way, the CPU would know what device of the 2 is being used.
The PIAs are supposedly interesting in that folks have used them for producing sound or counting. Often, they use those features in addition to the primary role.
This is excellent Ron, getting ready to troubleshoot this on an F14. Thanks, as always.
Good luck with it Edward! The good news is, there's only 5 chips in the whole section!
With my cheapie logic probe as I learn...
That's a whole different monster there- System 11A with two 6809s and FM sound.
ive conclused!! i love the videos!!
Thank you for watching Airborne Locksmith!
When i watched this, it had 420 likes and he spent a decent amount of time talking about how the pins are all high...... :D
Hung through both videos shows I’m dedicated to the repairs…Wish I was there to help…
I love this game but I'm not very good at it. I didn't play it much back in the day, even though I loved it. It ate through quarters too quickly. I used to love to play Genesis and Earthshaker. My quarters lasted longer. Firepower is a quick game with a lot of targets that angle the ball straight down the middle. Like have said many times, these designers knew how to suck you in. If it was too easy nobody would play it and nobody would want it in their arcade. I am sure Firepower was a good money maker. Great video as always.
Yeah imagine how hard it must be to design one of these, to not be so easy people can play it non stop for a quarter, but at the same time, not make it so hard that people would never play it. That would be really hard to achieve...
Logical. Fascinating.
"55, 47, 44, 48" ... It's calling an audible play. Quarterback sneak. "hike! hike!"
I was getting ready to call out "Bingo!".
Hut Hut Hut
@@LyonsArcade For those watching at home: Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!
Love your videos. Would love to see what you do when you shut camera off to do things like soldering, etc. I know you're a one-man show but it would be very helpful. In this one for example, would be helpful to see how/where you connected the clips for the logic probe. Looks like they go to + and - somewhere on one of the boards?
I thought I showed that…
I'm working on my Firepower. When testing the power supply what did you get for voltages? Looking to compare values. thanks
Great! What a mess that matrix was. Wonder what caused all the carnage? Sol power to sw short somewhere?
Likely! I never tracked down what caused it...
Some tool with a tool doing switch adjustment with power on.
Just replace PIA already, with a socket
Love your work!
I wonder what the most expensive game to produce was, in adjusted dollars. FirePower is really complicated for it’s day.
In the late 90's the companies just went overboad and did stupid things on the games, something like Data East's Last Action Hero is loaded with ridiculous stuff, it has a CRANE on the playfield that moves. Or games like Cactus Canyon had all kinds of crap on them and didn't sell very well, etc. So I'd say dollar for dollar is was probably something from the mid to late 90's, but yeah Firepower probably was expensive for it's time too...
I remember FPower as one of the games they tried to get you to pay 50 cents for when all the other games were 25c. And it was harder to beat.
There's a PIA on the MPA which is a BFD when it's AFU cuz then you're SOL and need to call Joe's PDQ!!!
That logic probe is a Dr Who sonic screwdriver. LOL. Nice tool for cheap.
Yeah it's very helpful!
I clicked the like button so it wasn't stuck at 666. I'm also the 100th comment. Have you done a video on or have you heard of the story of the painted red quarters of the 80's?? I often sort through coins and it's my belief that late 70's and early 80's quarters are usually thrashed because of my video game addiction. Many of them dumped in a sitdown machine in a Pizza Hut lobby.
Great job on that troubleshooting Ron! Have you ever had a problem that you just couldn't figure out and sought outside help?
Yes we've ran into all kinds of stuff like that, usually when we seek outside help though we can't find anybody that knows how to fix it, LOL There are people a lot better than us at repairing things, but they're not on forums or anywhere where they can give you advice. Also usually the problem isn't something that can be accurately described, without also discovering the source of the problem.
So if I have one that's doing something strange, and I ask somebody how to fix it, they're not going to know unless they know exactly what it's doing, which if I knew exactly what it's doing the solution would be apparent.
I often have arcade PCB's or monitor boards that we can't figure out and have to send out to somebody else or buy another one. We have a buddy of ours trying to figure out a Choplifter PCB right now....
You mentioned in one of your videos that you had listed parts for boards such as connectors Etc I went to your parts page and did not see any items like that. could you please post a link.
Thanks Keith
connectors and things we usually buy from www.TwistyWristArcade.com , I don't have any lists of them for specific boards though...
Williams-related question. What made the flippers on Williams machines get weak? During all the time I spent in arcades in the eighties I noticed the flippers on Williams machines would get weak, but I don’t recall any other brands exhibiting the same thing. Do you suppose this was just connections on connectors going bad?
Not sure really, I haven’t experienced that!
@@LyonsArcade Really? That surprises me. We had three arcades in the town where I grew up. Every single Williams machine in all three arcades would eventually get weak flippers. It was just a matter of time, and all us kids knew it. We’d get mad when it started happening and the arcade owners took their sweet time to fix it. Hehe. Seeing the connectors as you fixed this machine got me wondering if it was a corrosion thing. All a block or two from the ocean, so maybe salt air hastened it. Not sure why no Bally or Gottlieb or just non-Williams machines ever seemed to suffer from it. We’re those Williams connectors different than the ones used in other brands?
I assume by now you figured out that Ball Ramp was Williams terminology for the ball trough switches.
Why does it sound like watching Ave's videos epsecially in the beginning? Find it so funny... Where are the pixies that are choochin'??
He's impersonating me!
PIA = Pain in a** chip. We all know that lol. I have had so many issues in retro computers (like Commodore 64's and the like) where PIA's are a high failure part.
Well gotta give it to you - it was a diode!!! just bent over and shorted out - whod'a thunk it?
Great video Ronnie. What made you look at the coin door diode? That was some great work Ronnie, that is why you are the best. See you on the next video. Thanks Ronnie
Sometimes when you have switch problems, it's because the coin switch is stuck on. It's one of the only switches a player can have access to in their house, easily... another one is often the outhole switch. So something will break or stop working, and somebody has it in their house, they start messing with things... or a kid starts messing with things, and they reach in and bend the switch or mess up the switch that the ball lands on in the outhole. Or, they bend or mess up the switch on the coin door. You can see how the switch on like a drop target, is nowhere near the coin door so it's harder to actually bend that one or screw it up, you'd have to take the glass off and lift the playfield up!
So if you've got a switch problem that may be one of them is stuck, or shorted, or bent, or something, look at the coin door first! Thank you for watching as always buddy it was a hoot to meet your dad the other day!
@@LyonsArcade That is all he talked about all week to his friends. He had fun that day. Thanks for spending some time with us. See you soon. Thanks Ronnie
In one of your older videos you recommend a desolder tool. Can you please tell me the name?
It's the Vampire Tools VT-001, you can see it here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0849MCLDW/ref=as_sl_pc_as_ss_li_til?tag=lyonsarcade-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=e42cc5c6951c1dd50fa4ed4fd3df6052&creativeASIN=B0849MCLDW
Hey Ron!!
Hi Jason!
just wondering if you could help me out. I'm trying to figure out what kind of connectors to buy for the boards on my pinball machine. try to look up something simple as an edge connector for my power supply Williams system 4
so that being said is there any site that will show me any connectors for any pinball machine in what part number it would be.?
They refer to them by the distance between the pins, the main ones that are used are ".100" and ".156".... the ones on a Williams board are .156... you can get all of them at www.TwistyWristArcade.com . I don't think they call them edge connectors that might be why you couldn't track it down, they're usually made by Molex and usually just called "pin connectors".... the male side goes on the board, the female side is the socket the wires go into.
@@LyonsArcade You really are on things getting back to me so quickly. Thanks for all the info when it comes to pinball you're a wealth of knowledge...
Thanks again from the rookie Keith
Pain In Adaptor
Yup!
Hello
Yodelayheehoo
Hello Lil Everette!
Yesterday's just a memory..tomorrow's never what it's supposed to be 🧐
This was also the first game with Lane Change (TM).
Did they really waste the very expensive Harris CVSD chip on just one phrase in the game? (This is the same chip that told pilots to "Pull Up!" as early as 1973)
There's a few phrases but basically yes. Firepower , MIssion Accomplished, 1, 2, 3, etc. I think it may have 12 or 15 syllables, something like that.
@@LyonsArcade Oh, ok. There were some later Zaccaria games which would use a TMS5200 only for a welcome message...
Yet another case of "each fix mainly leads you to the next thing that needs fixing".
Enjoy the videos even though I don't comment on each of them..trying hard to understand electronics..on waiting list at hospital for double knee surgery..anyway enough of that shit..on with the show 🎬
Thank you for watching Naytch, hey don't feel too bad Hulk Hogan has two new knees and two new hips! If he can get through it you can get through it BROTHER
JOE CLASSIC, I'm not sure what is the purpose of using those diodes in the switch matrix because when the switch is OPEN the diode is not doing anything and also when the switch is CLOSED the diode is not doing anything either, so I have no idea why they are using those diodes. When you removed the switch contact connector and also the other connectors which i don't know which other connectors you disconnected to the switch matrix circuit, the signals were pulsing on the logic probe but where was the pulsing input signals coming from to be applied to the switch matrix circuit from the ROM Test program? When you put the pinball game in TEST Program its sending pulsing signals to the switch matrix circuit even with the Switch contact connect has been disconnected?
You dont want switch bounce.
@@turtlebutt55 to prevent switch bounce would be using a capacitor not a diode
@@waynegram8907 The diode _isolates_ the switch from the other switches on that row of the switch matrix. Joe talked about how the switch matrix "strobes" the various columns of the switch matrix one at a time to see if a switch on that row has closed. Well, what if the ball closes some _other_ switch on that row? For example, using _Cirque Voltaire_ as an example, what if someone hits a pop bumper at the exact same time as the CPU is strobing the right slingshot (the pop bumpers are all on the same row as the slingshot)? Without the diodes, the CPU would think "Oh, that must be the slingshot!" So, that's what the diodes are for... to keep the CPU from getting confused about which switch just closed.
It’s to prevent the voltage from the scanned column going into another column if multiple switches are connected. The scanning is faster than these mechanical switches open and close. So it prevents phantom reads.
@@SpearM3064 I'm not understanding why the CPU would be confused when the All the other switches in the SAME column are OPEN switches so it wouldn't matter if there is a series diode because the OPEN switch is preventing the scanned frequency signal to pass through. The Scanned frequency is scanning the columns and rows and is looking for the CLOSED switch. So I'm not understanding how the CPU would be confused or cause Phantom READS. The OPEN Switches even if you ( removed all the diodes ) shouldn't cause Phantom READ. If two or more switches are CLOSED this means that the scanned frequency signal is able to pass thought the closed switches which would cause problems and errors if you didn't use diodes which doesn't make sense. The diodes are allowing the scanned frequency to pass in ONE DIRECTION and blocks the other direction but the scanned frequency is still the same frequency unless the diodes change the duty cycle of the same frequency when multiple switches are CLOSED?
It's broke!
Well..you know what they say..if it ain't broke you ain't trying 😆
Williams recycles sound effects.
Hi Ron. Thanks for the awesome video!! This machine brings back great memories. In 1980 I was in my first year of college. This pinball machine was in the dorm lobby. I spent many quarters I probably shouldn't have on playing this machine. I had a love/hate of the game at the time trying to get multi-ball. Boy, what a great feeling when you actually got one. There is a nice switch diagram online for the machine with a picture of all of the switch locations on the playfield at www.firepowerpinball.com/downloads/SwitchWiring.pdf. Keep up the great work. I look forward to watching your videos every MWF!!