Alien poker. no speech, williams type 2 sound board issue

[AlanJ]

repairing someone’s alien poker. all the sound was out, i got the sound working but not the speech, the game seems to be making the correct sounds, but when i press the sound card test button it only cycles through a few sounds. is this normal or should it play all the sound effects?

But main issue is no speech, it just repeats immediately the sound effects.

I have followed the repair guides and it’s suggested ic2 on the sound board, i have replaced that with a known good ic but yet the outputs of that chip that go out to the speech board (4 lines) to select each of the 4 ROM chips, don’t seem to be behaving. Repair guides suggest removing the roms and see if you get a pulse on pin 6 - if so it’s a rom fault. if not it’s ic2 fault. with the rom removed i don’t get a pulse, but with the rom in i get an occasional low (not a pulse) on that pin?

So is the issue ic2 or the rom or elsewhere?

Ic2 gets its 4 inputs from the mpu address lines. 3 direct and one via ic3 - so tested ic3 seems fine. all 4 inputs are pulsing in sound test mode but noting on the outputs.

anyone had similar issue or found a more in depth guide?

i’ve replaced the 6808 mpu that fixed the no sound at all problem. ram and pia seem to be behaving all ok.

 

[Arv]

The dip switches are set for speech yes?

 

[AlanJ]

no dip switches, but there are wire jumpers and they are all as they should be. this is an original board and original speech board. both have had no prev repairs and have all original roms. i’ve checked the rom sockets and all pins are properly electrically connected on all of the speech and sound roms.

2532 roms - i don’t have any of those that work. i bought some but they’re all duff. got plenty of good 2732 eproms but don’t want to hack the speech board, i’ll try get some working 2532,s or one of those 2732-2532 convert or boards - then i can try new speech roms. maybe that’s the next best step.

 

[Arv]

Should be 2 dip switches on the speech board.

 

[Arv]

switch 1 off, and switch 2 on for full sound + speech.

 

[AlanJ]

Oh yep sorry there is. it’s on and i checked on the back of board it is correctly making contact, ie the switch is working correctly

 

[AlanJ]

Blew myself a Leon test rom for the main sound card. Tried to follow the leon tests but the tests didn't run as expected, so got me really worried. I can see the data lines of the test rom oscillating and this mapped on the data lines going into the CPU, but the
test document is measuring address line 6 for some reason which is oscillating at a fair old rate (which is what I'd expect to be honest). came to conclusion the documentation surely incorrect? or I have a duff test rom (nope - its perfect - retested it), or there is a socket issue on the rom, or a ram issue.

Leon Borre Williams Early Sound Repair - PinWiki

www.pinwiki.com

Will double check the rom pin connections to the board (and other ICs again)..........

 

[AlanJ]

Sorted it. quite a tricky fix but found it in the end. dodgy connection on the rom socket

 

[Jay Walker]

Williams dreadful sockets strike again..

 

[AlanJ]

Machine all fixed and returned to its owner. quite enjoyed playing Alien Poker whilst I had it. Not as good as cosmic gunfight which i am missing like mad.

 

[AlanJ]

@VeeMonroe - this is same game now for sale.

 

[VeeMonroe]

@VeeMonroe - this is same game now for sale.

@AlanJ you are a star.