From: hal@venus.mitre.org (Hal Feinstein)
Subject: 555 replacements and sound board
Organization: Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 23:33:18 GMT

The way I changed the 555 bulbs on 8BallChamp was to unscrew the
tab thats was holding the 555 and ebd it a little so I could get the
bulb out of its holder and replaced with fresh bulb. My sound board is 
also a bit crazy so I am troubleshooting it by using an IBM PC parallel
port to generate commands to it and trace signals. Too bad there no source
of what signals I'm supposed to see come across the interface from the
8603 control processor board. Even though the sound board is non-responsive
sometimes late at night, in the wee hours of the morning I can sometimes 
hear "stop talk'in and start chalk'in" from the basement were lives the 
pin.  

The first time this happened I was asleep and I heard  this like some 
distant voice blown in on a gossemer. Yes, I heard it all right but being 
asleep I didn't see noth'in wrong with it. I suppose the house could have
been burning down and I would have said, Yes, I smell the smoke and hear
the alarm bells but there's nothing wrong with that.  Is there?
And again the voice came--"Stop talk'in and Start Chalk'in!" 
This time a bit more commanding it seemed.
I started evaluating the evidence: I was home, that seemed right and
it was 3 or 4 AM. So someone was trying to start a pool game at 3AM
in my house while I was asleep. WHAT! Burglars must be  in the house.
But then when I got my wits together I said to myself, wait!
I've heard that voice somewhere before.  Again, as if on que:
"STOP TALK'IN and START CHALK`IN" it commanded. 
By this time I was wide awake and suddenly the light of reason flooded in.
Damn! The pin tak'en itself to talkin all of a sudden in the middle 
of the night! (The pin had "decided" to drop into attract mode for 
reasons known only to itself).  So the sound board isn't dead after 
all. But why all of a sudden does it go into attract mode??
I raced out of bed and to the basement stairs, down in a few leaps
without turning on the light. A bright illumination met my eyes, blues
and reds and greens shimmering and shinning lights moving in all manner 
of intricate motion.  From the foot of the stairs the pin looked like
dazzling temple of wonderful and mysterious lights. An old memory 
broke my still sleepy conciousness, it was the first I'd seen a pin, maybe
30 years ago when I had felt the same sense of awe and facination.
I allowed myself to explore this memory as if to confirm the faciniation felt
long ago. "STOP TALK'IN and START CHALK'IN!" demanded the machine.
I took three steps, reached under and switched it off. The last of
the light escaped from its darkening  electric lamps returning  the basement 
to dimness.  I went back to bed. Never did like attract mode anyhow. 
Damn thing scared me half to death.  

And this aynt no fish tale neither. 


From: hal@venus.mitre.org (Hal Feinstein)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball
Subject:replacing 555 and sound board problems 
Expires: 
Followup-To: 
Distribution: world
Organization: Mitre Corporation, McLean, VA
Keywords: 



The way I changed the 555 bulbs on 8BallChamp was to unscrew the
tab thats was holding the 555 and ebd it a little so I could get the
bulb out of its holder and replaced with fresh bulb. My sound board is 
also a bit crazy so I am troubleshooting it by using an IBM PC parallel
port to generate commands to it and trace signals. Too bad there no source
of what signals I'm supposed to see come across the interface from the
8603 control processor board. Even though the sound board is non-responsive
sometimes late at night, in the wee hours of the morning I can sometimes 
hear "stop talk'in and start chalk'in" from the basement were lives the 
pin.  

The first time this happened I was asleep and I heard  this like some 
distant voice blown in on a gossemer. Yes, I heard it all right but being 
asleep I didn't see noth'in wrong with it. I suppose the house could have
been burning down and I would have said, Yes, I smell the smoke and hear
the alarm bells but there's nothing wrong with that.  Is there?
And again the voice came--"Stop talk'in and Start Chalk'in!" 
This time a bit more commanding it seemed.
I started evaluating the evidence: I was home, that seemed right and
it was 3 or 4 AM. So someone was trying to start a pool game at 3AM
in my house while I was asleep. WHAT! Burglars must be  in the house.
But then when I got my wits together I said to myself, wait!
I've heard that voice somewhere before.  Again, as if on que:
"STOP TALK'IN and START CHALK`IN" it commanded. 
By this time I was wide awake and suddenly the light of reason flooded in.
Damn! The pin tak'en itself to talkin all of a sudden in the middle 
of the night! (The pin had "decided" to drop into attract mode for 
reasons known only to itself).  So the sound board isn't dead after 
all. But why all of a sudden does it go into attract mode??
I raced out of bed and to the basement stairs, down in a few leaps
without turning on the light. A bright illumination met my eyes, blues
and reds and greens shimmering and shinning lights moving in all manner 
of intricate motion.  From the foot of the stairs the pin looked like
dazzling temple of wonderful and mysterious lights. An old memory 
broke my still sleepy conciousness, it was the first I'd seen a pin, maybe
30 years ago when I had felt the same sense of awe and facination.
I allowed myself to explore this memory as if to confirm the faciniation felt
long ago. "STOP TALK'IN and START CHALK'IN!" demanded the machine.
I took three steps, reached under and switched it off. The last of
the light escaped from its darkening  electric lamps returning  the basement 
to dimness.  I went back to bed. Never did like attract mode anyhow. 
Damn thing scared me half to death.  

And this aynt no fish tale neither. 

Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball