Introduction

The WillFA7 is a board designed to replace the MPU and Driver boards on Williams System 3 through 7 machines.

It improves the reliability of your pinball machine by eliminating the connection between the driver and CPU boards, while keeping every original feature intact. Compatible with the full range of Williams System 3 through System 7 machines, it offers advanced solenoid management to prevent lockups.

The board also comes preloaded with the original ROMs, ready to use with no extra setup required.

In this article, Sylvie walks us through how she used the WillFA7 board to repair her Flash pinball machine. The starting problem? The machine would boot, but the targets wouldn't reset and some of the pop bumpers were dead.

Step 1: Inspecting the Original Boards

On first inspection, you can spot a lithium battery installed and modified EPROMs. Nothing catastrophic, but these boards have clearly seen some years of service!

Step 2: Removing the Original Boards

The first step in the replacement is removing the original boards. Here's how Sylvie did it:

• Remove every cable — no need to worry, they're all keyed so you can't mix them up.
• Unscrew every mounting screw and take the boards out of the machine.
• Install the WillFA7 board, securing it with the screws at the bottom of the rails, then route the cables through the cable guides.

Connecting the Cables

After installing the new board, Sylvie moved on to connecting the cables. Depending on the machine model, the 1J4 diagnostic connector may have a plug in it that needs to be removed before connecting it to the WillFA7 board.

Once everything is installed, the result should look like this:

Note: The cables run a bit looser than on the original Williams setup, but it's nowhere near the tangle you often see on Gottlieb machines!

The Result

Everything works exactly as it should! The targets reset, the pop bumpers are responsive, and the machine is back to running full games.

For more details, check out Sylvie's walkthrough video:

Conclusion

If you're also looking to bring a Williams pinball machine back to life without tearing your hair out, we recommend getting started right away by ordering your WillFA7 board: Shop the WillFA7 board