Williams System 11 owners please help!

I've just bought a Williams Fire! pinball machine (system 11a) that was set on free play and working when I went to collect it but had to unplug the back box to get it through the door. It's all connected up again now but it's been restored to factory settings so I need to turn free play on again. The problem is the bottom two displays don't work so when I go into the adjustments menu all I can see is FREE PLAY across the top display but no options for yes and no. I've tried pressing the start button, then depressing manual-down etc with no luck. It accepts coins but does not register them as credits so I'm really stuck, haven't been able to play one game yet.

What I really need is a very kind Fire! owner to give me step by step instructions of which buttons to press to set free play ? Or a couple of pictures of the menu options for free play and how to select yes?

I'd really appreciate any help

Thanks

I'll take a few pictures of the menu on my F-14 (also Sys11A) when I get off work and see if that helps you out any.

thank you!

Useful link:

http://mirror2.ipdb.org/files/859/Williams_1987_Fire_Instruction_Manual.pdf

It seems (page 14) that pressing the credit button will toggle. Or maybe get one of these?

http://bayareaamusements.com/Mercha...-DIS200&Category_Code=GS-859&Product_Count=10

Thanks but I've already got the manual, it says to go to free play and select option yes with the credit button. I've tried pressing once or twice incase no is the first option selected so many times and pressed advance to the end of the menu and nothing changes. My coin mechs accept coins but don't add any credits to the display. They are labelled 10p 50p 10p - are they not adding credits because i need to set to UK coins in menu? I can't change this option either it just sticks on USD 1 Coin. I really don't understand because I can't see the bottom displays but when I follow the manual it does nothing either! Really really stuck...and don't want to have to pay $160 for a new entire display board...

Not sure then. Have an earlier System 11 (high speed), but think most of this stuff should be pretty similar. Mine also came with just two working displays (which weren't even alphanumeric), so I went through some similar problems a while back. I just tried turning free play off on mine and found that I could toggle it simply by going to "Ad 23" and pressing the credit button (we're talking about the big button on the front of the cabinet to the left side of the coin door, right?) once and then turning the machine off and back on with the switch underneath the front right. I also tried switching from US to UK coinage, and everything still worked fine. Those settings just affect the number of coins needed for a credit - the coin door mech itself decides when coins are valid or not. Can you add credits by pressing the appropriate place on the coin mech? Basically, what the operator would do if you told them it ate your money... On mine it's a thin plastic button on the back of the mech that you press downward, but I know on some earlier coin mechs you had to poke your finger up from underneath to hit a metal switch. By the way, since the coin country (US, UK, etc.) displays on the top row, if that's not changing it does seem to suggest that the problem might be with the credit switch itself. If you just turn the machine on and press it, does it play any noise or anything? Might be nice if that was the problem, since it's probably fairly cheap to replace. Odd that it would work before reset and not now, though. Good luck, in any case.

Sorry, I couldn't take any pictures, but all I did to toggle it on F-14 was advance the menu to "free play" and press the start button. It would say either "yes" or "no" on the lower display, if you could see it.