all wpc, wpc-s and wpc95 have a real time clock in the asic chip. thats why if you use the NV ram you will all ways get the "set time and date error" when you turn the machine on or go into setting.
i would be checking the diode for the batteries, not sure of the diode number on the rotten dog board,
if this is faulty then the batteries would be getting fried every time you have the machine turned on.
simple way to check this is,
remove the batteries,
turn machine on,
use your multimeter on the + and - battery connector (rotton dog cpu)
if you have any voltage (0.5 to 5v) on this connector then the diode is cactus,
do any of the leds on the cpu glow after u have turned the machine off? if so this will indicate that one of the other diodes on the cpu board are faulty.
or you may have a faulty ram chip or it could be a design fault on the Rotton dog cpu board
