Oh also doesn’t want to load! Beeps then goes blank this happens half the time. Wow!!!!

Ok now won’t start at all says loading beeps goes blank. Then says loading again won’t load. I got a lemon!!!

Have you talked to Dutch? You have a lot going on with this and it may be best to go over this with them directly. They will sort it out.

Make sure there are 5 balls in the game. If you put 6 in the trough (like I did) it'll only give you one ball.

Rug making horrendous sound = it's not sitting where it should be to hit the switch. Lift the playfield up and turn the crank to move the playfield down on the back switch, then turn the game on and go into test mode and check. Should be fine.

Make sure vuk is lined up and kicker screws are TIGHT to the playfield. If one is loose it'll be cockeyed and it won't spit the ball up.

Donny ramp? Donny is an orbit. What did you mean here?

You will have to jump start it. This happened to me too. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/a-lotta-ins-a-lotta-outs-tbl-maintenance-thread/page/25#post-6985674

As many of us have found, this isn’t a game for those that can’t/won’t tinker. I have 5 machines ranging from 1986 to 2021, and 9/10 of the time, it’s Lebowski that needs the glass off and the playfield up. That being said, also the vast majority of the time (not the case with your power supply), it’s just a switch or adjustment that fixes everything up.

For the trough, maybe take all the balls out and put it in switch test mode and drop them in and make sure it registers each one? Can’t remember what game of mine it is (might be BKSOR, not TBL) that actually shows a graphic of the number of balls registering in the trough as they drop in. Maybe it isn’t recognizing that balls after ball 1 are sitting there?

Rug mode can be tested with the playfield up, in the menu. Might be the end of travel switch that needs adjusting and it just kept trying to recede or something.

Let’s go bowling VUK is also easily adjusted in the menu. I turned mine way down so it does just gently drop down, rather than risk SDTM.

Donny kicks back? You mean doesn’t have enough power to roll through? Or else it’s physically hitting something back there. Flipper power can be adjusted in the menu, I believe, if that’s the case.

My right lock target tends to shift often and it causes the switch to not register some of the time. Any good solutions for this one?

I'm getting a lot of bounciness of the ball going up the left ramp and I'm wondering if I can do something to calm things down like perhaps put a piece of plastic over the top at the bottom. This may help support the sides as well. Anyone do anything like this? I've adjusted the screws holding the ramp to the playfield with has helped.

Lift the playfield up and check the mounting screws, make sure they are tight. Mine wiggled a lot and after I removed the switch it was drilled out to close to the switch insert hole and was not able to be secured properly. Dutch sent me a new switch and a wider bracket and now it works fine. It will be a little bit of work if this is the issue.

Just got the following error... "Coin Door (21 games unused)". Any ideas?

Anytime you don't use a switch for 21+ games, you get a warning "heads up" from the machine that the switch may be broken. If you activate this switch, the warning will reset.

Hmmm. Still getting the error and I've opened the coin door.

does the coin door switch activate in switch test?

It does not. Will have a closer look. It does disable the coils.

Edit: All looks good on the coin door switch....I have no idea what to look for with this one. Any ideas?

Hmm

Wonder if coindoor switch is not the coindoor interlock switch but one of the 4 buttons inside the coindoor. I can recall that in an older release these were counted to and this was fixed in a later release. You are running latest release 059?

Yup. Latest release. Have also used the buttons many times.

I checked with the programmer

This switch is indeed the interlock switch. Check will be removed in next release firmware (likely 1.00). If everything goes well after all coindoor is not opened often. Besides volume control.

Anyway, this does mean message should disappear if coindoor is opened. Are you sure this switch is functioning properly? Have had a couple of broken switches over the course of a year.

I just checked this again. Interlock will not work in switch test. No response when operating it manually or using the door. The switch does indeed work in the game...if the coin door is open, the ball will not enter the shooter lane (until I close the door).

This is bizarre. The game obviously recognizes the switch but at the same time it doesn't recognize the switch.

At least you can still play it and only at start up do you have an issue. Truly weird though.

Yes. It is bizarre. I also hear what sounds like a relay or something in the backbox when I engage the switch which I assume is further confirmation that its working. I tried the earlier version of the software and it still does not work in test.

This is very very strange. I tried it just to be 100% sure and coindoor switch appears disappears in switch test when pulling the switch in out.

The ticking you here is the safety relay in the 48V turning off-on so that’s normal and should indicate the coindoor works.

The switch has just two wires going to it seated with a simple connector. If you take them of the switch and short them, still no sign on switch test??

Man, do you think I have seen it all we get this mystery

I did try to short the 2 wires. No change. Sent you an email as well with a video to show you.

I’m happy to report DP sent out a new MPF board and ribbon cable just in case. After testing I confirmed it was my MPF board that had stopped working. All is good now.

Many of us got a game with a bad MPF board. Just on Pinside alone I counted 5 or 6 of us in the May-June batch of games. I wonder what happened and I wonder if we'll see similar problems with this latest batch or not.

I think it are 4 from top of my head. Have no extra issues besides the ones reported on pinside (not always easy to see as pinside name and real name can be very different)

We are getting one MPF back for investigation what the f*ck happened as all users claim to see nothing wrong with the board. So, no physical damage.

Did you send your board back for evaluation?
Agree, it is important to know for future.

If not, post detailed pictures of yours.
Of course, it will be a solder short under a connector or a via that was not properly filled - something hard to detect by the eye.

I did already post pictures on this thread I believe. When I zoomed in on one spot there was a copper wire coming out of the trace.

I assumed that was the issue or part of it but I have no idea.

I have been involved with the diags on the mini board here. Four of the LED drivers (I believe they are NFETs but no parts list or schematics to verify) show leakage from what would be gate to source. Maybe ESD damage? or component issues? Did not see any defects on the board or shorts.

So I've had the machine for about 5 days and probably have 40-50 games on it and went from "no knowledge with pinball" to "I get this now." I see a lot of warnings of "not for someone's first pin," but I would disagree here. The machine is well laid out, serviceable, and I've been able to see how all the different mechanisms work while getting under the playfield.

So far, the only adjustments I've made:

Issue:
lock ball ramp was off center and rejecting the ball.
Fix:
adjust ramp center to lock ball drain. Further fix if needed: I'll probably take a zip tie rather than that printed ramp clip(I have a 3d printer, but a simple zip time would appear easier and less bulky.

Issue:
plastic cover for the lower playing field was a little too high, affecting ball routing when the ball was spinning and going over it, catching edge
Fix:
adjust the plastic cover more flush through the nuts under the playfield

Issue:
In the upper play field, the ball would get stuck behind the flipper and not drain on the exit ramp
Fix:
Bend slightly the metal wire towards the flipper so the ball continues to drain and doesn't get stuck

Issue:
Scoop wasn't sensing ball
Fix:
Bend the metal lever on the microswitch to see ball

Issue:
I drain balls too quickly and get low high scores. Have trouble hitting the dude ramp and actually have the ball go up it instead of rejecting out(I think its hitting those circle cutouts on the ramp for the sensor when going up, the Walter ramp is tough and the character start ramp is as well. Flipper timing seems extremely important
Fix:
Play more I guess. lol

So far and plays great. I think I've only had one time where the game seemed to show a bug and honestly I couldn't even tell you what was happening to create it lol. I just restarted the machine and everything worked fine.

I've been able to light all the characters once, but to light everything for The dude abides, seems impossible?!

Unsolved issues:
The rug is a bit too sensitive, sometimes registering a hit when I hit the left nihilist.
I wan't to increase duration for the shoot again timer. What is that under in the menu?
Any way to have the ball go up the dudes ramp more consistently at its entrance. Seems like the ball spins out too often?
In general, are people raising or lowering flipper power power. Do I go up or down in MS to do that?

Any other recommendations as a new owner that I haven't done yet?

Table is set to 6.5degrees

You maybe happy with your progress and growth - but don’t confuse that with being aware of all it’s warts or challenges.

The game has numerous engineering things that make servicing portions way harder than need be. That doesn’t mean none of it is serviceable.

It still has warrs like limited documentation, limited parts availability, some homebrew level stuff that leads to more glass-off time… but it just means you will spend more time and energy. Stuff many first time owners aren’t willing or capable of. That doesn’t mean people can’t do it - just that it maybe more than people want to have to.

Game is great - but it does take more care to get to a good spot and keep it there

I guess ignorance is bliss by not having past machines.

Any interest in helping with ideas on unsolved issues.

Thanks for the time taken to write this and tell what you did so others may benefit from it.

In regard to the open issues

1) balls save timer. Page 49 operational manual
2) more ms increases strength.
3) rug sensitivity switch adjustment page 83 onwards service faq

Than shooting the Walter ramp. Hard to do from a trapped ball, I always shoot it with ball rolling coming down the left inlane.

Also dude ramp needs a clean shot to avoid it rattling in the ramp.

Hope this helps.

Yes very helpful.

Should I be able to make the dude ramp on the left flipper “back hand”? Would that be a good gauge if the flipper strength is set right?

The character start - should that be hit from a trapped ball or rolling ball?

Thanks for the help here

Bank hand the Dude ramp is the first choice. Imho much safer than shooting from the right flipper.

What is your flipper strength set to? At 6.5degree angle factory settings can’t do it

You are not the only one having issues shooting it backhand. I have seen people doing it but find it difficult to do.

Character start I usually trap the ball at right flipper and let it than slowly roll to the end and shoot it softly to the saucer.

excuse my ignorance, what does "softly" mean? does that mean just tap the button on the flipper quickly to limit the contact length of the solenoid or is there an analog pressure sensor that triggers multiple strengths of the flipper itself?

cheers!

Quick tap of the flipper button will reduce power. You can experiment and try this to get used to the feel in how to do this. Over time and with practice you can really get the hang of this. There are no pressure sensors.

I really appreciate how helpful this forum is to me, the newbie. Cheers and thank you.

Softly I meant low speed. So I trap the ball, release the flipper, ball rolls low speed to end of flipper and I push flipperbutton gently to guide ball towards the saucer.

I was hoping there may be a mod of some sort for this. (not terribly unlike this: https://www.pingraffix.com/product-page/copy-of-ghostbusters-pinball-premium-le-airball-deflector-clear )

I did a search, but I didn't see my question... but I'll apologize in advance if this has been covered - but when the scoop fires the ball back about 1 in 10 go SDTM.... another 1 in 10 barely hits the very tip of the right flipper causing the ball to spin and become uncontrollable. What is the standard adjustment for this? I figured I would ask before i pulled the glass and went at it with my screwdriver! At the very least can there be a ball save programmed in case it first SDTM?

Also... while we are at it...

The rug sensitivity... I need a very solid shot for it to register. Is there some travel in the rug that can be adjusted.

left ramp... i get tons of rejects... probably 50% (or more) of ball locks are rejected.

In general... many of my switches seem to lack sensitivity. I am not opposed to adjusting them, but is it more of a feature of a game or a case that they all need to be dialed in?

There aren't any real killer issues - but the left ramp and the scoop kickout can cause me some frustration!

Thanks!

See post #1251 - 1254 here for the scoop SDTM issue.

As for the rug I have no issues with mine. It does take a solid shot but I get it about 90% of the time.

We need someone with access to add to the key posts list. There are a lot of good posts in this topic.

Very cool Rens. Glad this was resolved and the issue was found. I checked my board and indeed no continuity between the pins noted.

bgpin check out what Rensh said above!

The writeups like these are much appreciated!