A softwarebug has recently been discovered that when the rug is in the last position and a ball hit is detected it will move a little backwards to show it was hit as usual but WITHOUT checking if the end switch was active. Than it can happen the rug moves passed the end switch without seeing it and ending in the position I see on this picture.

Programmer has already fixed this for a next release. Till now only had one other case happening this so was seen as very rare thus no urgency.

When you read the above, can this be the same with you??

Rens,
Yes - it sounds similar/ same. And I do see it moves slightly backwards prior to moving forward (closed position). But this happens only when NOT hit, after a ball drain, when the rug attempts to move back to the closed position. FYI the issue doesn't happen every time, even though the conditions are the same. When all seems OK, that's when I see the rug backup slightly, then move forward to the closed position.
Hope this helps!

Edited to clarify "new ball"

Back in the club after a what seems a long time! Couple of issues, the “MPF scoop(stuck closed)”. Also, the LEDs on the roof of the upper playfield are dark. Actually, the entire upper playfield is dark, inserts too… Thanks for any input!

Looks like a fuse at F11 was the issue. Will circle back if not!

IMG_0908 (resized).jpeg

If the fuse was not the cause, check if the flat cable connected to the MPF is properly in place, see service faq page 110+111

Can anyone tell me the best way to replace a red nihilist stand up target?

I have one where the switch works fine, but the red plastic piece broke in half.

I ordered a Williams/Bally Oblong Stand-Up Target, and everything looks real similar, but the new one is missing a connector, and I'm hoping I won't have to do any soldering to swap these things out.

Thanks in advance!

Straight from the man Rens himself.

Think only source were you can buy with wires is with us. But, only low-skilled soldering skills are needed to transfer the wiring from old to new target. You can do it, never to old to learn !!

If you are going to own pinball machines, learning basic soldering is almost a must in my mind. A simple thing such as changing a coil requires light soldering in most machines. It really isn’t hard to learn.

My ball ejector is too weak to eject ball. It has to try a few times before the ball goes out and gives up after a few tries sometimes. Where do I start ? There is no obstruction. It’s just that the push is weak.

May want to check if the rubber grommet is still there underneath the plunger - I used a small flipper rubber wrapped around the bottom and it worked great.

Check post # 2030

Thank you. Adding a small piece of rubber to give it height did the trick.

Doing my preferred skill shot to the upper playfield and suddenly the ball wasn't making it up - the solenoid would fire once (upper flipper was active) but no ball. Ball search didn't find it either. Powered off, raised the playfield looking for anything that seemed out of place. ... Lowered and powered back on, and it kicked out this black plastic piece along with the ball

Looking thru the past VUK issues, but not seeing this one. I'm hoping the image stirs some history/theory

20240803_195649 (resized).jpg

Clarification on proper verbiage should read "MPF" rather than "upper play field".
Sent & quickly received an email response from [email protected] ( aka Rens / Rensh ). In short, the replacement assembly can be found here: https://www.pinballlife.com/vertical-up-kicker-vuk-rebuild-kit.html
(Rens noted the metal brackets are not incorporated into TBL's VUK).
I ordered the $18 assembly and I will post here to confirm the permanent fix' findings so that others can benefit if / when they encounter the same.

That's the top of the VUK, looks like the small pin holding it in place is missing.

Thanks!
I think I spotted the piece on pg 202 in the maintenance manual. Anyone have a reference as how that assembly is supposed to be configured?

Screenshot_20240804_051423_Adobe Acrobat (resized).jpgScreenshot_20240804_051517_Adobe Acrobat (resized).jpg
Update:
Peered into the cabinet for any orphaned parts and found a couple of screws, a spring and some chipped plastic. Some may/may not be related. Still no clue as to finding the solution.

20240804_071008 (resized).jpg

I had the MPF stuck closed, I had a blown fuse because the hidden mpf opto set was touching the metal MPF post, solved and replaced fuse and that has gone away now.

Normally which switches should register when starting switch test if nothing is wrong. Mine shows bowling return and car closed

Also....under what scenario does the car door open? After 10 games I've not seen it open during a game, although the tests pass ok and it does it's thing

1. Rug Mode: See what happens?!
You get 1 shot per MPF visit to kill the car.
2. Hit the ♿ targets to Light the 4 blue ♿ MPF inserts, then shoot the exit to the right. There's 3 car modes; Kill - repeat till the car retreats; Impound - 1 bash per MPF visit; & Race. Race requires you to go around the building, avoiding the car.
Check out this YT video from PAPA Pinball. It's 4+ years old, but it still 99% relevant. Great tutorial (dim lighting, unfortunately)

Cheers,

Big Willy

Thanks big willy. Will check that manually and make sure that's working.

works great....car modes, all 3, work fine. Good to know. I did the bowling challenge mode it works great so I assume that if I can find out how to get into that mode organically then it'll work. Appreciate the info.

https://www.pinballlife.com/vertical-up-kicker-vuk-rebuild-kit.html

Thanks Butch!
Rens replied to my email with that link - he noted that TBL doesn't utilize the 2 metal rings. I updated my original post (hindsight I should've only made 1 post), and I'll confirm the solution after I get the new VUK installed in case others experience this issue.
Thanks again for the tip, I always appreciate when others offer help

Had an interesting thing happen last night when playing Bowling mode. The game constantly launched a ball in the main playfield, the entire time playing the bowling game (which worked fine even though this was happening).

Once the ball on the main field would drain, it would immediately kick a new one into the shooter lane and auto launch it. Over and over and over the whole time

Thanks for mentioning it. Pls report software issues also at https://dutchpinball.myjetbrains.com/youtrack/dashboard?id=581bc065-9ac9-4235-858c-3e4bc182722e

Thanks.

Finally got some time to work on the TBL issue:

1) Unplugging the right nihilist target did not clear the stuck switch, unplugging the bowling opto, same thing
2) All fuses are ok
3) I reseated the mini playfield ribbon cable on the main board and on the MPF

What next?
Pinside_forum_8260485_3973853 (resized).jpg

I think you can take the 5 screws out of the backboard and get to the other end of that cable

thanks - just did that - reseated the cable and no luck...

I fixed it! Looks like I overtightened the right most screw on the main board. I loosened it and all the switches cleared.

Interesting. Was already puzzled as these switches appear at first glance to have nothing in common. Remember that TBL uses proc eg there is no switch matrix but every switch has his own IO port on the proc. So, guessing now that these switches had their traces on the pcb close to each other and they got shorted somehow.

Anyway, pleased to see it solved. Good work Dude.

Hey fellow TBL owners! I've asked this before but this is now happening almost every game making my machine pretty much unplayable.

I'll be in the middle of a game and suddenly everything freezes and this message appears on the screen saying proc cannot be found. I've checked the connection between the cpu and the proc board under the playfield, plus the power connections to the proc. Everything seems to be OK- is it worth maybe replacing the usb cable from cpu to the proc board?

20240810_201802 (resized).jpg

I would replace the cable as per the support FAQ!

The advice depends on the serialno. See service faq page 77. If resolving USB cable doesnt help or you have a Rev0 board I would reccomend the extra 5V power lines.

Many thanks jyeakley Rensh I will look at the support doc at that section.

PinMonk I'm sure this has been covered before my time here but this power supply in TBL is a Meanwell RSP-500-48 whcih appears at a glance to be extremely similar to the Stern units and it's NOISY AF...does your stern fan kit work in this? I have 20+ games within 60 feet of me and I hear 2 things...the clicking of a relay on Rollergames and the giant whirring nightmare of TBL...everything else is S I L E N T lol

Well I answered my own question, the PS is the same as at least 2 of my sterns and PinMonk does list the quiet fan kit to work with TBL, Product ID: SFAN-001 @ pbl.... That will really tie the machine together.

ya it's a must.

i'd also like to vouch for @pinmonk's flipper cooling fans. i got them chromed out tricks and it is SO needed w/TBL. saves the day, makes the mush go away entirely.

I don't seem to have a need for cooling my flippers but those PS fans are tits

You already worked this out, but yes, the quiet fan kit works in the Big Lebowski, too.

I don't have products curated for EVERY non-Stern, but I have Big Lebowski here, including the quiet fan kit:

https://pinmonk.com/collections/big-lebowski

Give it time. You'll notice it if you're playing longish sessions. TBL *definitely* has fade.

I won't have this issue because A: I'm bad at pinball and B: I've never seen or experienced this issue ever in my life because see A:

Short sessions and/or being bad at pinball is a money saver, for sure.

I'm not 100% certain just yet, but the issue may be resolved. I had a look at the support doc, and while I was trying to remove the proc3 board, I wondered if maybe the power connection to the main board may just have needed reseating. Anyway i sort of levered the board off a little (wow it requires some scary effort to get it moving) and pushed it firmly back on. Tested a couple of fairly long games and it hasn't frozen up again yet. I'll give it a good 10-15 games tonight and see how it goes. It may be a temporary fix of course but it'll be good to know where the problem lies - and I may need to reflow the solder on the power connection like the doc says.

Just want to re-iterate again how incredible the support/faq document is from Rensh . I should have read it before posting in here I know, but it really is so in depth on every component on this game - amazing stuff.

Just installed one of these this weekend - not sure if you had dedicated instructions on it PinMonk (didn’t see any).

Some words of caution/notes for others:
1. Make careful note of which cables are screwed in where, there is no connector like Stern. It’s fairly color-coded, but there are some wires that are mismatched. Brown/black on “L”.
2. The screw for the wires needs to be completely removed, they aren’t spade connections.
3. Be very careful removing the small connector (RC+/-), mine was pretty tight.
4. There are plastic washers behind the PSU mounting plate. These have a tendency to fall off when you take the PSU out, and inevitably fall into the bottom of the cabinet!
5. It is hard to get the fan to trigger with the translite off. I had it running for hours and the fan wasn’t kicking on (tissue didn’t move). My assumption is that the majority of the backbox heat is generated by the ATX PSU, and doesn’t accumulate with the translite off. I put the translite back on and checked in a few hours - the tissue had been blown off (also into the bottom of the cabinet of course ).

This is a good point. I wish Spooky and Dutch would adopt molex pigtails for the meanwell power supply connector so removal is just one molex connector. Spooky's is even worse than Dutch's because the terminal block for the 120v is literally up against the back of the cabinet with no easy line of sight. A keyed molex connector would make it so much easier.

Some Sterns take a long time for the fan to come on, too. I finally learned as you did to just place the paper towel piece on the top and do something else, otherwise it's like watching paint dry for some machines. But that final step to make sure the fan is working is critical not to skip.

In Car Modes I seem to be getting some phantom hits, where it registers a hit on the car when the upper flipper is flipped (or sometimes when the VUK fires the ball), regardless of if I hit the car.

If I'm understanding the manual correctly, do I need to close the leaf switch gaps so the flipper/VUK vibration doesn't cause the switch to open? Anyone else had this issue?

From the manual:

"Cardoor is set against the targets untill one target is closed. Once
closed the cardoor will stop moving and thus the switch will
remain closed. When a ball hits the cardoor will move and the
switch will open. This is seen as a hit. Than cardoor is positioned
again against a target, rinse and repeat."

New versions service faq (086) posted at

https://www.dutchpinball.com/the_big_lebowski_pinball_support

Thanks for the tips! I had been putting this off due to Dutch not using a molex connector.

Is there a trick to removing the clear plastic shield over the screw terminals or is that not necessary?

You do need to remove it. It's a thin, flexible plastic and just clips on - just pull on it a bit and it will unclip from the bottom and lever up.

I have the same problem. Glued (I hope it stays) a cut piece of flipper rubber to it and it works now. Mine looked like the picture. I couldn't find a missing piece. I assume the picture is how it is supposed to look.

I have a dumb question. When you turn it on and it says "test report two issues found" or something like that, how do you get it to tell you what those issues are?