Alien Star
Gottlieb, 1984You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider SilverballSleuth.
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I have a really ugly Alien Star that I let into my house out of sheer pity.
It was playing before. I let it sit for about three months, went to turn it on, and no dice. After reseating connectors I got it boot, coin and start a game, but the Player 4 display shows nothing, two displays are dim.
Not only this, it won’t actually kick a ball and play. All switches, solenoids and flippers are dead.
What’s the deal? What should I be looking for?
Quoted from bluespin:A buyer like me
Nope, bolted to the floor. The playfield is a white wood, the cab has bottomed out and has been defaced, there’s no backglass, and the boards are pretty nasty too.
Quoted from DK:Does the game make a sound when you press start like it wants to play but then nothing?
It does, it makes that Alien Star “swoosh” sound when you press the start button. When you coin the game it makes the sound also.
Quoted from DK:Alien Star is a f’ing awesome pin
And that’s why I bolted it to the floor, I’m a tournament guy, it’s fun to play, especially for what I paid.
Quoted from ryanwanger:1) Make sure there aren’t any blown fuses. Mine was dead to the world from a fuse that didn’t seem like it should have caused total failure.
2) Make sure the balls are in the correct location in the trough. One should be in the outhole and the other in the staging area next to the shooter lane. Make sure both of those switches are registering properly as well.
The game is very sensitive to ball positions in the trough. I’ve had to adjust those switches several times. I’ve also had to replace a chip on the board that failed and caused half of the switches to be unresponsive (and if it affects the ball trough switches then the game is dead).
Not fuses, checked them w/ meter early on, should have mentioned that.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Check the trough switches carefully. But sounds like you have some other weird stuff going on.
Have you or anybody else done the "ground mods?" It's a necessary on this era of game.
Could also have some board issues. Sometimes an old ass game like this will just start acting up, especially if the boards are original and unserviced.
They are original and they are operator hacked nonsense. This game was brought back from Europe based on the tags I see. I’ve done some general connection cleaning (pencil eraser and isopropyl alcohol) along with reseating and that’s how I got it to boot.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Check the trough switches carefully. But sounds like you have some other weird stuff going on.
Have you or anybody else done the "ground mods?" It's a necessary on this era of game.
Could also have some board issues. Sometimes an old ass game like this will just start acting up, especially if the boards are original and unserviced.
Also - I haven’t done the ground mods. I read somewhere that Alien Star was grounded from factory, and one of the only System 80 games to be so.
Quoted from bluespin:I thought you were going to keep that custom retheme Alien Star and sell the original
I have only ever had one Alien Star. Just the hideous custom retheme that I peeled off.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Here's the bad news...
You can't just clean old connectors. These things have a service life of like 5 years and 20 insertions (that's what she said) and you can't just wipe the years away. Gets to the point where cleaning them just makes it worse.
Time to rebuild some connectors buddy! When reseating connectors "fixes" a problem, the connectors need to be rebuilt. When a game is 36 years old and has taken a couple trips across the Atlantic, connectors need to be rebuilt.
You’re probably right on this one.
HOWEVER
I took off the apron and have found the game kicks both balls to the top position. Trough switch might be the case, have to tinker some more.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Yes it's most likely the trough switches on that issue.
But the other stuff, dim displays, booting issues etc...sooner rather than later that stuff is gonna need to be addressed.
In case anyone cares, the world’s ugliest Alien Star lives for another day. Started playing it and forgot how warped the playfield is. LOLZ
THE FIX: Replaced the switch with a used one that looks close to it that I had laying around. We use *all* of the pinball machine around here.
Glad it’s not a board problem, I don’t see myself giving in and buying a board replacement for this very sad piece of pinball history ANYTIME soon.
However, Levi, I do agree, I will need to take care of these boards at some point, if I want to continue this Alien Star’s eternal anguish.
THANK YOU to all who helped out - didn’t think I’d have a dead game from a little switch. Cheers! 
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Nashville, TN