Hey guys, I have a bally black belt I've been working on.
Everything is resolved except for one switch issue, the gentle touch mushroom at the top of the shooter lane.
It was clearly broken before me, for a long time.

So here is what I've done.
Tested continuity from the switch to the connector, both sets of wires check out.
Checked the pins on the board, seem clean, has continuity always through the first few resistors.
Switch works correctly and the diode is fine.

It's the 5th pin from the left on connector J4 (white/brown), on the connector I swapped the 4th (white green) with it, so now the shooter lane switch is in the 5th position and vice versa.
So now the mushroom for testing purposes in on pin 4 and it works just fine and the shooter lane which is now where the mushroom does not work.
While i'm no expert, I think this should suggest definitively that it's not a playfield wiring issue.

So if it's a board problem, where do I look? I traced pin 5 through a few resistors and I lose it.
I have the book, but either I suck or this book is harder to understand than a system 11 book.

I can solder and desolder. I've fixed some wpc stuff and a bunch of system 11 boards, but i'm far from an advanced troubleshooter.
Mainly I do a lot of pinside searches and find the right direction to head and what to test.
Is there a part that commonly fails that prevents a switch from registering?

Thanks for any input,
Joe

It seems to work fine, but i'm not totally sure.
Most times I just use advance, back, enter etc...
Is there a way I should fully test it?

Messed with the keypad a little bit last night.
Seems to work ok, all connections are good.
All the numbers register if I go into a setting and try to change it.
The bottom row doesn't do anything, should it?

So, in my infinite wisdom and desire to learn things the hard way, I realized today that the gentle touch doesn't actually score any points by itself. It's just stops the rising score when you plunge the ball after the ball rolls over the shooter lane switch. They key is don't hit the ball too hard or too soft. Too hard and it stops the score immediately, too soft and you score nothing.

Mayne I should watch some videos of pins I fix up that I have no clue about...

You can be sure that's what it is. I tested it manually 20 times before I came back here to take responsibility for my mistake, lol.

As for putting it back together, I never break my rule. Assess all the parts I think I need (at least on top of the playfield), tear it down, clean it, put it back together immediately. I've done quite a few this way and only one really wore me out, earthshaker (earthshaker, unshopped in need of a teardown, should take a $750 hit, plus parts needed).