Awesome to be here.

Purchased a really nice Aladdin’s Castle locally from a good guy. I’m definitely a newbie but have sure enjoyed lurking over the years to get some valuable knowledge.

The last remaining issue is that the ‘Ball in play’ and player 1 and 2 backboard lights don’t light up. Lurked and searched hoping that I could see what’s wrong but to no avail. Thanks in advance.

I appreciate it Mark. This is my first EM and being a newbie, the schematics are still confusing to me. The guy that sold the machine gave me the original schematics, so I have them. Strange thing happened, when I cleaned the spider in the back box and put it back, I manually turned it and when I did, the ball in play lights came on along with the player up lights. After I played one ball though they went out again. Even manually turning again didn’t get them to light up. All the other back box lights work as they should. Still enjoying the game but hoping to figure out this. Thanks

Thanks for marking the schematic. I see the game over relay and the closed switch symbol but not sure where to go from there. Thanks again Mark.

Thanks Mr Bally. I do understand your suggestions. I know where the game over relay is and did try to clean the switches. Not positive I was doing it right though. I also cleaned the male Jones plug connectors but not the female. What would you recommend to clean the switches and then the female jones plug receptacles? Also I can take a picture of the Game over relay and switches if need be. Thanks again

Great info Mark. Yes the Game Over light comes on like it should and 1 can play light comes on. The 2 can play light doesn’t come on in 2 player mode but it could be a bulb. One other strange thing happened yesterday while playing. Not sure if it’s related but during the 5th ball playing at the top of the playfield I heard a buzzing like a switch stuck and then about 3 seconds later it went to ‘Game Over’ mode and the ball drained with no power on the playfield other than lights. That happened twice out of about 15 games I played. Also I took pictures before I removed the spider, so I’m almost positive it’s back in the right place. I’m headed to ipdb now to read up. Thanks again for all the help. Going to go through the steps you and Mr Bally suggested later this afternoon.

Thanks for going through all the possibilities. That’s a huge help.

Looks like I know what I’m doing the rest of the weekend.

Well, I’m not having much luck. Probably something that I’m overlooking but a couple of other things have started to happen in my pursuit to fix the original (Ball in Play lights not working). Nothing major but along with the buzzing noise and game going into Game Over mode, (this only happens maybe 10% of the time), I’m now having issues with the pop bumpers, when engaged, tripping or activating the “C” rollover lane. I tried to gently clean the Game over switches, checked to see if the Lock relay switch was closing early and didn’t see anything wrong. The wires and soldering all seemed to look fine and I did my best to clean the Jones plugs. Quite possible I just am using the wrong technique. Gonna keep reading and trying. Appreciate the help.

Mark, that was exactly what was happening. The game has been working nearly flawless for 20 games plus (except for the original ‘ball in play lights not working’). But just tonight as I played my 8th game, the fourth ball drained and I was expecting to hear the collect bonus chimes, nothing happened. No bonus collected at all. No score change. I turned the game off and back on and now the start button doesn’t reset the game or work at all. I sure appreciate your help. I love the game and realize these things happen but I just am hoping to gain some knowledge so I can enjoy the process.

There are 13 credits on the game. I’m going to be spending today working on the machine and going through your list of things to check. Thanks, I’ll follow up soon.

Well I followed your advice and checked the game over relay. Once I manually tripped it, I pushed the credit button and the credit switch fired. Looks like you solved that problem and I appreciate it. One thing that happens from time to time towards the end of a game is a buzzing noise like a stuck switch. I haven’t been able to locate it because I quickly turn the power off because I’m afraid of burning something up. That buzzing noise has led in the past to the ‘Game Over’ light coming on before the ball has drained. Wish I knew exactly what was happening with that. Thanks for the help Mark.

Wow Pinzrfun, that’s a beautiful machine. Mine has a flawless backglass and a playfield thats in good condition but not as nice as yours. Did you do any playfield touchup? And what did you use to clear coat it?

Thanks. I’ll see if I can find what that clear coat is. It is a fun game to play and the ‘Aladdin’s Alley’ shot from the double flippers is a lot trickier than you think when you first see the playfield. My only issue left is that I still can’t get the Ball in Play lights or the Player 1up & Player 2up lights to work. MarkG has given me the schematics and a lot of good advice but I still haven’t solved it yet. The switches on the Game Over relay all seem to be doing what they are supposed to do and the wires and soldering seem fine. I tried cleaning the switches but I’m not sure I’m doing it right. The one thing that could be a clue was when I manually forwarded the Spider in the back box, the Ball in Play light came on and as soon as I played a ball, they went back out and I’ve never been able to get them back on again. It’s probably something that is staring me in the face but this being my first EM, I’m just not able to figure it out. Gonna keep trying while I have a couple more days off.

Thanks Mark. I manually turned the wipers by grabbing it in the middle where the screw is that holds it together. I will look again to see if I can find where the grey-white wire comes in to the ball count unit. I couldn’t find it yesterday. It’s possible I could have made a mistake when I removed the spider and cleaned the contacts but I took pictures and also, the Ball in Play lights didn’t light up before I took it off. I did follow your advice by pressing on the ends of the wiper fingers and didn’t get lights. I did it with the game started and on ball 1. Going to look at it this evening.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you good people.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the ball count unit and where I see the Grey/white wire come in. It looks like it goes to one of the coils on the unit. Is that right? If I were to run a jumper wire, should I run it directly from where the Grey/white wire is soldered at the game over switch to the lamp sockets? Thanks and Happy New Year.

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Thanks for all the detail Mark. Just got home from work and am going to go step by step starting with the underside of the wiper assembly. I’ll send more pics if I need too.

Re-opening this thread. Ball in Play And Player 1up and Player 2up lights still not working. I really appreciated all the help before on this thread. I never figured out the problem and pushed it aside but now am revisiting it. I didn’t want to repost on the thread until I get it figured out. I have thoroughly gone thru the Game over relay, switches and wires. Made sure the ball count unit stepper’s contacts are cleaned and even checked with another AC owner to make sure the wipers were lined up correctly. Also checked where a Gray/White wire is grounded to the frame of the Unit and resoldered it. Still no luck. There is a ‘C’ shaped copper ring that goes between the wiper bases and the steel plate of the stepper. Maybe it’s backwards or upside down but other than that, I can’t understand what’s causing the issue. The only Gray/white wire I see coming into the unit is the one that is grounded on the frame and not to the wiring harness on the stepper. If it’s any help, the only time the lights ever worked was one time when I first manually moved the wipers. It lasted one ball. And for reference sake, the lights never worked before I took the ball count unit apart. I’ll be glad to take more detailed pics if that helps. This is the only issue with this machine. Thanks for any and all advice.

Thanks for responding Mark. I’m headed down now with the Multi-Meter. I’ll post what I find soon.

Well, for starters Mark, with DMM in lowest resistance mode and both leads connected to the brown wire at the Game Over Relay it measured .2 or .3 ohms. When I attached one lead to the solder lug on the Grey/white wire at the GO relay I get no measurements at all and I tried moving them all around the lug. Still nothing. I can go to step 3 and see what I find but I’m guessing I’m going to find no reading again. What do you think? Thanks.

Ok, I did step 3. Had the one lead attached to the brown wire on the GO relay and attached it to the Grey/white wire where it is attached to the ball count unit frame and got no measurements at all. Switched the lead from the Grey/white wire at the ball count unit to the solder lug where the brown-Red wire is soldered to the ball count unit and it measured 2.5 ohms at Ball 1 position. Did I follow your directions correctly or did I get confused on steps 3 and 4? Just in case I read it wrong, I connected the lead from the Grey white GO relay lug to where the Grey white wire comes into the ball count unit and got .4 ohms and nothing when connecting the Grey white wire at the GO relay to the brown-red wire at the ball count unit. Thanks

Also just noticed that I originally posted this thread in the wrong sub forum. After I hear back from you Mark, I’ll move it to the EM tech forum.

I’ll double check everything you mentioned and post again tomorrow. Thanks for the help. I’m learning more each time.