I've got a Mr.& Mrs. Pac-Man Pinball that has been having some issues when turning it on. It doesn't post. So no startup sounds, though there is an audible hiss from the speaker, and the big red light on the playfield. Wait about 20-30 minutes, turn it off and on again, and it starts up just fine and appears to play as normal.

Potentially some cold solder joints or bad connectors is what I'm guessing. I'm assuming I'll get some advice on soldering headers and re-pinning connectors.

If someone has specifics--such as this is a mainboard problem or something I might not be thinking of, that's what I'm here for!

I'll gladly take advice for some basic tips on bulletproofing connectors (where to source parts, technique, etc.) on a Bally machine. If there's another post on this, please don't shoot the messenger and feel free to point me in that direction.

Cheers, and thanks for the help everyone.

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That cap is only six years old but I'll check it out.

MPU led blinks twice then turns off and stays off.

That resistor appears to be good.

I was just about to post--I found another post where someone's 5101 was bad.

I have an NVRAM replacement in that socket. I removed the NVRAM it was the same behavior--or maybe nothing at all I can't remember. When I carefully reinserted the NVRAM replacement chip the pin booted as expected.

As an aside, when I re-seated the chip into the socket, I did not push it into the socket all the way. I just gently inserted it *almost* all the way into the socket. Boot tested it a bunch of times with no issues. Letting it "cool" to test it again but I'd surmise I have a problem with the socket for the NVRAM.

That 22 pin socket was replaced in 2014 with a machined pin socket before I purchased the pinball machine. The socket appears to have been pieced together from 4 or so segments of machine pin sockets. So it's not two uninterrupted 11 pin rows. I'm guessing the guy who I bought it from just used what they had on hand to put a new socket in. (Admittedly, I've done that when I've been in a pinch.) Worked pretty well for 6 years. I'm wondering if there is some "give" between the pin sockets--and when it warms up it's working--like the equivalent of a cold solder joint.

So weird that it booted fine for several years and then just over the last year started misbehaving.

I'll replace the 5101 socket with a dual wipe. (And the 24 pin sockets too while I'm at it--the 6810 came out a little too easy.)

We'll call this fixed.

Thanks for all of the help and suggestions!