very good!

thanks

Also at the start of the bonus ball.

Well, after finding out my Stern JPP is delayed until end of July I hopped on Marketplace and bought a 1980 Williams Black Knight that needs work. I have no idea what I'm doing and have never owned a pin before. Just curious if anyone has had a similar issue with theirs. The game powers on in attract mode and most all lights work. The game won't start however it just keeps making a clunking sound as if it's trying to load a ball in the shooter lane but nothing is happening. I can put the game in diagnostics mode but I have no idea what the numbers mean. I'm pretty much out of my league here. I did make a video, anyone experience this before?

Congrats, and welcome to the hobby! Excellent choice on a first game, Black Knight was my first pin as well!

I would suggest getting more familiar with the diagnostics in order to help us troubleshoot. Luckily, one of our members here on pinside made a video demonstrating how to navigate and interpret the diagnostics on a Black Knight, of all games!

For further research, I would recommend checking out pinwiki.com. (for sake of research etc, Black Knight is a Williams System 7 game) There's also tons of useful tech threads here on the forum, and lots of videos on YouTube and elsewhere documenting repairs etc.

There's a lot to digest, so take your time and ask questions when needed!

For now I'd suggest learning how to use the diagnostics to get into the switch test and then tell us which numbers the switch test is displaying. That will hopefully point us closer to the culprit.

I'd also get familiar with removing the playfield glass and tilting back the playfield to access the under side etc. I'm sure there's videos demonstrating that as well.

Again--ask questions if you aren't sure, and can't find the answer here. These are old games and many of their problems have been documented here repeatedly over the years. It's likely most problems you'll encounter have been discussed here at one time or another! We'll get your game fixed up given enough time and persistence

#When you purchased the game, was it advertised working - did you get to play it? (sorry have to ask)

#Black Knight takes 3 balls, did you take them out before transporting the game or leave them in? Can you see all the balls? (all 3 have to be resting/seen on switches either in the trough or ball lock locations or a game wont start)

#After moving a pin it's always a good idea to look in the backbox for any loose connections/connectors on the headers/boards, and to lift the playfield and do the same. (again do this with the POWER OFF) It depends on how you move the game, some people dont take apart anything, or with these you can take the whole head off before transport.

#It almost looks/sounds like in that video that the ball eject mech isn't working, or maybe loose - with the game completely off, can you try to move that arm and will it kick a ball out into the shooter lane?

Here is a link to the manual in case your game didn't come with one
https://www.ipdb.org/files/310/Williams_1980_Black_Knight_English_Manual_with_paginated_schematics.pdf

One of these days I need to re-do that video. I've got a camera now that has good focus AND a good microphone available, which I didn't at the time.

-Hans

Thank you! I will watch the video this morning. This is the direction I was looking for.

It was advertised as not working so I knew I was going to have to sort it out. Having a love for knights and castles and such, I've always been drawn to the theme and look of the game. I wanted a second machine although this wasn't suppose to arrive for another year but I'm not good with waiting and when JP was pushed out again I just said the hell with it and this was somewhat local so here we are. 3 balls? I only have 2. Could it be stuck somewhere and have not drained from the playfield perhaps? Not sure how one would disappear. i did see one ball on the upper playfield but it is in what I believed to be a locked or staged position for multi ball. But again, I have no idea what I'm doing here. I've never played the game. I opened the box and inspected the boards and found no battery damage. Replaced batteries just to reset the clock until I figure out a remote mount or something better. Fuses all "look" good. Didn't handle to much of anything as I don't want to damage anything. I did learn how to slide my playfield glass out but not sure on how to lift the playfield. Makes me want to try now as maybe there's a ball jammed somewhere under the top deck.

Thanks for the manual link as well!

I appreciate your time on vids like this. I'll be sure to watch it soon!

Ok guys, the diagnostics are showing 45, 17, 18 and 20.

I took the ball from the locked location in the upper playfield and let it drain. Placed 50 cents in the machine and was able to start a game. Here's the new problem, when you lose the ball and it goes down the drain the machine doesn't recognize that you've lost the ball and still thinks the game is in play. Since it still believes you are playing, it doesn't kick a ball into the shooter lane. The mechanism does work as it kicks the ball into the shooter lane when the game begins. So something isn't sensing the ball is out of play. Any thoughts?

Appreciate all help thus far.

So, black knight has some pretty temperamental switches in the lock areas and the trough. With the power off you can adjust them to ensure they are making contact.
I like to use a ball rather than a finger to test the actual depressing of the switch wire once you have it where you think it should be.

You can then turn on the game and get into the switch test of the diagnostics to ensure the switches are registering. Get all the balls out of the trough before you turn the game on and run the tests, get into diag/switch test mode, and drop one ball in there at a time to make sure they register.

You can cross reference the switch edge numbers on the display with the manual for their location, and you can also set the game to free play so you dont need to deal with the quarters.

After 2 years of procrastination, I'm finally getting around to restoring my player's condition Black Knight. If you're interested in following, my resto thread is here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/1980-black-knight-player-s-condition-to-something-better

Well, I've got the game up and running! Very excited. Ordered a rubbers kit already as the old bands are shot and disintegrating. Should have it by the weekend and I can start cleaning, waxing and giving it some much needed love.

Question on my back glass. The paint is flaking as they most all do, I've been told that I could aerosol clear coat the back to prevent any further flaking? Is this something you guys have done? What clear did you use?

Thanks!

Well, I've got the game up and running! Very excited. Ordered a rubbers kit already as the old bands are shot and disintegrating. Should have it by the weekend and I can start cleaning, waxing and giving it some much needed love.

Question on my back glass. The paint is flaking as they most all do, I've been told that I could aerosol clear coat the back to prevent any further flaking? Is this something you guys have done? What clear did you use?

Thanks!

I have a Black Knight hardtop available for sale. Completely new, protective plastic still in place. Retails for $376 shipped from Outside Edge.

$300 shipped in USA. PM if interested.

28.5" is the answer.

Has anyone gotten a CPR backglass lately? Have they corrected the blue horse and white knight issue yet?

I have a new glass from cpr, 2022. Has the blue horse amd grey/white knight

Dang. Why do they have such a hard time getting stuff right?

Why not get the backglass from Mayfair?

Guess that’s what I’ll have to do. They are more expensive with shipping and I was going to order a plastic set as well and combine shipping from CPR but side by side of the original and CPR backglass is just too different, it’s worth the extra.

Is the Mayfair BG the proper colors? (Thinking about the Firepower BG which had a different color gradient)

The BK glass is the proper colors, yes. I have one on mine and it's gorgeous. The only difference between the 1st and 2nd run from Williams (Mayfair has the Williams 2nd run glasses) is that they used inks with stronger adhesion and did a factory clearcoat inner layer, so the Mayfair will be more durable than the original production run.

Does anyone have a photo of what piece goes adjacent to the shooter lane.
Is it a wood rail or metal. I can’t seem to find either that matches.

image (resized).jpg

Stamped steel piece, not a wireform or wood. Bridges the entire gap from one of the wood side rails to the other, so it's one of the lengthier pieces.

Thanks. Seems like it would be a hard one to misplace.

Here's a picture if you need it.

IMG_1494 (resized).jpg

Hey guys, I have a weird issue. Sent out my MPU for repair/lithium battery upgrade to Coinop Cauldron (clive) and during the lithium upgrade, I asked to go over the boards. Long story short, my sound header board wasn't soldered properly so I had to send that back to get it fixed properly. Before sending them off, I had a fully working game but no voice but sfx worked fine. Now after getting the boards back, the MPU won't boot. He said there was nothing with my boards, he did a burn test but said both driver and MPU were working fine. I'm getting the famous double red light and nothing on boot. I feel like I'm missing something super obvious here they were both working fine before I sent them off.

I've already tried to board reseats multiple times, and tried booting with just the upper left power plugged in and yeild the same results. Looking for some guidance here on what to check for I might be completely missing.

You aren't booting into audit mode by any chance? Do the displays show anything when you turn the game on?

Nothing shows up on the displays, double solid red LED's and a "0" on the MPU. I tried the quick power flip and same results with nothing onthe display. Tried replacing a good known driver board too and the same issue. I'm really stumped on what the issue could be.

It's worth mentioning that I do have an xpin power supply that's only a few months old. Sound board will play go into test mode and play sfx and voice without issues.

Well I figured it out! it was the coindoor lockout switch, it didn't have good connectivity. Boots up and plays games without issues now!

I've lost the two hard, foam-like "stoppers" that are attached to the Playfield Glass Channel. Would anyone happen to know the dimensions of these blocks so I can try to recreate them? Or better yet, if you have a couple spares I'd be glad to buy them and save me the hassle of remaking them. Thanx!

Playfield Glass Channel (resized).jpg

Long time coming, good things comes to those who wait
Few things to look at, will try incandescents in the backglass etc but its all working good and just fitted a new backglass from CPR. I knew about the Color differences etc but happy with it. Gave it a good wax which made a big difference for making the long ramp.
Apart from the backglass all original, was in storage the last 10 years or so.
5F4E9929-1890-46E9-BAFB-D329A192BE42 (resized).jpeg

AC390B50-1A33-4A2A-A39C-60703A9D9461 (resized).jpeg