Started working on this machine 5 months ago, and had several discussions re it's problems and received good help and tips from a couple of Pinsider's on the Breakshot club thread. But had so stop working in it for a couple of reasons and just getting started again, so thought it would be better to start a new topic rather than take up space in the Breakshot club thread.

I have been refurbing EM's for about 4 years. This is my first attempt to work on a dmd machine. Have had a local tech look at it, and while he was a great help getting started, he is really busy with other projects. So......

Current status is:

Game won't start at all unless all three balls are in the trough. ie: breaking the optic switch circuit.
On start up, machine says there is a problem with the center post.
On start up, after the center post display runs it's course, it will "start" a game, but won't kick out a ball. First ball, or after.
It will "play" a game, if after start up you manually pull a ball out of the trough, and roll it up the shooter lane.
However, flippers don't work.
Optic switches: Some don't seem to work at all, others don't work properly.
The right flipper, center roll over switch, 9 ball opto switch, and maybe others cause a slam tilt. The opto, when closed, ie: before a ball breaks the circuit slam tilts, using tape to block light - it doesn't slam tilt.
Otherwise, during "game" play the game will score with most targets.

I have checked diodes on all pf switches. On all that are on a white green, white yellow, white blue, and white purple wiring circuit, instead or reading resistance, the meter makes the continuity tone with no reading. All other switch diodes read between .59 and .61. Visually checked all diodes twice to be sure the band side is toward the common connector on the switch.

Five months ago, performed other diagnostics with help on Breakshot Club thread with varying and sometimes different results. If interested you can read that thread, it is not far back from the current end of the thread.
Do have the entire game manual.

Have run the diagnostics switch test. It shows problems with switches 30 tilt bob, 62 R top lane, 70 Center pocket, 38 Trough opto, 46 L outlane.

And at this point, have no idea where to start or how. Help.
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Ok how do I ask a moderator to move the post?

Thanks for the move. Told you I don’t know ss, well actually dmd. Lol

Bumping, really could use help. Thanks.

I haven’t checked again recently. But they were 5 months ago. Also found last night that no coils are firing. Thought ok, what would I do if it were an em. So started at very basics and checked continuity of fuses. 4 of 6 are bad. There are two fuse blocks in what I think is the main board. All 4 in the right fuse block are the bad ones. They are 4 amp 250v. Going to see if local hardware store has them, if not will have to order.

Maybe it really Is “just a fuse”. But fairly certain they blew for a reason. Going to buy plenty of spares.

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Replaced fuses. Ran solenoid test, screen showed message to check 50V interlock switch. Manually pushed in switch and every 50V coil in the game fired. And all fired every time the switch was pushed. Ran solenoid test again and screen showed messages shown below for two solenoids. All others show normal. Still get the center post problem messages during game start up. Should I desolder the bonus saucer and R bank reset switches? Or?

To answer the switch question, attached is a pic of the switch matrix page. They are in the same row.

One other question. Does it look like I am chasing two different problems, or are these possibly related?

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Thanks. I tested all the diodes ( I think, always could have missed one, will do so again tonight or tomorrow), but did so with them still attached to the switches. Do I need to de-solder them from the switches to properly test them?

And by the way, being an EM guy showing my ignorance, if diodes are such a source of potential problems. What function do they really serve?

Follow up re diodes: had a few minutes this morning, so retested more than half the diodes. On diodes that are either on a switch or on the solenoid itself associated with a 50 volt solenoid, instead of the .6 reading for the rest of the diodes, the meter is giving the continuity tone. Does this indicate a dead short somewhere? Could 1 bad diode cause this? And in either case, do I disconnect all 50 volt solenoids / switches then reconnect one by one to test?

Also, apparently during testing last night, as didn't turn on power first thing this morning, blew the 4amp 250 volt fuse had installed in FH 9 fuse slot last night. Only have two slow blow spares, so put in a regular 4amp fuse, turned on power, let it cycle through start up, closed coin door briefly, fuse did not blow.

Thanks. Since the solenoid test noted the right drop reset, and the saucer as potential problems. Will replace those diodes first. Then removing others in the 50 volt circuit path and testing them disconnected one at a time. Have about half a dozen extra diodes that came with the game and all have tested ok. But can see will be ordering more.

Pulled diodes from right saucer switch and solenoid. Both tested fine. Reinstalled.

Discovered 50v switches that give continuity reading during diode test. Give proper diode reading if switch is engaged. No idea why or if it means anything.

Decided to focus on center post problem. Switch and diode on post mech (eos or lock solenoid switch?) tests fine. Manual lists switch 66 as center post switch, which I assume is this eos or lock solenoid switch?

Is opto 65 the up post switch? If so, how can I test this opto switch? One post on optos for a different game said an iphone camera would show the sending optos glowing. Tested three on my game and none glowing. Ideas?

As always thanks for any help.

Update: Still not sure how to test the center post opto switch. So working on one of the other problems, the solenoid diagnostic error messages.

On the solenoid diagnostic test, see pics in post 11 above. There were two solenoid "off?" messages, something seems to have "solved" the right drop reset solenoid, as NRM is now lit and Off? is gone. For the saucer I tried swapping the solenoid with the same type solenoid from another part of the game. No change. Then tried swapping the saucer switch with the same style switch from another part of the game. No change. Does this indicate that this is probably a board problem?

Also, all solenoids in the diagnostic test still show the note as shown in the pics in post 11, to "check 50V interlock sw". Used multi meter, there are three connector blades leading from the switch. But only two wires connected. Should there be three? In testing found that the wires were connected to the right most (looking from above) and center blades. The right blade reads 50V whether the switch is in or out (on or off). The center blade reads 50V when the switch is out, and 0 in. The far left blade was 0 when out and 50V when in. Switched the center wire to the far left blade. And of course, no change in how the machine behaves (ie: no 50V coil is working), and the check 50V interlock message is still on during diagnostic test. Pics of the interlock switch and the random 4 wires not connected to anything, attached. Also, whether the switch is in or out, all 4 50V solenoid fuses on the Power(?) board read 0 volts.

Any ideas?

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Update: Will continue to post here, at least for a while. In the hope that it helps the next em guy who is foolish enough to take on a broken Breakshot.

Based on some on line posts in other sites, pulled the power board and reflowed solder in the 8 connections for the 4 capacitors. Also checked there were no shorts between a few solder joints that looked like repairs where the solder was a little close. All tested fine. Also while had it on the bench, tested every diode on the board. All tested fine.

However, when the board is installed, and the game on, all diodes on the 50V solenoid section of the board, give a positive continuity reading, instead of a diode test reading. Just like the diodes on the actual play field switches associated with the 50V solenoids under the play field. Pretty certain this means there is a short somewhere.

Also, with the game on, tried every play field switch. Marked on the matrix which were working with a W, which unused with a U, which didn't work with a dot, and which caused a slam tilt. Was hoping for a pattern that would help. May be a pattern certainly in row 5, but not one that helped me. And it really seems odd, that 3 switches in this row cause a slam tilt, but not the slam tilt switch. See pic below.

Desoldered connections on each switch in the row causing the slam tilt problem. Then reconnected one by one from left to right on the matrix row. The only "new" thing I noticed, was when the white with green dash wire was connected to the center top lane switch, but the white with green stripe wire was disconnected, the game didn't slam tilt when the center top lane switch was pressed. Other than that, didn't learn much. Already knew that all switches in this row had either a white with green dash, or white with green stripe as seen on the matrix. Have looked physically at the wire as it runs under the playfield and on the the back box, and can't find any obvious shorts, broken wires, incorrectly wired switches, etc. But that doesn't mean I am not missing a visible problem.

Will tackle it again over the next couple of nights.

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As closure for anyone following this thread back months ago. The game is finally working, after sitting ignored for months then having a couple of people look at the problems. It finally ended up with Pinball Pirate, Chris, in Benicia, CA. Chris found that there had been a short through the board that fried 4 or 5 chips, leading to multiple problems that didn't trace to one source because there were multiple fried chips, and a bad ROM. One chip had a crater in it.

So, more money than I had hoped, and months later, I have a working Breakshot, with a ROM upgrade. YEA!!!! Thank you Chris, you're a Pin Genius.