Since about half a year, I am the owner of a Capcom Airborne. It has not been flawless, but until now I have been able to tackle everything myself (as in: broken wires, switches and short ground). Recently, a new problem surfaced:

During the game, it randomly seems to "end the ball", as if it was drained. It does not happen every ball, but during one game (3 balls), at least one of them will end this way.

What have I done so far?

0. Enter diagnostics. There are also no warnings indicating a switch, row or column is out. (just 2 lamp warnings).

1. Enter switch test, all opto's and switches that register where a ball could be locked (trough, jet lock, R lock, L lock, work. I also tried to lock balls, to see if hitting another switch would cause a whole row or column to register (which could indicate a short row/column/blown diode).

2. I have replaced the switch indicating a ball is in the shooter lane, because it was faulty, but this did not fix the problem.

3. Then I suspected the opto's in the trough to be faulty (thinking, if blocked, it could detect a ball, ending the game). So, I cleaned them and all connectors, but the problem remains. Also, during glass-off tests, it does not end the game if trough opto's are blocked during game play.

Two things I will mention, because they might be related:

1. I have upgraded to the latest ROM version (1.6), I do not remember I had this problem with the old rom.

2. The micro switches for the drop targets seem fiddly. During switch test, they seem to keep on registering intermittently: If I drop S, it registers S, then I drop H, it registers H, and also it registers S again a few times. Might be far fetched, but maybe the hyperactive drop target switches throw off the software, resulting in ending of the ball?

I am hoping someone recognizes the problem, or could point me in the right direction?

Thanks, I did get the feeling the "ball end" is triggered upon ball impact or flipper action, so the loose opto theory makes sense!

Edit: just tried it. The opto's do not register upon impact on the playfield. But, it does register some of the droptargets (the ones that are down).

Edit2: just disconnected all droptarget switches. Now I am able to finish a few games without sudden deaths!

I think I will start with replacing the microswitches on the droptargets.

I replaced all drop target switches, and although it fixed some other problem I had, the problem with sudden ball ends is not fixed. But now, when I put it into switch test, whacking my flat hand on the playfield immediately triggers all trough switches. I did not see that before (probably because at first, whacking the playfield would also trigger some of the droptarget switches). Removed the apron, and tapping the opto receiver board in the trough does the same.

Now on my way to do a reflow of that board. My very first reflow

So the droptarget switches might be related to the opto problem!

Anyhoe, reflowed both opto boards TX and RX (and adjusted switch belonging to droptarget A), and now it seems to work. Had one of my best games ever (well, glass-off that is .

Trying to get back on topic, my original problem still exists. Long story short, the game experiences sudden ball ends, due to optos registering a ball in the trough, caused by shocks on the playfield (flipper/sling activity).

In the mean time, I found someone willing to change all the opto and receivers, basically, rebuild the opto boards for me. That did not solve the problem. I then swapped the boards with my recently acquired Pinball Magic, and the problem stayed within Airborne. So I think we can rule out the opto boards. My next suspect would be the connectors to the opto boards, but tapping them, even wiggling the wires, does not reveal any problem.

I created a video (3 minutes) showing exactly what I mean: https://photos.app.goo.gl/giU2XyWErrWbap7b8 (excuse my Dutch accent .

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Knock on wood, but the problem seems to be solved by remounting the wires in the connector to the opto-sender (even though tapping/wiggling the connector would not show a problem).

Last night, after more than two years, I was able to finish a full game