Just drawing from memory but on my sample funhouse I had a separate light string run for the start button. I want to say it was plugged into J136.

Two balls being served up is suuuper common with those williams games. Check and see if the arm that serves the ball from the trough is hitting or triggering the ball trough switch.

Do you have a LED bulb installed? What happens if you swap in an incandescent bulb? If it lights, you may need to reverse the wires on the socket in order for the LED to work.

I'm at work so I can't currently check on it for you, but wanted to poke my head in and say that from the one picture, that's a really nice job on the restoration. Super clean and nicely painted!

Oh. Never mind, then.

Hope either of these can help. The bottom plug is empty, and it seems at a quick glance the start button connects directly to the top of this smaller board. But I could have looked at it wrong.

IMG_3880 (resized).JPG

IMG_3882 (resized).JPG

As I recall, I had this exact problem once and it was a problem with having to repin the connector that connected to the start button. When you say you "restored" it, how far did you go? Did you strip all the harnesses and put them in an ultrasonic or scrub them in a sink? If so, pins and connectors can get borked with all the moving and getting wet. You may have compromised a connection somewhere.

Post some pictures of your machine and the questionable connections. Also check the connection to the driver board leading from J1 and J2 back to the driver board. There may be a bad connection there as well. Reseat all the connectors...and it wouldn't hurt to even check for cold solder joints at the pins for those connectors on the boards. Those have a tendency to crack a bit which can make your connection wonky. You'd need to reflow the solder then.

Just a couple of ideas for you to look over. This really shouldn't be a tough one for you to ultimately solve. Don't get frustrated!

Oh...also, with an incandescent bulb install in the button, wiggle a few of those wires at the breakout board connectors (and even the driver board ports associated with it) and see if it lights. You might find the bad pin/connection/joint that way.

As I recall, that's a blank plug. Here's mine before the restoration:

IMG_0599 (resized).JPG

Going to ask a silly question. But is the game on free play? Have you tried manually putting a couple of credits on to see if the start button lights?

Maybe the batteries are dead and not holding settings?

The schematics say J5 on the coin door board is not used.

You could also test at the board by alligator clipping a diode briefly between j206 pin 1 and J208 pin 3. This will simulate the row/column for the start button.

Did you put a few credits in just to check?

I win.

That is the reason I check every single connector pin with my multimeter for continuity before I install any PCB

Same applies to all cables, sockets, fuses, bulbs, micro switches and diodes. If you make a habit to check all these with the multimeter at restoration, you avoid a ton of problems later.

I am new to the Multimeter. Could you please tell me how to check the pins with the meter? I guess you put the red multimeter probe in the molex pin then where do you place the black probe to look for continuity? Thanks very much.

Thank you very much for posting the outcome. I have the same exact problem and have been chasing it down for a month. Now I go to learn how to use the damn Fluke Multimeter I bought. You got to be an engineer to use this stuff.

1.Put the multimeter in "diode mode" (or continuity mode). This option usually has a diode symbol ->| and maybe a sound symbol ( because it beeps when continuity is true)
2. Put one of the probe on the molex pin edge (red or black doesn't matter) and the other probe on the next station of the circuitry on the PCB that is connected to the molex pin. If it beeps/lights you have continuity. If the multimeter shows nothing, then check the solder connection of the pin (it might be cracked and will need desolder and re-solder
3.when you check a diode, you must have either a voltage drop across its legs (about 0,25 shows on your multimeter) or zero. This depends on which diode leg you put the red and the black probe. If it beeps or of it shows zero both ways, the diode is bad.