I’m still parting out my Secret Service playfield and the Topper if anyone’s interested. Lots of good parts on it, but no plastics left.

https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/74362

My Torpedo Alley has one, and my MNF has one I know most Data East’s have the knocker cut out because it caused some sort of issue? Not sure what issue but most I’ve seen have them removed. My Checkpoint has it’s removed also.

Also about the Fuse Block, I have a spare Secret Service Head with quite a few Data East parts and that fuse block, is the retrofit universal?

Turns out I was wrong on that, there is no knocker after all on MNF

I’m terribly sorry, I feel like a fool
MNF doesn’t have a knocker. I don’t know why I was so sure!

You can easily buy new DE lockdown bars. You should be able to google it, everyone has them. Pinball life, Marco, the likes

Sorry didn’t mean to seem rude. PBL just had them a few days ago. I mean DE lockdowns seem to be some of the easier to attain. You could put up a WTB ad and get one fast aswell

So that transistor shorted often? Because I’ve seen so many DE’s with the knocker cut and not sure why it was so widespread.

I’m not sure what you mean by this? Do you have any picture references?

Ah yes okay, the coinco plastic covers
Most games I’ve gotten had one removed, probably for an op or home user to add credits instead of setting it to freeplay (because somehow that’s too difficult)
I don’t think they’re made anymore. I can check tomorrow to see if I have spares

I’ve stated this earlier in other DE threads, that connector is the ground for your GI. The connectors used were not rated for the amperage it draws and they get hot as hell. Every single Data East game I’ve bought has had that and the other connectors burnt right off. My Checkpoint had it so bad it desoldered the connector right off the board. Replace the GI with LEDs and you won’t have that issue again.

I don’t recall for sure, but my Checkpoint DMD was scrambled for a while and after I rebuilt the power supply the issue went away. The caps could be bad if they’re original. As for ball eject, not sure there. It shouldn’t be related, the solenoids are plugged in on the lower left of the power supply, far away from the GI issues. However the PS should most likely be rebuilt. Most are just old and failing now

Told ya! The power supply on Data East games need to be rebuilt. They’re all dying right now. New caps and it’s good as new!

So I was setting up my newly restored Checkpoint... when it fell off the stool I was propping the back of the game up with trying to put on the legs.
I know better then to try catching a falling machine, but it slammed down HARD.
It sheered off the connectors to my mini-DMD and now half of it is out. It blew out the bottom speaker, cone was blown apart. Now no solenoids will work and I have the extremely loud Data East hum and you can barely hear the game sounds...
I’m extremely discouraged and heartbroken as my friend was helping me restore this game and I literally just picked it up last Tuesday from his house after nearly 8 months of being there. Didn’t even get a chance to play it

Any suggestions where to start?

WOW, I see a Saratoga Pinball Show card in there!!

I've been spending a ton of time bringing my Torpedo Alley back from the dead. The game is an absolute WRECK from Florida, but TA deserves the restoration. FANTASTIC game, and the best light show of any 80's game by far. I mean KEITH ELWIN owns one, how much more proof do you need?

Currently the game boots, has a rottendog MPU, but none of the cabinet switches/buttons register at all, thus I cannot interact with the game at all. Solenoids are kicking locked balls out and playfield switches are registering. I traced the green wires off the coin door and they have continuity all the way back to the board. I switched in a different coin door (Checkpoint was close enough) and the coin rejects light up but still no buttons will work. What should I look into next?

Another awesome TA! Definitely adjust that bad boy up! It shouldn't be that easy. Needs to be brutally fast. Also did you or the previous owner light the star posts and color match the rubbers?? That's some hardcore color matching going on...

Does he fix soundboards too? My Torpedo Alley soundboard is fried (right above the batteries that leaked for many years), and I’d like to get my checkpoint MPU fixed too

Here’s mine. Just a little bit of corrosion.
Soundboard looks slightly better than this. It got hit with all the outgassing of the batteries

2B3D777E-58F2-47C7-86EF-1B74470A97D3.jpeg

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The MPU is toast, but I don’t have a pic of the soundboard at the moment

Boy my checkpoint can severely use one of these! Mine has been fixed using fiberglass patch kits and all sorts of ugly garbage. It’s the worst. Definitely one of the ugliest checkpoint ramps out there.
I still need to get my game fully working, I’ve had an issue since day one that the VUK is locking on when any coil goes on, there are no bad transistors, no shorts on the board and I haven’t been able to locate any ground shorts anyway. This checkpoint has been a pain in my ass for ages.

I was also hit by the curse of DE, my MNF has been on location at my arcade for over 2 months, and I’ve checked everyday. The wires were warm but never hot, and it was probably 2/3rds LED.
Welp regardless one of the wires burnt up and I had half my GI out. What a bummer.

Also I’ve had an issue with the sound randomly deciding to get stuck doing the odd thumping pulse after 2 full cycles of attract mode. Every 15 minutes after a game is played or the game is powered on it it thumps and thumps very strangely. I believe the giant 18k cap has gone bad on the PS and caused the sound section to go into some bizarre loop.

BEDA42DE-5CE7-40B3-8F4E-9DDD34FD3A96.jpeg

Yes, I have one, message me. I can get it off my spare Secret Service backbox. I’m still selling parts off my populated playfield if anyone needs them.

The history is basically Chicago Coin was selling off their assets and in 1977 Stern Electronics Inc. was created when the Stern family bought them. Later in 1982 they closed the pinball division “temporarily” ending the production of Orbitor 1, despite having over 4,000 orders for it. In-between this time Stern bought Seeburg which actually owned Williams manufacturing so Stern owned Williams for a brief time technically. Stern made arcade games until filing for bankruptcy in late 1984 about when the retheme Quicksilver Lazer Lord was revealed. After the bankruptcy Gary or possibly his father Sam Stern reformed them into Mylstar and produced a conversation kit that was the original Prototype of a standard body Flight 2000 called Gamatron, they marketed this kit from 1985 to 1986.

In 1987 the glorious Laser War was made by the newly formed Data East by Joe Kaminkow and Gary Stern. They went on until 1994 making Maverick as their last machine which kept rolling to production with Sega buying them. Then Sega continued on to 1999 making Harley-Davidson which finally came full circle with Gary buying them out then making it the new Stern Pinball Inc. we know today.

Now there’s the big history in case you’re all wondering. I find their story probably one of the most fascinating in pinball because of how clever the Stern family was. Always coming out of the bankruptcies on top.

*Pinstar, not Mylstar.

My Monday Night Football has weird sounds that are different from the standard sounds I’ve heard in videos.
Also it says “factory altered” didn’t know if that had something to do with it.
The HUGE 18000uf capacitor is definitely bad. Nobody seems to have it in stock. Any suggestions?

This happened with my MNF, caps are going bad. Sounds would reset after every ball

I may have missed this but does anyone have a source for the HUGE capacitor on the DE power supply? Mine is definitely bad and slowly drains until it no longer can keep capacitance as the game runs. I can’t find the massive one and my game does NOT have the holes for multiple smaller caps