They used low quality, cheap parts for the phone. That's why.

Same here, I still have not called JJP (as Lloyd has said to do) I did ticket so I will end up calling at some point unless they respond to the ticket.

I can't imagine that the phone display is the cause of this, if you changed it several times it's very unlikely that it's only the display and every single one is faulty. And the second evidence is that it works again after a reset. If there is no hardware problem (which I don't think but it can be something with the cables or connections) I can only imagine a software problem.

What about some kind of hibernation?

A similar thing happened to me too, but with the backbox monitor on POTC. Someone previously mentioned this above on their DI. At the time, I attempted to go into the service menu, and could hear the menu sounds etc. but as DarthSinex said, only a reboot solved the problem.

I wonder if ClarkKent is onto something with the hibernation. Unfortunately I wasn't in the room at the time, so didn't see the monitor turn off.

Same here, my phone screen goes blank occasionally mid game. Led's around the screen work still, but screen never recover. I change soft from 1.57 to 1.61 same happens, notre sure it's software issue sinces it worked for months with 1.57 without this issue.

That sounds much like hibernation. As it's Linux this could certainly configured in some way, JJP should be able to do that.

After update to 1.57 it happened once on my machine. In attract mode the monitors turned off after a while (I also wasn't there when it happened), only reboot solved it. But never happened again since then (didn't update to 1.6x yet). My dealer told me that this could happen after an update but shouldn't happen a second time, if it does I should try to update again.

Oh no.. The Linux hibernation nightmare. I have a box I STILL have issues with

Found a lot of problems with blank monitors after hibernation on Linux with the google keywords "linux hibernate monitor problem".

Is Ted still working on code ? I have 1.57. I have been holding off on anything higher.

I’d hold off until some bugs are worked out. When I updated to 1.61 my game started acting funny. Screens on the back box and phone started lagging bad and my coils would randomly get weaker. This caused me to not be able to hit shots and my phone scoop kickout would be extremely inconsistent. I’m working with Ted to see if can provide some data and figure out what’s going on. I sent him some data from my game when running 1.61 the other day so hopefully that helps. Just reverted back or 1.57 and the game plays amazing.

I'm on 1.61. I think it's great

Finally made it to Armageddon for the first. Doubled my previous GC score. Such a rush! Unfortunately, didn't finish collecting my sim cards so Showdown is still waiting for me.

IMG_7976 (resized).JPG

IMG_7979-1 (resized).JPG

It seems to be specific to each individual machine - I am on 1.61 and also have not seen problems

The phone blanking is not hibernation. I have a topper that displays the same VGA signal, and when my phone blanks, the topper is fine. As for them using cheap parts, where is the evidence that they are cheap? Faulty hardware does not mean cheap hardware.

And the upper pf was definitely designed for nudging. They Whitewood their machines, and Pat Lawler knows Pinball better than any of us.

Maybe, but if there is someone here who replaced the phone monitor four times - do you think all four monitors are faulty?

Maybe it has something to do with the cables but on the other hand sometimes I can see a message on all monitors that it's in power save mode, some seconds later it comes to life again.

I still think it comes from the operating system.

I've replaced mine three times and spoken directly to the guy trying to fix the issue several times. It's not a software issue. It's a hardware issue in the phone. It appears to respond to software updates though. Obviously, they still haven't fully solved it. Plug a monitor into the VGA signal and you'll see for yourself. The monitor will never go black.

So if it is a problem in the phone, would that mean theaters messing up are a hardware issue as well? Has anyone set up a monitor to output that signal to check it out?

I don't know if it's possible,but I'd like to see the phone information displayed on the main monitor(split screen),when ever the phone blacks out.Now that would be a useful update in my book!

Somehow this sounds like a contradiction in terms. It's not a software issue but responds to updates??

What type of connection does the phone use?

The phone can be still be updated with software, but software updates aren't capable of fixing the black screen issue. The problem resides in the physical design of the phone.

Several years back, I was designing a Linux based platform for a company in the oil and gas industry. We had the same problem. It ended up being a screen clocking issue that was the result of poor PCB design. The controlled impedance wasn't properly accounted for causing the screen to lose sync and eventually go black.

Ok, but then it should cause problems on all machines, not on a small number only.

I'm okay with having to reboot my game every once in awhile,but my last phone want black,and never worked again.Now my forth phone is starting to blackout,but it comes back on with a reboot.I'm afraid if I don't replace it,I'll be stuck once my warranty expires.
I'll wait and see if I get the black screen of death again,before I replace this phone.The phone is a part of DI,that I'm really starting to hate.

Yeah that's crazy.

Played Dialed In for the first time today(silverball museum in NJ). Just wanted to chime in how much fun I had with it. As a first time player the game does a good job of telling you what to aim for and how to score. The multiball, emoji, selfie mode stuff is great. And I love the electric shock when you hit the power guy. Spent 90 minutes at the museum thinking I would play a bunch of games but spent 90% of my time with Dialed In. Great stuff!

He's not saying that his issue is exactly the issue here. There are some hardware issues with some of the phones and they haven't fully fixed it yet. Hardware is driven by software and faulty hardware most definitely responds to the software driving it. For example, my latest phone was great until I updated. I too thought it must be software, but it is not. Your argument about all machines can be transposed: if it's software, why isn't it affecting all machines? Again, plug a monitor in.

Good point. I almost can't believe that a batch of phone hardware is faulty. Did you get the whole phone as replacement or only a pcb? Nevertheless I'll stay at 1.57 as I do not see big improvements in the latest software and my system seems to be rock solid at the moment...

By the way: is there somebody here where the theater monitor is also affected or is the phone monitor only?

Got error switch 11 left loop made stuck open.
See picture..the opto is out if the holder..
Arent they glued or soldered in place ? I can move it around touching the wire from below the playfield. Have to disassemble the ramp to reach this..

20190125_103759 (resized).jpg

I have the phone screen blanking issue. Regularly happens that mid game, the phone screen goes into an animation and then blanks out and never recovers. Only solution is a reboot, which always perfectly fixes the issue, so can't understand how the phone is solely to blame rather than mix of software and hardware. Couple of things I can add.

The Theatre never has any problems, just the phone.
The VGA cable is well connected and tightly adjusted at both the phone and the board.

However, I regularly do see messages coming up on the phone that say VGA. This is similar to what I would experience if a projector was searching for a source when connected to a laptop. I would think that this happens intermittently before it eventually blanks out.

The other thing is that the icons on my phone are off the screen at the bottom . So although I can see the disasters clearly, the calc and phone icons at the bottom are only partly on the screen. Not sure if this is normal behaviour?

I believe the opto LEDs and receivers are held in a plastic bracket with a “lid” to keep them in place. The lid probably feel off yours and is somewhere in your game. I had the same problem with a couple of optos under my playfield. However, they were easy to get to and I ended up holding them in place with a piece of electrical tape (though hot glue should work too.)

OK, it looks like the same as when the machine is turned on - the VGA text also appears at turning on. Maybe the signal is switched to whatever at some point?

At my phone the bottom line is clearly visible as far as I remember. I think I'll check that again...

I had the same thing happen... top of the plastic case popped off and the opto came out of the case... getting to it was the hard part, but a little electrical tape to hold it all together and good as new.

Hot glue works great for this. I had to replace my theater opto completely. Actually made my own from parts online since I was impatient to wait for the actual replacement. The stock one had some hot glue on from factory. They snap in but a little dab of hot glue will prevent them from popping out in future.

Thanks guys. Was able to figure out how it was. Didn't find it in the manual. Just black box where opto goes in, lid is missing so I used electric tape.
Was happy to only needed to remove the left ramp and not everything else to remove that metal ramp itself..

The lid is most likely in the bottom of the cabinet. That's where I found mine when I had this problem.

Thought I’d share with our main thread some thoughts on the great theme of Dialed In. Didn’t realize the other WW thread was inactive. Dialed In’s theme is the only perceived weakness by the trolls, so they constantly pounce on that drum and bang it incessantly.

Notice to all you DI trolls: please stay out of this and all JJP threads (lol). We don’t need your nonsense here (lol). DI theme is the only thing you can bash, because you know Dialed In plays the best out of most any game made. Has some of the most ball interactive toys. The most shots. Buttery smooth flow, and on and on. So the only thing you can bash is the theme. Which is not a weakness either, because it is so well integrated into the table.

BTW, if you’d only open your narrow minds a little, you’d realize the theme is awesome, unless you don’t like all the disaster or campy sci-fi themes of the past. Dialed In stands tall in the theme business and it is refreshing to have an original idea, instead of all the copy and paste movie themes out there. Grow up and stop bashing one of the best pins ever made just over the theme. You and I know there is nothing else you can say negative about one of the best pin’s ever made. At the very least it is in the top three of all time. No I don’t work for Jack, lol. But he is a friend of mine.

The theme is easy to explain. I just tell people it’s very much like “Get Smart” causing and controlling disasters with his shoe phone. Campy humor just like that show. The guy with the red shirt is Max, which accidentally purchased the Kaos (Dialed In Electronics) powerful secret new (shoe) phone. Control Chief is trying to get you to end the disasters, using the power of the Kaos secret phone. Control’s Chief is also using the “cone of silence”, in the Quantum Theater, showing you things to destroy or secret boxes to discover.

Kaos is trying to get you to return the phone and hunting you down. When they find you, they use Kaos laser wespons and fire upon your defenses (flippers). Agent 99 is Mandy, always there for you. And so forth...everyone gets this well known TV series parallel and has fun with the game from that point on. That helps them understand and love the theme. More attention, fun and smiles on their faces than any other game I’ve noticed too!

There you have it...

Nice,can you do me a favor and ask Jack what's the problem with the phones?
Thanks in advance

From my understanding, it is the cable in between the phone and main board that is the issue. Change that cable and you should solve your phone blacking out. It’s the faulty cable possibly causing the phone to short out. Try it and see...

Brilliant analogy. Thanks for sharing this.

Definitely not true. Try 15 cables and you'll see for yourself. The issue is that either the graphics card stops sending the signal or the phone stops receiving it, hardware-wise. They have ruled out the graphics card as far as I know. They replaced and repaired my phone. It has improved it immensely as I was getting blackouts every game. Now it's not very common, but still exists. I also used to get color casts (yellow) like crazy. I still see this on occasion too.

What's the production date of your machine?

Great post. I think the name & initial marketing caused many folks off to fly off in a negative direction. A pinball about cell phones? The bluetooth demoware for controlling the flippers remotely didn't help. If the game was called "Chaos in Quantum City", the pesky trolls wouldn't be as vocal.

I love the game. My ONLY criticism is the fairly monotone audio and callbacks (with the exception of big events like "Big Bang", collecting Sim Cards, and MB's).

Exactly how I ended up buying mine. Went to Silverball before it’s release to check it out. There was only the negative hype about the theme and very little positive. There were a few videos out which intrigued me. So yeah. Went to play a game or two. Couldn’t pull me away. Also played WOZ with updated code that day too. Now I have both.

Glad you mentioned the color casts on the phone. I have not had this issue on the phone, but on the theater screen. Sometimes the screen will have a yellow tint, but usually disappears after the machine is powered on for ten minutes or longer. Contacted JJP, and they sent me a replacement theater screen that was defective. JJP did apologize, which was not necessary as support and service has been great for me.

Anyway, after reinstalling the original theater screen the issue went away for a few months, but is now recurring.

For those of you having problems with your phones, what is your machine’s born on date? Would be good to get a sense of the genealogy if it exists. May be uniform and random, but still a good question.

Don't have the date on hand, but mine was one of the first run. Very early production.

The original name, "Killer App" would have made it waaaay better. Jack thought it wasn't family friendly, which I disagree. As for callouts, I love the news cast tone. Different strokes..

Would be interesting if lately built machines are also having this mobile video problems. Is the somebody here having these troubles with a machine built mid to end 2018?

I noticed today I have the following LEDs out:
Crazy Bob sign
Train 1 ramp #7-12
Lock ramp #1-6

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Seems like a cable got lose. Seems to be J102 and J103.