So, my beautiful Dirty Harry has been a great machine. Clean and fully functioning (except for the ball occassionally rolling out of the gun).

Yesterday, I turned on the machine and for the first time ever, the DMD kind of flashed and then basically showed snow off and on, then went blank. Then it would flash like it was working perfect for a second, then back to snow, then go blank... and now it doesn't really do anything anymore.

Do you think that is the DMD and needs replacing... or is there a control board that goes bad?

All the electronics are stock.

Another weird thing that has been happening the last couple weeks too... the launcher would trigger before the ball popped into the trough when I was in multiball. Then, it would occassionally do it on the second or third ball of the game.

Eventually, the ball would make it into the trough and get launched after a couple tries, but it would slow down multiball.

Wondering if any other DH owners have had this problem? Thanks!

DH is my baby. Found a full set of plastics for it at Pinball at the Zoo this year, so now I can put the final touches on him and he is gonna be just about perfect.

Everything is close to a 10/10, with LEDs everywhere, aftermarket decal of the Chicago skyline in the back, and PP speakers and woofer.

But then this damn problem. Thanks for the tips. I'll try putting my JD dmd in there. But I'm thinking probably the controller board is the likely suspect.

Any good links to research controller repair? I can solder a new switch, but that might be over my head

I hooked the DH DMD to my JD and it works fine.

That means it must be something else.

Controller board? Where can I find a good replacement? Has anyone like Rottendog or Great Lakes re-engineered a better than NOS?

I saw this from X-Pin.
http://xpinpinball.com/products/controllers/XP-WPCDMD-CTRL
Is this what I probably should try next?

Thank you very much for the offer and info. I'm more likely to buy a re-engineered new board from X-Pin. That way I can practice my skills on the old stock board.

I'll keep you in mind for the Firepower I'm looking at. It's a project machine that needs a new CPU. $400 is a good deal, but the cabinet will need some work. Nice PF though, which is the more important thing to me.

Installed Xpin DMD controller. Problem fixed, though out is loud.

The card buzzes a lot louder than my JD. At least, it sounds like it is coming from the DMD controller. Buzzing sound is in synch with what is showing on the DMD. Louder the more dots that are lit.

Scratch that, it is actually the DMD humming pretty loudly. And I had to flip some of the dip switches on the controller to get the DMD to display properly.

Something must be goofy...