This is the first pinball machine I've worked on, so please excuse any dumb questions or misused jargon.

Our office has inherited an Embryon machine as non-working. After drilling out the lock in the head, I found that none of the harness wasn't hooked up, but everything seemed complete. After hooking up all the connectors to where I think they should go, I plugged the machine in and turned it on. It lit up and started making sounds, including the spoken word sound effects.

One of two noises chime when a coin is entered, but we can't seem to start a game. Nothing seems to happen when pressing the start button on the coin door. The credits say that there are 10 credits and adding more quarters doesn't increment the number.

When running the self-tests, a few light bulbs are burnt out, but the majority of them are lighting up.

The solenoid self-test triggers 1 of the solenoids every 15 seconds or so. I have a feeling that more of them should be triggering, but I don't know if I need to do something during the self-test. Perhaps the solenoids aren't working, which is causing the game not to work?

I checked the fuse under the playfield and it was blown. When I replaced it, about 1/2 of the solenoids started firing during the self-test. The main 2 flippers don't, but the one of the side does. Also, the machine started smelling electrical. Perhaps a few of the solenoids are stuck and making it smell?

There are 2 balls in the trough. I will try to see if the start button is hooked up.

Ok, I replaced the 5 amp regular fuse under the playfield with a 2 amp slow blow fuse I got, and it blew within 10 seconds of turning the machine on. I put the 5 amp fuse back in it. Edit: The original fuse I took out of the playfield was a 5 amp / 250V, that that's what I looked for at the hardware store. I'm seeing in the manual it should be a 1 amp fuse, so a previous owner must have been troubleshooting something.

When I turn the machine on, I see 7 flashes of the led, though the first one is shorter than the rest. I don't know if that matters.

I can do the light test, the display test, the solenoid test (with about 1/2 of the solenoids triggering) and the sound test, but I don't think the switch test is working. No matter what switches I trigger manually, nothing displays on the displays during this self test. Maybe all the switches aren't being detected? I can't get the flippers to work either. The solenoid that's stuck on is #12, the one labeled "Saucer" in the manual.

Thanks for the info.

I did replace the solenoid that seems to be the culprit and it's doing the same thing, so I'll look at the solenoid board.

If I end up getting that altek board, do I need to modify the harness, or is it plug and play?

I've replaced the Solenoid driver board with the alltek one, and most if not all solenoids are triggering. The last one (Q19) doesn't, but I don't know if this machine even has a Q19. The green LED on the solenoid board for Q19 is solidly on during the attract mode. I'm no longer getting the burning smell or anything, and the fuse isn't popping. I talked to Dave, the guy from alltek, and he gave me a few things to look at.

I'm having issues with the flippers though, and still can't start a game. During the self-test if I hold down the left button, the Left flipper will trigger when the relay flashes on. Though, if I do the same thing with the right flipper, nothing happens. I checked voltages on the soldered parts of the solenoid and I get 0, even during the self-test when the relay trips on, though I may not be reading those correctly. I'm looking for DC current. I get 43v on the solenoid driver board's test point. With the power off, if I check continuity, all of the 3 flipper's 3 solder points beep no matter which ones I try, so perhaps there is a short. Or, maybe it's not... I don't know what it's supposed to do.

I switched the U10 and U11, and there isn't a change.

I'm not sure my earlier theory of "none of the switches work" is correct anymore. The coin switches work, as does the left flipper button, and the self test button works. Now that more of the coils work, tapping a ball against the rubber is triggering that solenoid. I think I just can't get it to start a game.

In the self-tests, I can get through the lights, score displays, solenoids, and sound effects, but whatever the next one doesn't seem to work. The score displays seem to just pick a random number and count up every second or so.

I took the MPU off and inspected it. There actually isn't a battery. There's a tiny bit of corrosion on the back, but it doesn't seem to affect the contacts at all. Will these machines operate correctly without a battery? I've attached a couple photos.

I think the issue with the flippers might be with the leaf switch on the button itself. I can't seem to get my multimeter to beep when it's pressed. It looks like the contact points might be rusted over.

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Also, I should note that when the left flipper hits the end of stroke switch, there's a bright spark. I noticed this when I turned the machine on with the playfield up. I don't know if this is normal.

Update: I was able to get the game to play. I held down the start switch continuously for like 30 seconds, and a couple solenoids fired, and the 8-digit display indicated that the first player was playing. It kicked a ball out and I was able to play with a single flipper. One of the popbumpers fired every second or so (which I figured was due to a closed switch, which it was). I think a bunch of the switches needed to be cleaned. I am getting continuity on the start switch when it's closed though, so maybe something further down the line is not registering switch presses?

I found that I could repeatedly get the game to start playing if I make sure there's a full 10 credits in the machine, then press the start button and trip the leads between the diode/resistor (I can't remember which it is) on the start button. It'll only start if there are 2 balls under the apron (sorry I don't know the names of the parts), otherwise, it'll make the same sound as when you tilt and reset the machine. I'm going to look in the manual for the various dip switches to see if it's set strangely as far as credits/play go.

I'm confused about something: Since there's just the one start button, how do you tell the machine it's a 1 vs 2/3/4 player game? I'm just not used to this type of machine.

Any idea what the part number is on that switch? I've tried the card trick, but it didn't seem to help.

I replaced the credit/start switch and I'm still seeing the same symptoms. The switch won't trigger anything when closed, but if i brush one probe of my multimeter on the diode side of the switch, it will regardless if the switch is closed or not. Maybe there's a short somewhere down the line?

Edit: pushing the non-diode contact of the button so that it's almost touching the inside of the coin door panel will trigger the button.

Yes. I believe so. It comes in through A4J3-2 (a red wire) which is going through the diode, and the switch goes out on A4JE-14, which is a blue wire. The painted tip of the diode is going with the circuit.

By pushing the contact against the coin door, it will switch the player, but the game won't start. I can switch back and forth between players by pushing it, but no game will ever start.

edit: I found that shorting either contact against the inside of coindoor triggers the game to go into player select mode.

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In switch test mode, it will flash 0 regardless if I trigger the credit button or not. I can confirm that there's paper between contact and the door. When I'm talking about pushing the contact against the coin door, I'm talking about the tab that the wire is soldered to. Perhaps the connector needs to be repinned? I'm getting continuity on the witch when I push the button, and also I'm getting continuity between the switch leads and the back of the PCB where they connect to.

I've still not had any luck getting past this point. I've replaced the leaf switches twice now and it's doing the same thing.

I'm in Champaign, IL. Is their a board in pinside I can post something to get local-ish help?