Hi all, just aquired a firepower pinball (my second pinball), and I am not trying to get it running. After cleaning the ball sensors, the game will now start, and it seems everything is working except the right flipper, the 4 jet bumpers and the right and left kickers. The flipper doesn't work and doesn't seem to have voltage to the switch at all. When the ball hits any if the 4 jet bumpers or the 2 kickers, nothing happens at all (they don't get triggered). When I run the diagnostic function, all 4 jet bumpers and the 2 kickers fire normally (still no flipper function though). Any thoughts out there?

sorry, should be "am trying to get it running"

OK, so I should have noted that there was no power to the right flipper.

I did the switch test, all of the game's switches registered except the same 4 jet bumpers and the right and left kickers that don't fire in the game. I guess that would make sense, but why those? And what next? Thanks!

Thanks, good advice for a newbie on repairs. I was spoiled with my first pin which has never had a "real" issue. I will check these and see what I find.

All the other switches are registering in the switch test.

So I checked the green/yellow column wires on the pop switches, and didn't see anything obviously loose/broken, although I must admit that if it was wired incorrectly I may not pick it up because of lack of experience. Question: if it were the green/yellow column wire issue, wouldn't the other switches on that column also not register?

The flipper coil resistance seems to be fine, and is similar to the working one. Since there is no power to the right flipper switch, I am now trying to trace those wires back to the board to see if there is an issue with wiring. Lots to learn...

OK, learning a lot here. I ran the switch test and tested each one at the driver board manually. All of them work, so this much I know:
- all the solenoids are firing in the solenoid test
- all of the switches are registering at the driver board in the switch test

Seems to be good news, as this points to a wiring problem I think (not a board issue)

When looking at the playfield solenoid wiring diagram, if I am reading these correctly, it seems that all of my issues are combined in the leads from the 2J12 port on the driver board (including my right flipper). I think the board must be good (supplying power) as they work in the solenoid test.

So, knowing this info, should I be looking for bad resistors, coils, loose wires, etc? And why would the left flipper work, if all of the other solenoids on the 2J12 port don't register in a game?

So how would one go about testing whether the IC6/IC7 are working/bad?

And why would the left flipper work fine, but the right not (as well as everything else on that bank of solenoids)?

Also, if the scoring switches are totally separate, why would they register in switch test (testing directly off the board pins), but not if I manually trigger the switches on the playfield?

Amazing explanations guys. I will look at replacing those 7408 chips.

On the flipper issue, I am still trying to figure it out to see if I need to replace anything else on driver board when doing the 7408 work. Here's what else I have found out:

- with the power off and flipper depressed, there is continuity from the power board to the respective output on the driver board (does that necessarily mean the wiring is good?)
- the flipper coil seems to be good using the resistance check with a multimeter and a piece of cardboard between EOS switch. I didn't take the diode off to check, would that make a difference?

Is there a good way to check if there is live voltage, I am nervous of checking when the power is on? What else should I be looking for. Thanks.

On the working flipper, the resistance of the coil is 26.4, on the non-working flipper it is 24.4.

When checking the power to the coils, the non-working is not getting a reading, while the working flipper is getting 35.5v. So, no power at all. Incidentally, the coils for the pop-bumpers and kick-bumpers are getting the same voltage (so the theory of the 7408 chips being bad is looking plausible).

I also checked at the power board (3J3 power solenoid bus) and the lead (blue) to the right flipper is not showing any power being sent through. So, am I to assume the power board has issues? And if so, any idea why one flipper would be getting power from the board and not the other (which is right beside it)?

Just checked, both are showing the same reading, 4.5 (not sure of units, but would milli-volts be correct? used the 200m setting on the multimeter). What's that tell us?

I had previously checked the Power Board at those pins on 3J3, and no voltage to the non-working flipper pin. 35v to the working flipper.

The relay power was not-fluctuating at all, very constant at 4.5 mv.

Well, this is interesting. Schwaggs was correct with the power board issue, I reflowed the solder on the non-working pin and then had power to the non-working flipper! After a bit of tinkering with the flipper switch, I noticed a huge bonus. Once the right flipper received power and starting working, all the pop-bumpers and kickers came to life! I have no idea why, but not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I spent the last hour playing the game with no issues.

Still have some very minor issues to clear up, but looking great now! Thanks for all the help guys, there sure is a lot of knowledge out there, and I expect I will be back for more help in the future.

As a newbie to circuit board repair, I just stayed on the immediate task and didn't reflow the other pins. Now the work of bullet-proofing the game, a winter project...but maybe I will play a few games first! Thanks.