So, a couple weeks ago, I bought my first pinball machine. It's a Dr. Dude, which is one I fell in love with in college about 10-12 years ago.

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Unbeknownst to me upon purchase, the blue apron would indicate that it's one of the WPC prototypes, and not the System 11C version. The display screen would seem to verify this as it says DOMESTIC PROTO 7 in the menu. Does this mean the PDF of the Users Manual is irrelevant, since it's for System 11C?

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It's in pretty good condition, with a few weird glitches. I'm very new to pinball repair, but am determined to DIY this. I've already replaced a couple of broken rubber rings (flippers and slingshots) and the slingshot plastics. However, the electronic side of it, I'm a little bit daunted by.

For starters, when it first gets plugged in and turned on, sometimes only the playfield lights come on, and no startup sounds or scoreboard screen comes on (in fact, only a hissing sound from the speakers), until I open the backglass and jiggle some of the wires. This gets it started up, but I have no idea which wires may be the problem as they are all bunched together.

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During gameplay, the Gift of Gab gets activated seemingly randomly and repeatedly (though usually while I'm in the Jumper Bumpers) and will start playing the sounds and ejecting the ball when I am nowhere near it.

Some of the lights do not light up, as well. I thought this might be blown bulbs, but ones that were out sometimes come on, and ones that were working fine sometimes do not come on. (In particular, the gift of gab was not lighting and magnetic personality was, but they have switched now.) One of the back jumper bumpers won't light and some of the lights indicating the 3 stages of the personality traits (magnet's third light, for one) do not light either.

I also have these wires which are not connected to anything. One looks like it might go in J119, but I am not sure and don't want to break it.
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Finally (for now), two digits on the right hand scoreboard display do not appear. Is this something that can be fixed, or will the whole display need to be replaced?
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Please let me know what my plan of attack should be, and if you're in the Binghamton, NY area, know what you're doing, and wouldn't mind checking it out in person, let me know.

Thanks in advance!

Also, forgot to mention the "couch cushion" drop targets on the right are stuck in the "down" position as well. They were up when I got it, but as they got hit, they never came back up.

One more thing: Occasionally the game will all of a sudden shut down, forcing a reset when the Magnetic Personality activates the Mixmaster. This does not happen every time, but enough to be annoying.

See, I thought the blue apron was the "standard" until I did some looking around the forums here. I didn't know about the prototype WPC ones either until I saw others post about them, and realized that's what I must have.

So, after looking at the Error Report, here's what it says
CHECK SWITCHES
SCORE LEFT RAMP - 16
R. DROP 1 (TOP) - 21
R. DROP 2 - 22
R. DROP 3 - 23
R. DROP 4 (BOTTOM) - 24

So, obviously the drop target switch needs being looked at, as does the left ramp.
With that in mind, how do I get to the switches, and what am I looking for? How do I test and/or fix what's wrong with them?

And, just a checklist of the main issues, as stated previously:
1. The "magnetic personality" is resetting the game when activated, not every time, but enough to be a nuisance.
2. The "gift of gab" is randomly and repeatedly activating on it's own.
3. The drop targets on the right do not pop up. (As the Error Report indicates)
4. Certain lights do not light up, or are sporadic. (Issue with bulbs or wires?)
5. Two digits in the right hand display do not appear. (Possible easy fix, or does the whole display need to be replaced?)

Found this as I was disassembling and cleaning the parts and playfield. The white wire appears to be broken off. The green wire is intact.
Can it be reattached? Where does it go?

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Speaking of, the only manual I can find for Dr. Dude is the System 11 version. Is there a WPC specific manual or schematic that I can use for this machine? I assume that I can't just use any WPC machine's manual since they are all highly individualized.

Thanks! The only parts I'm in need of as far as the playfield goes would be some replacement plastics, and the Big Shot (although I've made a custom figure as a replacement). I'll check out that ribbon, although the resets seem to be consistently happening when the magnet is activated. I was told on FB that it was likely a 5 volt issue.

In the meantime, I have cleaned the drop targets, as well as their opto sensors, and now they drop down a bit faster but still don't come back up.
I did, however, adjust the switch under the Gab, and that seems to have stopped it from activating on it's own.

Any thoughts on how to fix the two missing digits on the scoreboard?

No, none of the segments light. As in the picture above, the entire digit does not display at all, even in the Display Test.

In the coil test, (and forgive me, as I'm still very new and learning this as I go) they do not raise up, so it must not be firing. All 4 of the drop targets show up on the Switch Levels test when they are down, and if I raise them manually, they disappear from the list, which seems correct. Then in Switch Edges, if I press them, they are each recognized correctly. So that narrows it down to the coil. The coil test also seems to not have a response for the Knocker, and some of the flashers, which would tell me why those replaced bulbs still aren't working. No wires appear to be broken, (except the one at the top of the ramp) and as far as I can tell, the solders are okay, but I'll have to have someone with more experience with that take a look.

On an odd note, there's another switch that shows up in the Switch Levels menu called Top Left 10 Pts. I can't find any reference to that in the manual or figure out what it's referring to.
That, and the manual and Flasher Test refer to a 1FL Middle Insert that I can't find either.

None of the 6 REFLEX lights ever light (except once when they all did, and then didn't again). I replaced just the X as a test, but it didn't work, so there's something stopping the whole thing from lighting. Again, nothing appears to be loose or broken.

Just discovered by looking at the lamp matrix that everything on the Red-Yel cable is out, as well as some (but not all) of the Red-Grn.
I'm guessing that the Yel-Blk is the reason why the REFLEX lights are out too, since that entire column (except the Big Shot) is out as well.

You're right, found the top left 10pt switch, don't know how I missed that. I thought that the middle insert flasher might be that big one in the backbox. Makes sense now. That's a new bulb, too, and doesn't light in the flasher test.

I'll have to look into the coils a little bit later in the week.

And now, as of this morning, the X-Ray isn't popping the ball up hard enough to make it to the ramp. Geez, it's just one thing after another here.

Thanks for your help! I'll be checking those wires and coils with my friend who's more electronics-savvy than I.

I actually have bought a multimeter already, and am slowly learning some of these fixes with YouTube videos and friends/family members helping out.

***UPDATE***
We discovered that one of those unplugged wires (the one with 2 Yellows and 1 Purple) is meant to attach to the knocker! Now, whenever a free game is won, it scares the crap out of us, which is maybe why it was detached in the first place, haha.
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Still can't figure out where this one's supposed to go, though.
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Okay, so I don't know EXACTLY what I did, but I fixed something.

I finally followed LTG's advice and reseated the connectors. I didn't unplug ALL of them, since some of them are stuck on there pretty good, and I didn't want to snap anything off. But whatever I did do, it brought all the lights back on for the Red-Yel AND the Yel-Blk wires, as well as fixing my issue with the Right Drop Target coil and the X-Ray!!!

Almost everything is working properly now. My friend took the right side display with him to look into the two missing digits, but as far as the playfield and cabinet go, the lights behind the coin slots are the only ones not working.

The magnet still sporadically resets the game, but I was told that replacing the LM323K with a PSU5 5V regulator should help take care of that. http://www.ezsbc.com/index.php/psu5.html#.VgMK_HjeyQQ What do you think, though? Is it something that requires another connector reseating?

Noted. Thanks for the advice, I will be learning how to use the multimeter and following the steps at pinwiki.

Thanks! I prefer the blue apron myself, wasn't even aware of the white one until I did some research on it. And I look forward to actually ENJOYING playing the game, instead of playing merely to see what's working and what's not... I do feel like I'm making progress and learning, though.

Thanks MT,
I'll take a further look at that.

Does anyone know if the playfield magnet is supposed to be hot to the touch? I was running some tests and hitting the magnet target by hand and the magnet nearly burned my finger! After turning off the machine, it is still hot to the touch.

Just an update, with the help of some friends and family, I've got everything working great!

We soldered the broken ramp wire and the score display, reseated a bunch of the connectors, and pushed some of the more finicky wires in the backbox behind others so they wouldn't be resetting so much. (At some point, I'll look into rewiring the problem area, but for now the issue is minimized, if not cured.)

The magnet has almost completely stopped resetting the game, and same with the start-up issue. (I say "almost" because it did do it once while my friend was playing, but it hasn't happened to me at all in the week since toying with it.)

The missing digits on the display are back, there are no switch errors, the drop targets and ball poppers work every time, and all the lights are functioning as they should.

I've taken a few more pictures of cosmetic repairs, and want to thank everyone for their continued feedback. I'm sure I'll be back when things inevitably confound me again.

IMG_1404.jpgSwitched the price card around from the pen scribbled 3-ball side, and I just keep it at 5-ball play anyway.

IMG_1399.jpgUnder the playfield, it has WPC written on it.

IMG_1397.jpgIMG_1396.jpg"Domestic Proto 7"

IMG_1402.jpgCustom Big Shot figure I made from a miniature Sully from Monsters University and an Incredible Hulk head.

IMG_1394.jpgIMG_1395.jpgLooks cool in the dark!

I fixed up the coin door by replacing a missing quarter slot and the lock. I still haven't gotten the bulbs behind the coin slots to work yet, however. That remains the only piece left to the puzzle.

At some point, I may consider a conversion to LED lights, but I'm happy with it as it is. Down the road, I might try to clean up some of the wiring hacks as well, but as long as it's working properly, I'm not in a rush to tear it apart.

One last curiosity: Upon inspecting the backbox, I found this card screwed to one of the boards. It has "Funhouse or BOP?" written on it in pencil.
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Accidental, I did see that post previously, but the Dropbox link to the PDF no longer works. If you'd like to make a blue one, that'd be great! I don't mind the original ones, but making some snazzy new ones would be fun.

DocRotCod, good catch. I'll have to look into that. There's also a red wire coming out of one of the fuses that I want to look into at some point too. You can see it in one of the pictures near the top of the thread. Must be a hack for something.

Just for fun, I threw in the custom apron cards that Accidental made up. Looks pretty snazzy!

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