Our Flight 2000 developed a major problem today. Here is what happens.

1. Start a game. Ball #1 gets ejected from the outhole.
1. Get Ball#1 into the ball locker. First Stage Go. Next ball gets ejected from the outhole.
2. Get next ball into the ball locker. Second Stage Go. Next ball gets ejected from the outhole.
3. Outhole solenoid and the 5 bank drop target solenoid activates and the game thinks I drained a ball.
4. Outhole solenoid and the 5 bank drop target solenoid activates and the game thinks I drained a ball.
After a few times of doing this the game ends.

So what's going on here? I have no idea what is wrong or how to trouble shoot it.

We have checked the ball trough switches and they seem fine.

The self-test switch in the coin door seems like everything tests fine.

I would appreciate any guidance that any of you Flight 2000 experts could provide.

Thank you.

Yes, it says the right out hole switch is closed. The leaf blades are not touching. I tested the diode and it seemed fine. I even swapped the diode out with one from another leaf switch and the test still says the right out hole switch is closed.
I ordered a bunch of new diodes, so I can swap some in case that’s the problem.
Any other advice for troubleshooting is much appreciated!

Chas10e, thanks for trying to replicate the situation. Now that I’m back in town, I can start doing more troubleshooting in the evenings after work.

Not tonight. Just got home from a road trip. I’ll be checking out those switches and diodes for problems Tuesday evening! I’m looking forward to digging into it.

Emsrph, tonight after work I'll take the glass off the machine. I'll make sure all the targets are up and none of the roll over switches get touched. Then I'll put the first ball in the launcher. Then when the out hole ejects the second ball, I'll put that up in the launcher as well. Then I'll document what happens. I'll bypass the left side spinner. In theory, only the roll over switch for the ball launcher will have been rolled over twice.

Awesome emsrph, I'll give it a try. I'm sure I'll have to do it several times to make sure I document what happens.
I'm a little confused and nervous about unplugging the J3 from the MPU with the power on. Hopefully it goes fine. haha.
I really appreciate your assistance.

I found this on the pinwiki for bally/stern. I'm not smart enough to fully understand what it is saying, but I was wondering if this could have something to do with my switch 33 showing closed when it looks open?

https://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bally/Stern#Switch_Matrix

"Also, the switch commonly referred to as "switch 33" on a Bally or Stern CPU board, and used to reset audits and bookkeeping, is not part of the switch matrix either. This switch receives a signal from the 6800 CPU chip, and when closed, sends the signal to ground. Starting with the first MPU-200 Stern game, Meteor, Stern added a second switch to the inside of the coin door to serve the purpose of remotely resetting audits and bookkeeping. The signal for this secondary switch is tied to the input line of switch 33, and leaves the CPU board via connection A4J3-5. Its return line is sent to ground via a daisy-chained lead to the self test switch."

Thanks again. I'll give the troubleshooting a go tonight after work. I'll start with the switch text using the button inside the coin door. I'll remove the balls, and have the stand up targets all up.
I'll remove the J2 and J3 connectors and see if it shows 0 for the switch errors.
I'll also mess around with putting the 2 balls into the locker/launcher and then note what happens.

1. I removed the J2 and J3 connectors from the MPU board and reconnected them.
2. I moved all of the drop targets up.
3. I removed the balls.
4. I did the switch test and got a 0.
5. I rolled a ball over all of the switches to make sure they registered and all was fine.
6. I started a game.
7. I put 1 ball in the locker. Another ball ejected.
8. I put a second ball in the locker. Another ball ejected.
9. I knocked down targets and switches and all seemed fine. So I turned the game off and restarted.
10. The game worked perfectly and I got my high score. Haha!

I guess reseating the J2 and J3 connectors fixed the problem.

Lesson learned. At least now I have a bunch of diodes to start replacing the old ones with.

Thank you to everyone who assisted, especially emsrph. I don't really understand why it is working now, but we will keep playing it and see if it malfunctions again.

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I'm back. The problem is back. The switch test using the coin door says that switch #33 is closed. That's the right out hole again.

I removed the J2 connector from the MPU board and got a flashing 0.

My understanding is that this tells me that the problem is under the playfield, is this correct?

Thanks. I'll report back after digging into it. I was checking a bunch of diodes last night and all seemed fine. I did find one capacitor that had been clipped on one leg. I think it was for the bonus multiplier / special target.

I recreated the fault a few times by starting a game and putting 2 balls into the locker/launcher. The third ball kicked out and the game started acting like balls were draining and then ended. I wasn't even activating other switches at that point, just letting the ball sit by the plunger.

I don't know if this is related or not, but sometimes the out hole doesn't successfully kick a ball out. It tries and the solenoid fires, but it's like the ball gets hung up or doesn't kick out enough.

I think I solved it. I replaced the leaf switch for the right out hole and the switch tab that the black wires connected to had broken.

I'm pretty sure this is the culprit. I got some practice replacing about 5 diodes though.

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