The purpose of that diode is to shunt back EMF from the coil collapsing back into the coil... Without that diode, guess where that pulse goes? Back into the power grid of the pin causing little voltage spikes.

There is a reason why most repair folks buy 1N4004's in bulk.

Ain't that the truth.....

When you feel this is fixed, you may want to re-title your base post and add *solved* so Jim from Rottendog can rest easy.

Couple tips someone mentioned, try to not put more than 3 pins on a circuit. If you look at the sticker most list max at about 8 amps. Not to get to 8 amps you basically have to have all incandescent lights and all solenoids firing at once with the sound blaring, so you usually going to pull about half that. Going to LED helps a lot. Playing a couple at a time helps a lot.

At 8 x 3 that is a possible peak of 24 on a 15 or 20 amp circuit.. You will get voltage drop.

Nominally your around 4 x 3 or 12A

Don't play with the ASIC unless you still have a problem. No need to make problems by poking at things that may/may not have any bearing until your sure that the diode did not fix your problem.

Missed that. Too much mud in the water. After bolting down, soldering and resetting the cables he posted the machine was running ok. Still should let it alone until it acts up again. No need inducing problems it already fixed by poking at chips at random.