My Ghostbusters was working fine one day and the next the flippers started not working sporadically. Both sides. It’s like if you hit the flipper buttons 10 times 3-5 times nothing happens and it’s the same on both sides so I doubt it’s the anything to do with the buttons plus the fact it just started and both sides are effected. I’m not sure where to begin looking. Does this sound like a board problem? I just had to have my AC/DC board fixed for a flipper that was not working at all but since this is sporadic I don’t know if it’s going to be a similar repair or not. Any suggestions what to look for here?

So life got in the way and I never had a chance to get back to the machine until a few days ago.
I’ve unplugged and reset all connectors on the boards, cleaned and inspected the flipper buttons contacts and I’m still having the same issues with the flippers working sporadically. If I go into the test menu and operate the flippers I get the same thing. It might work three times in a row, then won’t, work two times then won’t. There’s no pattern and it happens to both sides. Does anyone have any suggestions as I don’t know what to do at this point and you can’t play the game like this. Is this possibly a board issue?

So are you saying it was the board or the connectors itself? I’m not real good with circut boards and being able to test them, although I do have meters and test equipment I can use and have repaired connectors on machines in the past I’m not sure exactly how to go about testing what you said needs to be done. Can you help with a little more detail on what I need to do. If it’s the board itself I can send off for repair, which I recently had to do with my AC/DC that had board flipper issues.

Ok, so here is where I'm at. Watched the video. I have built redone Molex connectors before. But it was the bigger ones, the .156. I bought the plastic connector and the barrel shaped female pins, crimped the wire and pushed into the molex connector where they snap in place. I've never done these smaller ones. I found the .100 connector but can't seem to find the female connectors to crimp the wires onto. I did see some type of connector but not the kind of used before or thought I would need. The video showed a guy crimping a connector, but you couldn't see what type. I attached a picture of what I'm finding but I'm not sure how that goes over the pins coming from the board? I also found what looked like connectors with the pins already in them but in that case I'm not sure how I would attach the wires? Secondly, I know how to check for continuity using a meter, but I don't know where I should be checking from. From what points? Back of the connector to the board? Somewhere else? I was able to check from the back of the connector at each wire to the solder points on the board directly above where the connector attaches. I checked a few other points on board while still on one wire and get positive hits on a few of them. Maybe that's normal, I don't know. I looked at the second molex connector and its black. All others are white. So, I'm thinking that one was already replaced once. The first one had five or six wires going to it. The second one only has three and that's the black one. I was getting erratic hits on one of the wires, so I'm thinking that's where the problem might be. Am I checking that correctly or should I be checking at some other points? so I think I can fix this, but I'm still confused as what I actually need and if I'm checking at the correct points. Like I said I have done the .156 before and have the parts to fix those but the smaller .100s I've not done before. Hope that made sense. Thanks for any help.

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Ghostbusters update. I ordered some spare female plastic connectors and a bag of 25 of the super small .100 terminals. Crimping those little things without breaking the wires was a real trial and error. I went through 10 terminals trying to get three wires crimped. It really takes a deft touch doing something that small. I’ve crimped wires all my life working on cars on other things and never had the problem I did with something so tiny.

Anyway I finally got them crimped and inserted into the connector and plugged back into the board. The game worked great for about 10 plays and then the same problem came back. Now what. Start over, and do it again. It sure seems like that is the problem area.

So new update. I bought a new node board. Installed and now the flippers don’t work at all. I put the old one back in and once again get sporadic working flippers. I’m just lost here and have no idea what the problem is or how to get these flippers working.

In the switch test I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. In active switch test I can manually move switches and see on the display it’s working but if I hit the flipper buttons( is that considered a switch) I get nothing. In coil test the right flipper fires as fast as I hit the button. The left flipper has to wait a second. If you hit it too fast it does not work consistently like the right. I’m not sure I’m going the switch test accurately though. Never had to deal with all that stuff before.

Which switch test? The switch test or active switch test. And do I have to have it set for flippers? Sorry, I’ve never used these switch tests before and am completely unfamiliar with exactly what to do.

Also, I had to cut the wire from the old connectors but then I have to strip the insulation off to be able to crimp it.

I've got two crimping tools and they both seem to work pretty well. Ive crimped the .156 connectors before with no problem. Just never worked with anything so tiny as those .100 connectors. Is there something special I should be using for those tiny .100 connectors? what's odd is that the brand-new board does nothing but if I put the old board back on they start working sporadically again. I actually bought two of those node boards because I have a number of machines that use them, and I thought it would be wise to have a spare. I tried both and no flippers work at all with the new boards but work sporadically with the old, so I don't think the problem is with the crimping. It just seems like a really weird problem. Why none of the new boards work at all and the fact I swapped node boards on the machine earlier and I also had the same nothing working problem with the boards swapped just has me scratching my head. Now just to make sure, there are two of the same node boards on this machine. I'm working on the one that is at the bottom of the playfield, NOT the middle one. So, I sure hope I'm on the right node board. LOL This is really frustrating. I wonder if there is anyone in my area of Woodstock, GA that is good with electronic diagnosis I could call.

The flippers are working again. Pretty sure it was the connections to the board as I redid them….again and they are working now, but another problem popped up. Now the slings don’t work. Someone suggested checking fuses and also check them in coil test. I can only find two fuses. One on node board 10 near the bottom of the playfield and one on a small square board I can’t find any picture or mention of in the manual at the very bottom of the playfield. Both are good. In the coil test which it lists as magnetic left and right, neither side fires. Any suggestions?

Sorry phishrace. I should have mentioned that I did do that and when I redid the connections again it is now working, but that other problem popped up with the slings now not working. And maybe they were never working. I have not had the game that long and have very little plays on it because of small problems that kept popping up. I get scoring when the ball hits, but the slings don't throw the ball off.

I've been fortunate enough to be able to fix most of the problems until the current stuff. do I have to find the board connections for the slings as well and do a switch test or is that something else entirely.