Hi all

I recently acquired Guns N Roses and have a problem I’m having trouble figuring out. Any advice would be appreciated.

For those who aren’t familiar with this pin, one of the features on the field is a bank of individual 555 type bulbs which spell out the word R O S E S (there is also a G U N S above). These bulbs are lit in sequence by shooting the R ramp.

When I turn the pin on and we go through the attract lighting (pulsing, rotation of all bulbs on the field), the O bulb does not illuminate when all others do.

When I start a game, all the lights (including O, which is now working) will pulse on and off as the first ball is loaded for firing.

What is supposed to happen as we begin play is the first letter (R) starts flashing, pending being lit solid by hitting the ramp.
When you hit the ramp, that flashing letter will turn light solid, and the next letter in the sequence should begin to flash.

So we begin…
R flashes. Hit ramp. R lights.
O doesn’t start flashing as it should.
Hit ramp. O does not light.
S starts flashing - then O decides yes, I’ll wake up now, time to light up!
Hit ramp. S lights. E starts flashing - so back to regular service.

O will then behave normally until the game ends.

I changed the bulb. and switched out the connector/bulb with an adjacent one, same symptoms.

If anyone has any pointers I would be most grateful!

Could be, but this has only started happening in the past couple of days. Otherwise, it's been flawless for the 4 or so weeks I've owned it.

K and U seem to be working fine.

Oddly enough I just went to check on those and the situation has changed.

Now the O is lighting up fine during attract and initial start up of a game.
When hitting the ramp, it takes a few seconds but does eventually start flashing, then lights solid - after a short delay.
At the end of the game, it is unlit as all bulbs flash.

So, basically the complete opposite of what I typed out in my first post!

I'm about half way through the GNR thread, will keep going!

This was great advice, thank you. I think I've now resolved the issue - or isolated it, at least.

Since I'd removed the backbox for transport, my first port of call were the connections there.
I disconnected and reseated CN7 and CN8 on the CPU board (lamp drive and return), and examined the pins/board for any damage. All good there.
Reseated the connector under the light board. All good.

Even though I'd originally moved the O bulb/socket to S and the problem stayed with O, I gave it another try and located it to G.
Tested, the problem followed to G. Now we're getting somewhere! And much relief that the problem seems to be on an easily replaceable part rather than wiring, or worse, CPU/board.

Took the socket out and physically examined side-by-side with a known working. Reseated bulb, used a file to clean contacts, checked the contact ears were in the same position as known good. Still didn't work.

However... I did notice in the side-by-side comparison that the way the plastic is moulded on the outside of the socket - the way it's triangle-shaped - to screw and hold the connector against the board, is a bit deformed from it's original triangular shape. I'm guessing that this is causing a poor contact between socket and board.

Time to buy a new socket.

Thanks everyone for the input!