Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
Full Throttle
Heighway Pinball, 2015Quoted from WeirPinball:How do I know they are correct? Is there a manual somewhere I don't know about?
Think I found the problem both flipper switch stacks were loose, no pressure plate on either. The left was so loose it was barely making contact. Think I'm going through the whole game and making sure everything is tight.
They should all be "OFF". See picture.
Quoted from drypaint:They should all be "OFF". See picture.
Yep all off - must have been the switch
Ok guys, with Heighway's demise (please post about that in those threads) it seems we will need to lean on each other even more than before.
As such, here's some info on the gear mech that drives the Xeno tongue:
Quoted from SunKing:NICE GUY ALERT!!
Many thanks to ilushka85 for taking the time and effort to tear down his Xeno mech so he could scan the gear. Want to know something crazy? My gear isn't stripped in the center - because there is NOTHING holding this gear to the motor other than some glue. Yep, just glue. Take a look at the pics below. The first is from my machine, and you can see how the motor shaft is notched on one side. Now look at the second picture ilushka85 sent me - the center is completely round. There is no 'indent' or 'tab' that would seat against the notch on the motor shaft - it's just glued on there.
I was tempted to try and re-glue mine, but ilushka85 is researching a better alternative. I'm sure he will post his results here in a bit.
Quoted from Ilushka85:Yes so as stated above it is glued on. As you can see from the pic partyking posted of my gear, i scratched it up quite a bit in trying to pull the stupid thing off. Glue covers the entire shaft and thats what essentially hold its in place. The gear is a tight fit originally to begin with, but that will not hold it in place alone so they used glue instead of a proper gear with a set screw.
The shaft is designed with a flat side which is designed for gear with set screw to go against the flat side. I have ordered a bunch from china with set screw and with the gear made of metal instead of plastic (the drive shaft its teeth connect to is also metal). All in all it should be fine once they arrive.
For those who are interested in a replacement gear. It is a standard stock gear that is 0.8 MOD with 28T. I believe the bore diameter is 5mm but will double check it today.
I highly recommend whoever has this game to replace this glued on piece of crap.
Quoted from Ilushka85:For what its worth i 3d printed this thing on PLA and ABS and have a perfect fit including the notch! No more glue required
Quoted from Radius118:So now that Heighway's status is "stick a fork in them" I wonder what the chances are of Ferret or "someone" releasing FT code that's been ported to run on a PC instead of the failure prone Utilite?
A pc can't run real time hardware like pops and slings
Quoted from WeirPinball:A pc can't run real time hardware like pops and slings
Isn't that what the I/O boards are for? The Utilite is just a small form factor ARM processor based PC running Ubuntu..
JJP machines run PC hardware also with an I/O board.
So really FT software could be ported to run on i386 architecture running Ubuntu as the OS. The issue is getting the source code in order to make it happen.
Quoted from Radius118:So now that Heighway's status is "stick a fork in them" I wonder what the chances are of Ferret or "someone" releasing FT code that's been ported to run on a PC instead of the failure prone Utilite?
Heighway still owns the source code. Whatever happens next, it will be up to them or the future owners to decide what to do with it. It's not up to the developers.
As both Ferret and I own the game, we are both interested in seeing updates beyond the current 1.2 release. But we can't make any promises until we see how this plays out.
Quoted from bcd:Heighway still owns the source code. Whatever happens next, it will be up to them or the future owners to decide what to do with it. It's not up to the developers.
As both ferret and I own the game, we are both interested in seeing updates beyond the current 1.2 release. But we can't make any promises until we see how this plays out.
Hoping this happens - would love to see the game move forward - Alien "continued" code!
What coil is used in flippers and is there a substitute? I need 2 and would be ordering 4 (see pic) Tried ordering from HP but nobody picked up. Weird. 
I decided to proceed with 2 Stern coils I had laying around. The stronger one was put on middle flipper and it acts like before. The weaker one went on lower right flipper and it is slightly weaker than before. Can I increase coil strength on just that flipper?
There ya have it, my machine is special. Hope to play it soon 
How about info on top resister (square) on I/O board? Resister out in 2 boards and that part must be soldered. Looks like 22P10 eprom. I'll pick some up.
What happened was one side of resistor blew off my i/o board and it was dangling - unresponsive. That took out the lower right flipper coil. Same thing happened on middle board. One side of resistor blown off and resistor dangling - unresponsive. Middle flipper coil was toast. My third board was ok (1 out of 3) and I believe it is only this component on both boards as I didn't notice anything else out as I moved the good board around. Talk about having to trouble shoot and reverse engineer to keep your game going. Lucky I have a good Tech.
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:How about info on top resister (square) on I/O board? Resister out in 2 boards and that part must be soldered.
Mosfet?
Looks like these maybe.. seems like something would've caused these to blow.
Quoted from Kneissl:Mosfet?
Looks like these maybe.. seems like something would've caused these to blow.
ebay.com link
That's what I thought too but could not figure anything out. I was playing a game next to it when I smelled smoke. Took 15 sec to locate it coming from in my alien cabinet. Worst stench ever and I couldn't bare to look at the machine for two days. Had my tech come over and he diagnosed problems were a resistor on two i/o boards, two burnt flipper coils and one 6.3At fuse . When we replaced flipper coils and used only one good board in the game at a time, the associated flipper worked fine. With bad i/o board in, the flipper would not work and nearby components on i/o board got warm and I shut game down. I feel confident that replacing the resistors will fix the problem and will be picking up spares. As to whether anything caused them to blow ... I had played Alien and moved on to another pin, so it was in attract mode. Nothing happened to any other games that were turned on. Could be a bad design, but seems more like bad component or improper installation.
While I don't think a fire could have started, it got me thinking maybe I need a fire extinguisher or suppressant of some type for the room. What kind extinguisher would you need for electrical fire? Also wondering if a fireproof blanket big enough to throw over a machine would be better. Anybody have anything they like?
Should the pinballs be magnetised in these games? All mine are and just remembered now from reading somwhere on pinside this can be a problem?
What I don't get is if that's the case how does it lock ball on some shots that require magnets?
Quoted from bcd:Heighway still owns the source code. Whatever happens next, it will be up to them or the future owners to decide what to do with it. It's not up to the developers.
As both ferret and I own the game, we are both interested in seeing updates beyond the current 1.2 release. But we can't make any promises until we see how this plays out.
I understand there are legal ramifications regarding the code on these games. I'm hoping that something can be done since the Utilite's are prone to failure and NLA.
Hopefully the new owners of Heighway's IP will allow some work on this front and even possibly game updates. All HP games are basically orphans at this point, but especially FT. 
Quoted from take2-take5:Should the pinballs be magnetised in these games? All mine are and just remembered now from reading somwhere on pinside this can be a problem?
What I don't get is if that's the case how does it lock ball on some shots that require magnets?
Balls should not be magnetized and they should be replaced with a carbon steel core pinballs. When using solid chrome balls in a magnetized game, the balls can become charged, although the field around them is weak. Magnetized balls usually cause problem in the ball trough.
edit - a good way to test your balls (hehe) is hold a paper clip to one and see if it sticks to your balls (hehe).
So I've got 4 new io boards with latest full throttle software. If I install all 4 a fuse blows after a game or two. So go back to old io boards and SW and I have this ball launch issue (won't launch - tends to be just first ball)
I'm going to replace each old io board one at a time with a new one, play a few games each time to see if fuse blows and if not continue to install another.
I think the ball launch is a software issue as on multiplayer games pretty much every ball dosn't launch as I think when it's switching players it's counting each ball as the first again.
Quoted from take2-take5:So I've got 4 new io boards with latest full throttle software. If I install all 4 a fuse blows after a game or two. So go back to old io boards and SW and I have this ball launch issue (won't launch - tends to be just first ball)
I'm going to replace each old io board one at a time with a new one, play a few games each time to see if fuse blows and if not continue to install another.
I think the ball launch is a software issue as on multiplayer games pretty much every ball dosn't launch as I think when it's switching players it's counting each ball as the first again.
Since you are putting in new i/o boards, would be surprised if you could blow a fuse. Mine was probably a faulty component or solder job. But first, did you determine your existing three i/o boards are bad? I'd suggest keeping original working i/o boards in and only replace one with a new board when warranted.
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:Since you are putting in new i/o boards, would be surprised if you could blow a fuse. Mine was probably a faulty component or solder job. But first, did you determine your existing three i/o boards are bad? I'd suggest keeping original working i/o boards in and only replace one with a new board when warranted.
Original 4 (green) io boards (0.5 SW) can't be updated to current software - are incompatible. So Helmut had sent us out new boards with new software preloaded. But once installed started to blow fuses.
I've noticed this (attached) installing a second io board - SW version 9.9!!! I'm only expecting 0.9 as like the other one. I'm hoping this is what the problem was but will still continue doing one at a time and play testing each time.
Yea I know should have check this when I originally installed all 4 new ones..
Quoted from brett:I have one of my side cabinet LED not working. Anyone know a place to get one?
CoinTaker doesn’t have any and probably won’t be getting any. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks, Brett
There is a know issue (at least it was in early code) that if you adjusted the GI brightness settings it would cause the side exterior cabinet lights to not turn on and other weirdness.
If you test the LED strip with a 9v battery with the machine turned off and it is truly out, the part that is lighting up the exteriors sides is a simple LED strip you can probably get for $5 on https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=200002296&initiative_id=AS_20180428135507&SearchText=white+led+strip
Quoted from budroosker:There is a know issue (at least it was in early code) that if you adjusted the GI brightness settings it would cause the side exterior cabinet lights to not turn on and other weirdness.
If you test the LED strip with a 9v battery with the machine turned off and it is truly out, the part that is lighting up the exteriors sides is a simple LED strip you can probably get for $5 on https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=200002296&initiative_id=AS_20180428135507&SearchText=white+led+strip
Thanks for the info.
Question. I turned on my Alien machine today, and noticed the top right flipper wasn't working. The kickout under the top left screen (as well as the kickout under the 2 ramps, just above the upper left flipper) wasn't working either. I reset the machine and it said the IO2 board wasn't being recognized, or wasn't there.
I tested the board by switching IO1 and IO2, and still had the error in the place where IO2 was (meaning, neither board should be bad, but the spot IO2 is in).
I snipped the zip ties and used the power supply from IO1 into the place of IO2, still nothing. And I checked the fuses - they all have the green LED lights on them.
Note: these boards are 1.4.
Any advice on how to fix this?
Quoted from legionsoup:Question. I turned on my Alien machine today, and noticed the top right flipper wasn't working. The kickout under the top left screen (as well as the kickout under the 2 ramps, just above the upper left flipper) wasn't working either. I reset the machine and it said the IO2 board wasn't being recognized, or wasn't there.
What version of code are you on and are you using a ZOTAC or the minpc?
I would also try moving the power connection to the CPU (which ever one you have) to a different USB port.
Quoted from legionsoup:I reset the machine and it said the IO2 board wasn't being recognized, or wasn't there.
Most of the time, this is due to the USB connection becoming loose, probably at the IO board itself but possibly at the PC.
Quoted from take2-take5:I think the ball launch is a software issue as on multiplayer games pretty much every ball dosn't launch as I think when it's switching players it's counting each ball as the first again.
I don't follow - can you explain what you're seeing here?
Quoted from budroosker:What version of code are you on and are you using a ZOTAC or the minpc?
I would also try moving the power connection to the CPU (which ever one you have) to a different USB port.
It's version 1.1. I think it was dated January of 2018. I am not sure what ZOTAC or minpc are. I looked for logos for either, but couldn't located any.
Quoted from bcd:Most of the time, this is due to the USB connection becoming loose, probably at the IO board itself but possibly at the PC.
I checked the USB and it's in there good at the IO board. I even snipped a zip tie to get a different USB in there just to test it, and it didn't work. Where is the PC located? Is that the part in the back of the machine where all of the thick black cables are (they look like monitor cables)?
So I found the 4 USBs at the PC and reseated all of them. They all work. The USB that goes to the IO2 board, I tested and it charged a Playstation 3 controller, so it's working.
One thing I didn't mention is, when I turn the machine on, the other 3 IO boards have LEDs that light up on them. The IO2 board briefly lights up, but then the LEDs dim out after about a second or 2.
Quoted from legionsoup:One thing I didn't mention is, when I turn the machine on, the other 3 IO boards have LEDs that light up on them. The IO2 board briefly lights up, but then the LEDs dim out after about a second or 2.
Right. And normally one of those LEDs will always blink continuously to indicate the code on it is running OK, even if the USB connection is down.
Next thing I'd verify is that all of the 4 DIP switches are in the OFF position. I've had problems before where they were not completely OFF and I flipped them all ON, then OFF (with the game off!) and it fixed things.
Also make sure the IO board is seated tight at the long connector.
I would suggest Hot Gluing around all the USB connections on the IO board and The USB going into the computer.
I did this on my Alien LE and Full Throttle since I had simular issues to you.
I also replaced all my USB cables Alien. No issues at all since doing so...
Quoted from Kneissl:What's the purpose of those dip switches? I noticed one of my boards were all on...
They were used for bench testing at the factory. Different combinations of the switches would trigger different self-tests. Not sure what all-on does.
You never want any of these self-tests turned on in a real game. (IMO, these should have been taken out of the IO code a long time ago.)
Tried resetting the IO2 board as well as making sure all of the dip switches were set to "off." Even turned them on then off just to be sure.
I'm hesitant to hot glue anything since it may not work (not saying it won't and I'm glad it worked for you) but if it doesn't work for me, then I have a cable hot glued that I will need to remove at some point.
Quoted from Join_The_Cirqus:I also replaced all my USB cables Alien. No issues at all since doing so...
This can't hurt
Quoted from legionsoup:So I found the 4 USBs at the PC and reseated all of them.
Did you switch them around to different I/O boards? I'd still try or try the above.
Quoted from legionsoup:Tried resetting the IO2 board as well as making sure all of the dip switches were set to "off." Even turned them on then off just to be sure.
I'm hesitant to hot glue anything since it may not work (not saying it won't and I'm glad it worked for you) but if it doesn't work for me, then I have a cable hot glued that I will need to remove at some point.
I replaced all 3 playfield usb cables with shorter ones into a usb buss, then ran one main USB cable fixed everything
Quoted from Ballypinball:I replaced all 3 playfield usb cables with shorter ones into a usb buss, then ran one main USB cable fixed everything
That's a great solution for a bad usb port on the main cpu
Quoted from way2wyrd:That's a great solution for a bad usb port on the main cpu
Some seem loose and some tight, they pull out and loosen when you lift the playfield
Quoted from Ballypinball:Anyone know the source for the facehuggers
Matt at Back Alley Creations I believe.
Quoted from Ballypinball:I replaced all 3 playfield usb cables with shorter ones into a usb buss, then ran one main USB cable fixed everything
Just so I'm understanding, you placed the USB bus at the CPU, so 2 of the spots where USBs were previously plugged in are now vacant? And you run all 3 of the playfield USB cables into a single USB spot?
Meaning, of the 4 USB cable slots, 2 are empty, 1 is goes to the bus (which goes to the 3 IO boards on the playfield), and 1 goes to the lower IO board?
Quoted from legionsoup:Just so I'm understanding, you placed the USB bus at the CPU, so 2 of the spots where USBs were previously plugged in are now vacant? And you run all 3 of the playfield USB cables into a single USB spot?
Meaning, of the 4 USB cable slots, 2 are empty, 1 is goes to the bus (which goes to the 3 IO boards on the playfield), and 1 goes to the lower IO board?
Use 2 usb ports on cpu
1 to cabinet io board
And the other to a 4 usb buss rear mounted to underside of playfield, then 3 short USB cables to each of the Io boards
I'll give it a try gotta get to the store to grab a USB buss.
Also, I tried replacing all 4 USB wires. Swapped the around, etc. The IO2 board is always the one that is "missing" on boot up.
It's like the board isn't getting power. The 12v and 70v LEDs come on briefly when I turn on the machine, then they dim after a second and no lights at all. The other 3 IO boards have several LEDs on with the USB light flashing green.
I'm gonna keep trying with those USB cables, but even when those are unplugged from the other IO boards, they still have LEDs on. All except for IO2, which doesn't seem to be getting sustained juice.
One thing I left out was, the issue started happening when I put my coin box in. I also noticed I couldn't use the 4 navigation buttons that are just inside the coin door (the 4 buttons that navigate menus, adjust volume, etc).
When I played the next game and the flipper didn't work, I rebooted to see if that would fix things and that's when I got the "IO2 board missing" alert.
When I opened the coin door to look at the settings, I couldn't, so I found the plug that goes to those 4 buttons and reattached it. The buttons worked again.
Is it possible I knocked someout else out near or around the coin door? I know it sounds unlikely, but it's just werid that both happened (coin door buttons and IO board 2 issues) at the same time.
Quoted from legionsoup:I'll give it a try gotta get to the store to grab a USB buss.
Also, I tried replacing all 4 USB wires. Swapped the around, etc. The IO2 board is always the one that is "missing" on boot up.
It's like the board isn't getting power. The 12v and 70v LEDs come on briefly when I turn on the machine, then they dim after a second and no lights at all. The other 3 IO boards have several LEDs on with the USB light flashing green.
I'm gonna keep trying with those USB cables, but even when those are unplugged from the other IO boards, they still have LEDs on. All except for IO2, which doesn't seem to be getting sustained juice.
Both top and bottom green lights should be flashing, also make sure io board has been updated software
Quoted from Ballypinball:Both top and bottom green lights should be flashing, also make sure io board has been updated software
It should have updated software. All 4 were updated with the 1.1 software. Neither of those lights are flashing. I can make and link to a YouTube video of what happens on boot if that helps.
Quoted from legionsoup:It should have updated software. All 4 were updated with the 1.1 software. Neither of those lights are flashing. I can make and link to a YouTube video of what happens on boot if that helps.
We'll if you fit that board to a spot where a working board is, does it work?
Go into Io board test and check software version also
Otherwise sounds like you might have a defective io board
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