So no matter what io board you put in position 2 doesn't work?

Try unplugging stuff on the io board, could be something pulling it down,

So when I press launch on the first ball of every game the ball dosn't launch onto playfield the shooter Lane coil dosn't shoot. The game then goes through tests and activates the shooter Lane coil to get ball onto playfield.

It's a strange one. I've now got game running on latest SW and new io boards but it's still happening. Sometimes this problem occurs on ball 2 or 3 as well, but always ball 1.

Any ideas anyone?

Did you run though switch tests? Maybe the ball trough is intermittent.

Ball trough works fine in games it always is able to eject ball onto shooter Lane but it's the next part that's the problem. ball 1 dosn't shoot out of the lane once the launch button has been pressed

DSC_0732 (resized).JPG

If you are in test mode and want to fire a coil, you'll need to close the door interlock switch. You can pull the switch all the way out to lock it and then try launch button. Maybe you tried that, maybe not.

edit - nevermind, I see you get this condition when ball is in game mode. Go into switch menu and see if the ball jam switch is open. Also doesn't hurt to check if your balls are magnetized.

Actually I didn't know how to do this, so thanks! But yeah I suspect it will work fine in test mode as it only doesn't work on ball 1 in game mode. I'll have a look at the ball jam switch.

I won't lie... I thought my pinball's were magnetised before as I forgot all about science and when I had to use a magnetic pickup tool to retrieve them out of trough I thought I had a light-bulb moment... of course as I was told, this is not how you should test them... Pretty sure they are actually fine, paperclips won't stick to them! Hopefully none of that was taken out of context

At least a couple go to your coin chute switch, which you are pointing to.

LTG : )

A red and yellow wire are needed for light bulb and the rest are unused. Also white interlock switch is shown in pulled out position to activate coils. This state occurs naturally when you shut the coin door - pushed all the way in equals all the way out. The resting, or neutral position means open circuit.

IMG_2399 (resized).JPG

IMG_2401 (resized).JPG

Couldn't find a way to fire a coil. Also I found trough jam switch but I don't know how to test during the single switch menu. We recently factory reset FT and can see in audits we've played 3hrs of game time and had 742 io command errors and 44 coil 10 errors...

1525160161255144162249172492280 (resized).jpg
15251606328773532293019965812919 (resized).jpg
15251608465497392014477545026805 (resized).jpg
15251608672564171213404155760123 (resized).jpg
15251608979753030517506143600955 (resized).jpg

So I factory reset full throttle and played first ball still wouldn't launch from shooter Lane. I then stopped the game and went to check for errors and 32 IO comm errors were made in 1 ball launch. Obviously everything else is on 0 from factory reset.

15251959221235802468019487268143 (resized).jpg

What does factory adjust do?

its the power connector to the io board then

see if you can use another IO boards power feed

I have found a few connectors in FTR to be flaky/intermittent. Both lighting related. One on the power IO board for the start button light and another for a light board. They were not the best design choice for an environment with lots of vibration. I plan to replace them once I figure out what I can replace them with.

I also hate the inductive switches. I have a few that need adjustment every 50 games or so. Good idea but again the design is not industrial enough for a Pinball environment. Has anyone found a good way to keep them in place after adjustment? I was thinking of putting a dab of silicone on one switch lead with a syringe.

Loctite?

The switches are on little PCBs that are connected to a socket on the main boards with metal legs. You can move this little PCB towards or away from the playfield. Depending where they are it can be difficult to see or get access to it. I need to loosen a few screws on the larger board that the socket is on to get to it. Use a small non conductive tool like a toothpick or similar to get in and adjust. In one case I found the right orbit would register a hit every time a coil fired. I have no idea why but when I move the switch away from the playfield a tiny bit it will stop ghosting. Of course you want it close enough to the playfield to see the ball as it goes by so usually pushing it towards the playfield does the trick for most of the switches.

Could be? Connectors/solder joints are usually the first thing I look at when anything stops working on my games. Again, having a bunch of connectors sounds good on paper but good ones are not cheap (these are). So far I have either wiggled or unplugged/plugged them back in until they work. I know I need to replace them. Helmut was helping me but strangely never replied when I asked where I could buy spares or replacements!

Maybe he did not want to admit they get them by the 1000's for a few dozen dollars from AliExpress?

Man, I hope that is the case.... I have a Full Throttle on the way, and will definitely look to source parts for it.

So I'm having trouble with the in play field display on my Alien, it quit working during a game yesterday. We've isolated the problem to the display, took it apart to inspect it and it worked after reassembly, re-installed it in the game and it quit working again after we re-mounted the screen and put the play field back down. We suspect we may have a problem with the ribbon cable to the screen but aren't sure yet.

Anyone have any advice or know what could be used for a replacement?

Well my display is definitely broken, as you can see in the picture. The connector on the lcd panel was partially broken and when wiggled slightly came apart completely. So now we are trying to search for a replacement screen and want to let others know about a possible problem.

If anyone has any ideas on where to possibly find a replacement screen we would be very grateful.

P1020369 (resized).JPG

Sheesh! This is just the beginning of shit that's gonna come up with these thrown together machines with cheap parts!

That looks save-able if you have some soldering skills. If you were local, I would have soldered it up for you...

Any good local techs in your area?

My husband has been eyeing it and pondering whether he's good enough to be able solder it. We're also checking into if we know of someone more skilled.

If he isnt sure, hit up goodwill or someplace similar that has a bunch of cheap/old dvd players. Have him practice on those until he is comfortable.

That's great. You've already done the hard part which is finding the problem. Making new connectors is not hard at all. You can do it. I'm sure the pitch between the pins is a standard and there are many options for off the shelf connectors from Molex or TE / Amp that are better. Buy some connectors and the right tools and practice making new connectors until you get it. I've had to repin hundreds of connections on older games to keep them running.

Maybe? Honestly I've had no more or less problems with my Full Throttle than any other game I've purchased including NIB Sterns. It's the nature of this hobby and part of the fun! Just ask people about old Gottliebs and what it takes to keep them running. Bally SS games require all kinds of bullet proofing including repinning ALL the connectors in the backbox.

I'm only going by what the employees said about the build and company. Cheap stuff that will eventually break, wear or fall apart...
I'm also not the only one that hopes someone picks up the rights and does this the right way....

It's obvious now that Full Throttle was developed and built with Alien pre-order money. I'm guessing there was nothing left when Alien was built.

If ya wanna drive 30 min, In Bellingham WA you can take it to Tech One 360-715-9023 I’ve had him work on a HW full throttle board, did an awesome job.
I’m good doing older boards for soldering but most of the new boards are surface mounted stuff, beyond my ability.

Thank you for the pointer, we haven't found anyone more local than that with positive recommendations. We will be giving them a call. My husband is the same way on soldering, he does just fine with through hole stuff but as fine as would be needed for this the amount of practice necessary would be ridiculous, and we've gotten a couple of "Well I can try it, but..."

On the plus side we kludged together a mount for a monitor (we didn't get it with the backbox monitor) so we could finally get it out on location. We used a patio umbrella base, some black iron pipe, and an extendable arm monitor mount to rig up an extra lcd monitor we had. It ain't pretty but it works and hopefully will be temporary.

IMG_20180503_204821_hdr (resized).jpg

That screen is an AU Optronics, Model No: M270Hvn02.1 You can buy them from a variety of online retailers. There is one on ebay right now for under $100 shipped.

If anyone has problems with the Xeno head tongue dropping the ball, the rubber comes off, then push the magnet inside to the end of the rubber and re-install. Mine got hammered in too far until it wasn't picking the ball up anymore.

Does anyone have the redesigned scoop that could maybe provide the dimensions of the 3d printed piece of plastic that was added?

Even better if you have the abilities to design in CAD or have an ability to 3d print them.

My Alien was one of the Texas Pinball Festival prototype machines and I finally got around to swapping in the replacement parts, though I'm not sure where these items in the attached picture go (I have dozens more of the plastic caps not pictured):

Also, the new Xeno head seems to be active with its jaw moving (seemingly) as it should in test mode, but the tongue is not moving for me. It shows an error for a stuck switch--is it referring to the switch under the top half of its head? That switch appears to be fine.

Finally, would anyone have any ideas for a way to frame and protect the "in play" edges of the lower playfield LCD? Seems like the clearcoat in that area could chip/flake/crack.

20180514_165326 (resized).jpg

I'm using a static cling vinyl sheet like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Grafix-9-Inch-12-Inch-Cling-6-Pack/dp/B002J6CO9I/ref=pd_bxgy_201_img_2

How freely does the tongue move in and out it might be binding

I just tried moving it while it's installed and it does freely move until it is pressed as far back as it will go, then it binds when it is pushed to its fullest in that direction. The metal rod for the tongue has a switch resting on it that I just double checked and it is open at resting position. I'm still getting a stuck switch error in the Xeno test section. Like I said earlier, the Xeno appears to do all of its taunting movements properly, but no tongue action

Would that gear feel loose? Mine doesn't move side to side or otherwise feel like it isn't securely in place.

Another item I haven't seen in anyone's machine who has updated is this board pictured below. I removed a few wires from it as Helmut instructed when installing the two new boards that were mounted behind the Xeno head. This board was mounted there originally and the only thing still plugged in from this board is a blue wire that runs to a black board near the back of the machine labeled "Ball Detect". In the picture, it is the blue wire at the bottom. Is that still needed or is that function now handled by the two new boards mounted behind the Xeno? There is also a blue wire plugged into this old board at the top of the picture in the terminal labeled "LED 1". Is this board no longer needed? I never saw an indication by Helmut to keep or remove the board.

20180515_100229 (resized).jpg

Ball detection was originally supposed to be an opto pointed at the magnet to determine if there was a ball there or not, but I recently came to understand that this was costed out. It's possible that this wire does nothing.

There should be two new boards one that controls the jaw and one that controls the "tongue" independently instead of on the same board like the board above.

Would you mind sharing verbatim the instructions that Helmut provided you?

Legacy Board
0D3D1ABE-F6DB-4EAA-B56C-AA1848C65BFD (resized).jpeg

Updated Boards
52F40AF7-6EB9-4A06-9C69-FFBA488622AE (resized).jpeg

Note these pictures are from two different machines, one prototype and one “production”

Yes, I've installed the two new boards and based on cfh's install guide in a thread he created, as well as a few other machine photos, plus the pictures Helmut supplied, my machine seems to be wired correctly but I never saw any mention of the older board being discarded or still in use.

Helmut's instructions were mainly text added to photos. Here's the bit that wasn't in a photo:

>>>>You should have a 12-volt Power cable (black/yellow) which gets hocked up to the 12-volt Power supply (small silver
box on the right-hand side in the cabinet) (see photo).

Mounting the mini PC unit. You need the spacers and the screw to fix the new PC in the bag of the cabinet (see photos).

Xenohead. The attached photo shows you how to take the Xenohead off from the game and how to wire everything
up to the Controller PCB's behind the backboard.<<<<

...then there are several photo links which didn't maintain their order when I tried to download them and add them to my own Google Photos album (sorry for the long list...no spoilers function on this site to hide walls of text?):

You can view "12volt power cable (2).jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/b61e359e-782f-4db4-ab33-effcf02ae9a0
You can view "12volt power cable.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d1b09ff9-ae3d-40a4-8ad4-5bd88e020520

I'm using Adobe Send & Track.
You can view "Motherboard connectors.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/16a278a0-ac73-4b74-a80d-3f57e6c3c246
You can view "New PC setting.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/8ef8f277-5640-45c3-b803-382b84f96d54
You can view "PC assemble1.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/9c0d037b-5757-4a6f-9320-b6911a8c47f1
You can view "PC assemble2.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/28bc5c42-625d-42a2-99e4-6b453753b541
You can view "PC assemble3.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d70d3b91-808e-4791-b55b-46e99eaa8507
You can view "PC assemble4.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/97db56c3-bcea-451f-ad6c-c718e169f0bb
You can view "PC assemble5.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ab657b09-ca0c-445b-9d55-240127428dea
You can view "PC assemble6.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/dc5eaca5-dfb6-4f0a-9a8c-5338d77be09c
You can view "PC assemble7.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/38a680d8-ad06-4ac0-9449-4cecc11da381
You can view "PC fix1.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/4370ec1d-7ae9-4b85-b9b7-fe7a3d3866b6
You can view "PCfix2.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/3ca7eed3-ac00-46e4-bffa-bda092a53f4d

I'm using Adobe Send & Track.
You can view "IMG_0181.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d8667ec1-3ee2-48d3-aa64-fa895c62a40a
You can view "IMG_0187.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/231fc16c-7d11-4ae4-a761-d6061e7dadaf
You can view "IMG_0188.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/1e598c6b-d300-443a-b56b-ac62b976ec24
You can view "IMG_0189.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/54153f98-3507-46bd-b998-39aa71dbe0df
You can view "IMG_0190.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/6ec9a1ab-0f8b-4bf9-b9a1-93ab24fc6704
You can view "IMG_0191.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ee46ba0a-fb88-48ec-a81b-7e7375dc1632
You can view "IMG_0192.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/2e98698a-af20-4bee-949a-e7527f86b036
You can view "IMG_0195.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/369abc6d-4f0c-4e5a-9703-990657b3a17b
You can view "IMG_0198.JPG" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/d90cf7c8-3f99-4159-9933-4ac92df05844
You can view "Step1.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ead2d7fb-2f88-4647-8076-458f6c1c190b
You can view "Step2.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/961de349-1846-4bac-a8ba-1654880b4bcd
You can view "Step3.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/3fb069b7-fcfc-47c8-9c97-419a613ee973
You can view "Step4.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/6d6f90c8-d667-41d6-ba4e-fe20a55f2750
You can view "Step5.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/cd0501b7-8750-4128-a7e7-3e95d34390f2
You can view "Step6.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ef3f0bd4-f5c9-4e64-a921-5a5e58bd6345
You can view "Step7.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/6ff3539f-d1d9-4b15-9ee4-d966ed730584
You can view "Step8.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/4a930966-cb8b-45fe-9d07-ef406259e334
You can view "tongue motor power.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/79f5bd0a-1fbf-4151-8757-88a839239142
You can view "Xeno head assy01.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/132253e7-4e50-4b98-8e61-330ef1325148
You can view "Xeno head assy02.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/35322bc0-0811-4ca8-8c31-1fe8c87455a8
You can view "Xeno wire 01.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/dd5a88a7-93fc-400c-8b39-709cb94c1297
You can view "Xeno wire 02.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/ce0766b6-01ce-44c8-b8c5-0314bf2a5b00
You can view "Xeno wire 03.jpg" at: https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/9894b676-37da-4327-a6e5-3a6d81c6dd0d

Also just discovered that all tests that activate the Xeno's mouth work except for "Breathe" which does nothing. I tried adjusting the small pot on one of the newly installed small boards that increases the tongue motor's power and that didn't have any noticeable affect.

I just had a HUO Full Throttle delivered, and everything made the trip pretty well except for one issue I am trying to figure out. The IO board that controls the top right of the playfield is showing that it is functioning okay, and everything works that is connected to it with the exception of the insert lighting and pop bumper lighting.

Reading the board labels, it appears that there is a 4 pin connection that goes upstream to the insert lighting in the rollover lanes? I triple checked those connections, and they appear to be snug. The rollover lighting inserts work fine upstream.

Any help would be welcome.

An update to my previous post... i can play exactly one half of a game before the flippers freeze up and the game keeps going with no flippers. I repower the game, and it does the exact same thing again.

Any direction is appreciated.... The parts of it that work *look* cool... lol

Also I noticed three of my IO boards are 1.4, and one is 1.3... not sure if this is normal or not.

ralphwiggum, check and re-seat USB cables to IO boards and Utilite, ensure IO boards are snug into carrier boards, if fault persists rotate IO board and retest.