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

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?

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.

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.

Thanks, I should have mentioned what I have done to this point..... I swapped two IO boards, and the problem stayed at the same location, so I am confident the IO boards are working correctly. I also unplugged everything from the Utilite and plugged them back in. This just feels like a connector issue to me, but I can't seem to find where. When this machine was transported, the head was folded down and wrapped nicely to the body. Are there any connectors going to the head other than AV stuff that might effect this lighting chain?

I think my next step after checking any connections in the head is to pull the large PCB from the right side that the IO board is snapped into and reflow the solder joints where the IO board mates up.

Can you elaborate a little more? Are you saying that if a power connector is not seated entirely, there is a chance the IO board would only partially work? I did reseat the power connector at that IO board location. Both IO boards exhibit the same behavior when seated in that controller (not really sure what that board would be called). They both appear to be communicating properly based on the leds on the IO board itself. The GI controlled lighting from that board is working properly, as are the switches, the only thing not working is the insert controlled lighting, the two flashers on the back of the playfield, the bonus lights on the back of the playfield, and the insert lighting inside the pop bumpers. Looking at this based on the board stampings, this would appear to be a daisy chain scenario where something is not carrying down the chain? The weird thing is that the inserts for the rollovers DO work, and they appear to be driven by this same board that is driving the other inserts that aren't working.

Thanks again for any pointers....

That's awesome Joe... thanks, I will run it through it's test and see what comes up. It would appear that these lights are mostly interchangeable, so if it turns out to be a flaky light, I could always put that one at the end of the chain. In the bulb test menu, when it cycles through the bulbs, does this tie directly to how the chain follows along a similar pattern? (I am assuming so, but you know what they say about assuming). I haven't looked at the flashers yet, but I am assuming these are the same style/volt lights, and not traditional flashers with different voltages, correct?

Thanks again, I really want to get to know the ins and outs of this game, it looks really incredible.

Agreed, this is awesome info and will speed up troubleshooting quite a bit. Thanks!!!!!!

Big thanks to Ferret and BCD... because of this info, I was able to trace it back to an LED that has gone bad. No matter where I moved it to, the downstream wouldn't light after it. I pulled a LED from the back right GI that was the last in the string.... don't even notice it.

One last issue... I thought the game was resetting randomly.... It's not. My coils all stop, including the flippers when the ball passes over one particular switch. I have to reset the game to get the coils back. As long as I don't hit the left lane that goes back to the head/figurine, I can play all night..... so, reseat that switch? any other ideas?

Thanks again, I am so close!

Thanks Brian... I will try to get this done tonight and shoot you a PM. I don't have enough time on a working game yet to know what the normal behavior is for those posts. I haven't run coil tests yet, just bulb tests, and now switch tests. All the switches pass the tests without issue. I will run a coil test next to see what the behavior of that up-post is by the driver.

I am pretty sure you are on the latest code. Have you tried a full factory reset to flush out any software Gremlins that may be in there?

He just meant to switch the io board with another one of the io boards to see if the problem followed the io board.

All coil tests worked fine. Went back to look over the cpu. The Heighway USB stick felt a little loose. Picked up the cpu, and the power cord fell right out.

I twisted in the power cord and moved the USB stick to another port. Played about 15 games without any issues. I put a USB extension cord in and a blank memory stick. If it locks up, I will run a debug.

Also, I have read where people are having problems making the right ramp from the left flipper. Watching this closely, the ball is hitting the bottom of the upper ramp. I will make a cover for the entrance and report back.

This game is super fun!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/heighway-pinball-support-full-throttle-and-alien/page/9#post-4403273

It sounds like you have a flaky LED.... I ran into the same thing with my Full Throttle.

Do all of the lights work in the individual lamp tests?

You can't... yet.... There has been talk of someone stepping up and reproducing them though....

You have a buyer here... just keep us posted!

This sounds like a shooter lane switch issue. I know when I got my Full Throttle, the previous owner was having sporadic issues with the ball just randomly launching once it entered the lane. (A little different than your issue, but still somewhat similar in function). After I examined the issue, I noted the wire routing for the shooter lane switch was far too tight via the path they did from the factory. I rerouted it to give it some slack, and then tightened the connectors so they were snug on the switch spades. I haven't had a single issue since then. I don't want to jinx myself, but my FT has been bulletproof since I tightened everything up and went through the whole game.

What version of software are you running?

Have you tried replacing the switch? In switch test, when you put a ball in the shooter lane, does it flash twice on the test menu?

Agreed, this switch should flash in test when activated.

Take the ball out, and depress switch with your finger to see if you can get it to flash. If so, it probably just needs bent upwards slightly. In the test menu, you should see it flash with a ball in the lane.

Cool man, glad you got it worked out. You definitely picked a very undocumented game to start out on....LOL..... I will say, I have had a lot of machines, and fixed a lot of machines, and honestly, Full Throttle doesn't make me too nervous. Other than the IO Boards (which people are working to reproduce), this machine has a lot of off the shelf parts. Would a manual be nice? Absolutely. but, for the most part, a lot of stuff is easy to see, or is labeled, and you can visually work your way through a lot of the game.

I *really* enjoy my Full Throttle. Lots of different shots, and very fast, especially for a widebody.

Hey everyone..... I purchased this entire lot of parts as I wanted to keep a few spares around for my FT. I already have a spare IO Board I bought from Pinbackpacker (the one that works with Alien and FT), so that will be available for sale, as will some of the parts from this lot. Let me know what you need, and we can split this up a bit based on what you need, and what I want to keep as spares.

Reseat all of the usb cables, on both ends of each cable. I am assuming it was working properly before?

It sounds like it doesnt know where the balls are at.... what does the switch test show?

You are on the right track.... in coil test, does it kick a ball into the shooter lane?

Have you tried a factory reset already?

When you say you checked fuses.... just visually, or with a meter? One could be blown but still have just enough to light the LED.

When I got my FT it would autolaunch sporadically as well. I found the wiring to the shooter lane switch was routed so it was super tight with no slack. I rerouted the wiring and tightened the spade connecters with some pliers.... Havent had a problem since then.