Good evening everyone!

I kindly ask for your expertise, and the support of the forum on this issue I’m now having, with my Sega Starship Troopers pinball machine.

I just purchased the game from Little Shop of Games here in Florida. Delivery went smooth and the game was running fine for a few days.

I did some basic upgrades, added a color DMD, added the quad-colored LED field on the bottom, replaced some bulbs, replaced some modular target switches and everything was fine for a few more days.

This evening however, after completing a multi-ball run, the flashers went off as usual, then for a second or two, they all got stuck on red, then switched to green and stayed that way.

The game went back to normal play but the green flashers are now stuck on and lit solid.

Tried powering off the game and back on. Disconnected the power and letting it sit for a while, not fixed.

Looked up the diagrams for the Sega I/O POWER DRIVER BOARD, seems Q27 is now stuck on. It also started to get VERY hot, so I immediately shut the game back off.

Q27 powers the flashers / Green specifically, (4) 906 incandescent lamps total.

I noticed when replacing bulbs and parts during the week that some of the red and yellow twist lock flash lamp covers were melted badly but just figured it was the game being played a lot or the flashers were left on too long during a test / demo mode.

Now that they are stuck on, I think it may have been a pre-existing issue.

When I power the game off and back on all 4 green flashers come on solid immediately.

When I open the coin door and kick the high voltage off via the automatic switch they shut off but pull the white rod back out or close the door lights come back on.

I do have a full brand new ribbon cable set and I'm going to try those now and all the fuses and things seem fine.

I don't notice any issues on the main boards, burnt pins, relays or pots for example.

Game has the latest roms and seems ok otherwise. All build in diagnostics show all the other components working normally.

I am a HUGE Starship Troopers fan and movie prop collector, it would break my heart if this is not a fixable issue.

Thoughts on repair? Or suggestions on how to unstick things?

Do you think replacing the entire driver board with something like a SDB004 Rotten Dog board will resolve the issue?

At a loss as to what the next move is here, past my knowledge base.

stuck lights (resized).jpg

Any suggestions on someone / company to do the repair? I heard that reflowing solder on the entire back of the board too is very helpful?

Thanks for the reply chas10e! I ordered a few of the TIPs based on the diagrams and your link. I also ordered a rotten dog board as well since I'm in so deep to this project anyway at this point.

My biggest concern of course is there is something else wrong with the machine some how, some where and if I put in the SDB004 board in I blow something there too.

Just odd that after being full serviced, shopped and upgraded by the seller and played / tested by them it went out - the seller LSOG is VERY reputable and knowledgeable so hopefully I hear back from them with no issues.

I did confirm by touch that the TIP piece on the current board associated with the green flashers does in fact get VERY super hot quickly. In fact it turned the metal tang / fin blue indicating heat exchange.

What was odd was when I used my industrial laser thermometer on it, it did not register the heat change but the TIP above it did.

I can do the resolder and replacement but rather have the whole board checked over just in case.

ChrisHibler I just YouTubed whitestar sega flasher and your video came up! Was going to contact you in the am! Looking forward to getting it to you.

ChrisHibler is a consummate professional, he went above and beyond to help repair my board, which he did to great success, responded to all my questions and requests and exhibited kindness and impeccable character. 10 out of 10! I highly recommend Chris and his services for your board repair needs!