Do you have a schematic? Trace back from the S relay through the start button and your problem is in there somewhere.

I haven't got a HH schematic, but the issue will likely lie with the Bounce switch, Anti-cheat switch, or one of the score motor switches (usually at position 2B or 1C). An example from another similar era game is shown below.

StartPath.jpg

Check all those switches on the top of that circuit. Ball count unit, zero position replay unit (should be closed if there are credits, if set to free play it will always be closed) n/c W relay switch, the two motor switches, and the anti cheat switch. All of those, excepting the start button, need to be closed or the relay won't pull in when you push the start button.

Both the replay unit and the ball count unit are in the backbox. The ball count unit is on the lower right. It has five rivets on the circuit board. At start up, the wiper will be off the first rivet until the ball crosses the trough switch. It then steps up onto the first rivet. At the end of the game, it steps off the last rivet and opens a switch that kills power to the p/f.

Had the exact same issue with my High hand. It turned out to be a switch on the credit unit. Visually it looked fine & was making contact. The problem was that it WAS making contact, but just barely. Cleaned & adjusted switch so it had more pressure when closed & that fixed it.

The first rule of EM repair is that switches that "look" like they're making quite often aren't, and plugs that "look" like they're correctly located quite often aren't.

Since it won't add a credit via the coin switches, that eliminates everything to the left of the highlighted path I posted above.

Check switches at score motor positions 1C and 2B, the anti-cheat switch (on the coin door), and the bounce switch (on the bottom cabinet board). (Although sounds like the anit-cheat switch has been accounted for already, so down to the other three.)

If I'm not mistaken, the fact that you can manually operate the S relay and game starts ok means you can discount the Motor 2B and Anti-Cheat switch as they are in the S relay hold circuit.

Check the Orange wire that is common to the coin switches and replay button and make sure you a have continuity back to the Motor 1C switch.

_{Post edited by woz : added a comma}

Great observation.

Often the third is under the playfield (has one of those disc weights on the switch).

Did you check continuity across the NC (normally closed) Motor 1C switch? Put your meter on ohms not continuity check and measure resistance between OR and MAR-GR wires on 1C.

+1 - This is what happened on my High hand. I checked switch closures with the continuity tone setting & it WOULD check ok - but it was not making good enough contact to activate the "S" relay. Check with the ohms setting to be sure there is not too much resistance thru the switch.
You can also verify by running a jumper to bypass any switch(s) in question

One goes to the spring-loaded 'shoe' and the other goes to the base.

After ball 5 drains, is it stepping to the 6th position? If it is, is the 6th position switch opening up? (it's on the back side of the ball count unit, and is opened by a post on the cam.)

I don't have High Hand schematic otherwise I'd help.

When I got my High Hand I was having the same problem.I moved the position one over and I have been playing it with it serving up 5 balls and going to game over and then it serves up a dead ball,it also does not light up ball count on the backglass. When I put it back to the proper position ,the ball count lights up but it does not go to the 6th position for game over.My guess was that someone took the thing apart and did not put it back properly,maybe one position off . Do you think that's possible? Or do I just not have it adjusted correctly.

Was it working properly before and then started doing this, or is this a "first time bring up" sort of problem?

I'd suggest starting a separate thread, and taking some pictures of the unit.

When I brought it home and set it up it worked the way it still does now ,playing a 5 ball game without lighting up the ball count and serving up a 6th ball and ending the game , When I put it in the correct position it did what JBK describes and it did light up the ball count.

If it's working correctly on each ball draining up to ball 5, then that kinda suggests it's in 6th position/game over territory.

There are two paths to advance the Ball Count unit. The one being used for the five balls is via the trough switch (each time the ball rolls over the trough switch to the plunger, the Ball Count unit advances).

The other path to advance the Ball Count unit is used after ball 5 drains, and this steps it to the 6th position, putting it at Game Over.

Usually though, when it doesn't advance to the 6th position/game over, an 'extra' ball is kicked out to the plunger, which is what causes it to finally reach game over (because it's using the trough switch one more time), and the playfield is dead.

Since in your case ball 5 drains but doesn't kick out the ball and also doesn't reach game over, that makes me think that either the 6th position switch is opening early (at the 5th position), or that perhaps it really is stepping to the 6th position, and the Game Over light is out, or there's some other clue to note still.

After ball 5 drains, is the playfield still working? (flippers active, e.g.)

^^ Exactly what DirtFlipper is explaining with illustrations. http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=EM_Repair#Gottlieb.C2.AE_Ball_Count_Unit_Wiper_and_Switch_States_Explained

Hi JBK.
You can do a simple test: Open your machine, turn it on and gently rotate the score motor by hand and it should come on to find its next home position and stop. Each home position is 1/3 rotation.
You can do that bunches of time to verify your score motor always reaches its next home position without any issues.

I've brightened up your photo and point to the home position switch stack. You can see the row of switches are not at home position because the cam follower is not down in its slot. If you were to switch the machine on in this status then the motor should come on and stop when the cam follower for this row of switches fall into the cam slot:

You can also see the red and white wires in the photo:

189706-i.jpg