Ok, so you mean if you take away the in signal to the sound board, the popping still remains?
Then it is definitely not code or mainboard problem. It's the sound board or possible (not likely) a 24V power supply problem.

I think that mini-headphone lead attached to the red square block on the sound board is output to the sub, not input. It's very likely software, though, because the versions before 1.90 didn't do it. I'll play around a bit more in the coming days.

Ah OK. Now I got you. Good idea. I'll check this when I get home from work.

No, the outputs of the sound board are rca jacks.
One to the cab subwoofer two to backbox left and right speakers and one not used.
Please connect headphones in the green jack on the back of the metal box and listen to the sound quality. This is a very important and very simple test.

The subwoofer itself has the red audio cable attached to it. I unplugged it from the outside of the metal box yesterday. And the popping was gone since I leave it unplugged to the metal box. No more tac tac tac tac comig out of any speaker now with just the subwoofer unplugged.

...I'll test the headphone thing when I get home and report.

Well I tried a different 3.5mm cable from the pink jack to the green jack on the back of the box = no difference. Static still there
Unplugged sub cable = no difference
Tried running the RCA cables directly from speakers to the sound board = no difference
replaced the RCA cables with other cables = no difference
Wiggled around the USB cable thing a bit, but didn't remove itas I was afraid something might blow up = no difference

Well one difference. I now have static coming about evenly out of both speakers where before it was just the left speaker. It isn't super loud, but from 30 feet away across a silent room you can hear it.

Are pinball machines supposed to have that static/crackle hum all the time? Or are they supposed to be dead silent like when I hit the mute button on the front?

Still haven't heard back from my JJP ticket.
EDIT: JJP support actually did get right back to me 2 weeks ago. I just didn't know the response would be to the ticket itself so I never checked it, I was expecting an email. The delay is all my fault.

Mine is set at 6.9 and my pops work as expected, although the ball rarely stays in there all that long before coming out. I have had it go in and come out without any action a several of times over 800ish games though

I think JJP set it up so that it would not pop there for a long time.

If you feel it is going to slip out without triggering a few then you know what to do - nudge it good

I would suggest replacing the sub cable as well. The JJP audio cables are all garbage. The rca and 3.5mm ends on my cables did not fit snugly into the jacks.

I give up atm on the Hobbit. Beast head fell off because it was barely attached with only one screw. Another beast is not registering any more because the cables from the switch of the head were chopped off because they touched the upper trapped ball fix every time they raise. I also spotted another beast with the cables halfway chopped already caused by the same issue. Mine came with the ball trapped fixes already installed. So not caused by me.
Recap:
-many missing screws on various parts (fixed it already)
-cables pinched between screws that go into the wood (fixed it already)
-speakers popping & crackling (still needs to be solved somehow)
-unplayable since beasts not reigistering any more (needs to be addressed)
-lockbar not closing unless you force it (needs to be addressed)
-beast head barely attached with one screw, second screw was non-existant (fixed it already)
-headphone jack not working at all (needs to be addressed)
-to take the invisiglass off it takes forces that can't possibly be meant like that.

Since I have it i was not able to play more than 1 game without having to open it and fix something / looking for sources of problems.
Well that is not the experience I had in mind when purchasing a more than 9000 Euros NIB machine.

I worked on a Star Trek Premium that came like that out of the box. I had to gently bend the metal out a tiny bit that covers the plastic channel guide so the glass could move normally. It was almost impossible to slide out before I did that. Sounds like your Hobbit is in the same condition.

With the glass issue try putting a little pressure on the glass towards the top then slide it out

It's there a way to disable the left slingshot in the menus?

Sling arm is hitting the playfield. Talking with JJP on it but want to play it tonight when family comes over.

Remove coil and spring. Slip an 8/32ds lock nut in the bottom of the coil. Put it back on. Correct spacing so no playfield damage. And easier than moving the kicker bracket back.

LTG : )

I've started having the same sound problem. With the crackling, I was able to unplug the connectors, play around with them a bit, and then it's worked for me since.

My new problem is that the sound now occasionally drops out of the bottom speaker.

so JJP Support sent me a new sound board and cable (quick help through the support portal by Victor!), but after switching them out I still have the exact same speaker static/crackle. So far nothing has worked Switched out both sets of RCA's, switched out the 3.5 cables, cleaned all cables, switched out the board itself and nothing made a difference.

LTG or anyone else have any ideas at all on anything I can try? I've spent hours looking under the PF for anything loose or disconnected and have never found anything. It's driving me crazy.

The popping started in 1.90, maybe this is related. Did you have this issue in 1.30? If you don't know, I'd roll back to 1.30 and see if that fixes it.

I'm experiencing a pesky problem I haven't seen covered here yet to my knowledge. My hobbit auto launches the ball about 35% of the time (not exactly scientific) and definitely a higher percentage of the time on the 2nd or 3rd ball. Poor second player gets his first ball launched before they even touch the machine. I have talked to Frank and he is checking with Victor, - I haven't called them back....yet. Any thoughts?

I'm noticing this also!

The wife complains that it does it to her all the time. I havn't been able to replicate the issue. I'll do some more investigation into the logs and see if it reports when it does it.

I don't think its a switch that is triggering it either. I can roughly shake the cabinet and it doesn't auto launch. This seems to have only beeb noticed since the last update.

Shooter lane switch stuck down, or dragging on the sides of the hole in the playfield it travels through, or not staying closed when a ball is sitting on it.

LTG : )

Yeah. Tried using completely different sets of all cables and have also run the cables straight to the soundboard skipping the barrel connects entirely. Tried cleaning everything etc... nothing made even a slight difference.

No this isn't the popping. This is static/crackle, like feedback from somewhere and it's been there since the moment I first powered it on pre 134 (was it 112?)
JJP shipped me out some new parts today. So far their support has been fast and good.

EDIT: I should mention that this is really the only issue my machine has had, and it doesn't affect playing it. It needed a couple minor adjustments out of the box, but everything worked, and has continued to work, perfectly since day one. It now has 900+ plays on it I think and going strong.

Thank you for thoughts - I agree with all of them. Attached are pics of the switch and it does lean a little to the outside but the ball still is able to depress it. I initially thought perhaps pitch of playfield - It was a little flat and I raised it to the 6.9 or 7 range. (Overplay real nice) No change. Trough Kicker was adjusted low and high - no effect. No ball movement. So I'm thinking at this point it's not mechanical but software related. I will say after a ball drains - end of ball - drop targets reset - I'm used to the sound but it is distinct - ball launches as soon as targets are set. I will send a video to JJP.

Other than this issue game is a blast to play - received the day before thanksgiving.

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IMG_1609 (resized).JPG

Fix it. Easy to bend, straighten it, so it's centered in the hole.

LTG : )

Here's a tip for those with a playfield protector:

If you ever get spots under the protector that looks like it is wet or oily those are called Newton's Rings and caused by static. I got them after lifting up my protector and cleaning underneath it.

If you get it don't panic. Just take dryer anti-cling sheets and attach them to something long and thin, then slide that under the protector from down between the flippers and push it all about to remove the spots. I used a long, over-sized zip tie and also a Slim-Jim with the sheet wrapped around it.

Silly rabbit.

For non-americans what is a slim jim? (apart from what reno posted)

Greasy meat-byproducts in a cellulose-like skin stick. Kind of like a longer, thinner dehydrated hotdog/weiner. Pretty salty, too. Looks like a thick twig.

A ruler shaped piece of really, really thin metal with a hook on the end. They make them to slip between a rolled up window and a car door so you can pop locked cars open.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slim_jim_(lock_pick)

Mine started doing this occasionally after latest update to. It's got to be software. Others have seen it on their machines after update as well.

I don't think that is going to fit between my playfield and protector

ahhh thanks!

My pop bumpers started firing by themselves during game play and it turns out that switch 71 behind the rubber ring above the barrel pops was ripped causing the switch to be closed 99.9% of the time. While this was happening mine would auto launch a lot of the time too. I've noticed that if you leave a ball in the out-lane and manually press any targets etc.. it will launch the ball. So I'd check you don't have any switches firing by themselves when you nudge the machine.

They're barely functional as food, and completely inappropriate for any mechanical purposes.

Are there any instruction how to remove main ramp properly? Quite hard to wax without removing it.

I'll have a look tonight. The ramp fix has included some official instructions for ramp removal.

Thanks a lot! Are the worse ramp flaps totally clear? Here is mine. Are these the better ones? Just few games so hard to say anything about curling.

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Yours look exactly like mine and after hundreds of plays they still look as they did when I opened it.

How are your drop targets? I had an issue where the plastic ledge that the drop is supposed to sit on shattered - so one drop in the DWARF bank would always fall. If the skill shot is on DWARF, that falling target might cause an auto fire.

Here's a pic of my DWARF bracket. Jack hooked me up with a a new one (thanks Jack!). I think plastic ledges that are rivetted might be a bad idea though. Hope the new ones hold!

image (resized).jpeg

Wow, riveting those seems like an extraordinarily bad decision, especially since they're made of thin plastic and not metal and the drop targets get a LOT more action than most games.

Can you attach pictures to JJP support portal? I have some issues with my hobbit but I can't attach allthought they are under 5Mb like says in the page. I will get every time an error message. Several asks but they doesn't answear from JJP.

Using the portal is hit or miss. Phone or email works better. If you PM, I'll give you the email address I have.

Thanks! I got the email