Just joined the club with a Joker Poker project just over a week ago. After a bit of work, I was able to get the game booted and running. At the time, the knocker coil was clipped off and transistor Q25 looked like it has some work done to it. After cleaning the knocker, I decided to reconnect it to the game and ran coil test. Well, Q25 blew, and when pulling off the driver board, pulled a wire out of the pin, so I have to get new pins to replace it.

While I'm waiting for new pins, can anyone hazard a guess as to why Q25 blew? I replaced it once with a TIP102 as suggested by pinrepair, but it blew again, and also all the coils locked up and I turned it off before it got a chance to boot, so I don't know if it will boot correctly. This second time around, I replaced both the diode on the coil and Q25 again with a new TIP102. Before I try to boot it up again, is there anything else I should be looking for? What would cause all the coils to lock?

It has a Rottendog PS, Ni-Wumpf MPU (older version), and a stock Driver board, ground mods done. The game had the interconnect replaced, I believe with the diodes inline, and has been repinned from what I can tell.

Looks like a really interesting game! Thank you for sharing! I would also like to see it in action.

It won't get nearly enough play in the home environment where you'll see wear. Use clean balls and clean and wax regularly and you'll be golden.

Would anyone be able to offer a reasonable explanation as to why it seems as though any work done to my game (TX Sector) would cause seemingly random coils to lock on or cause a fuse to blow?

Got the game working 100% a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed playing it. Decided to replace the drop targets and give it a clean. Turn it on and a coil locks up (this one locked on when I got the game and consequently resolved). I decided to just try to replace the diode, and now when I turn it on, it blows the fuse that powers the 4 saucer solenoids. I tried to replace the fuse, and it blows again...so now I'm out of fuses the coil locking on has happened 2x now (different coils) when i did some other unrelated work (both times resolved) and now this.

Going to make up a 1A circuit breaker while I troubleshoot this and wait for more fuses to arrive. I haven't checkednth3 schematics yet but presume that the coils lit on the board coincide with the 4 saucers.

Also has a Swemmer MPU.
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How do I troubleshoot if it's a bad rom?

It looks like one of the previous owners did all pf the ground mods. There is some not-quite-the-best lighting wiring (pop bumpers) but it should be good enough not to be related.

What do I need to refresh the edge connectors? This is my first 80b so kinda new to the whole system.

Thanks for the comprehensive rundown! I have changed connectors and header pins on my Ballys, so familiar with all that is involved with that. Just wasnt sure how to tackle the edge connectors, but it seems like I might have some of the parts already, at least for the single edge. For the double edge...well that just really sucks!