Hello Lloyd!

I hope you can help me figure out what is causing my Genie machine to quit mid game. I have spent countless hours here and on the internet trying to figure this out without much luck. I purchased this machine a month ago and have been on a crash learning course ever since and have come along way, changing coils, diodes, switches, you name it. Nothing seems to fix it and no one seems to have an answer to this issue. I am too the point where I would offer a Paypal reward to the person who can figure this one out :) I have family coming for the holidays and I really want to have this playing well. Time is running out!

The Genie plays great, it just quits or crashes during the game about 40-50% of the time. The scores remain but it just stops like a tilt but as I said, the scores remain. Press the play button and your back to playing but never knowing when it will crash again. I might be able to get through a couple games before it happens again. The interesting thing is that it will quit anytime. It does not have to energize a coil which would point to a diode but will stop when the ball is just rolling down the PF. After hitting a drop target or side pumper, just stops dead. Lloyd its making me a day drinker!! Kidding but not far off.

The game has a Ni-Wumpf CPU, along with a Rottendog PS and Driver. All the boards are 12 years old. I have been communicating with Ni-Wumpf on this issue and they had a batch of bad boards a few years ago and the symptoms were identical. I sent a photo to them and they said this was not one of the bad boards. Given that it is 12 years old I am thinking it still might be the culprit. I also replaced the 2 harnesses from the CPU to the Driver Board and from the PS to the CPU. All the coils are fine and the game has very powerful flippers as I adjusted switches etc. Its broken 2 drop targets that is how good it plays. And of course the slam switches are not causing this as they are closed for sure unless they are defective. I would like to solder them shut but need to figure out how. I have taped them shut so that should not be it. There are 2 that are supposed to be closed, one on the coin door and the other inside the cabinet where the ball/pendulum is? I believe that is all. If I am missing something please tell me.

I know there were recommended ground mods for this game and know they can cause problems and someone I spoke with seems to think that might be it. I have searched trying to get some straight direction on what needed to be done. Do these replacement boards need special grounds? The attached photo shows the CPU ground. Nothing coming off the board just the back bracket is grounded. The seller told me the mods were done but there is no direct ground coming off the CPU. The question is: Do replacement boards need special grounds? I wish I could get some direction there.

I think that about covers the whole situation. I am sorry for the book here but am desperate. I truly hope you can shed some light on this and that I hear back from you.

Thanks,

Major Nelson