Good info. Thanks!!

I have where mine dims down to about 10% when you play and then goes back to 100% in attract mode. It’s in the stern settings.

Where? Need a code update?
Thanks

I’m at 70/ 33 / 10

Bg is crazy bright at 100 and the LE glass looks much better at the lower brightness (70) and matches my other games better as well.

I also lower the controlled lamps to 75 which is plenty bright enough for the inserts. You can actually see the insert art at that brightness as well.

So my game has always had some issues. Same as most people, switch issues and manual/auto plunger issues and latley my ramp has been getting stuck in the up position. I was going to work on it today and decided to update to the new code. Now it seems that I have no power from node 9 CN 7. My ramp doesn’t power my up kick doesn’t power. What is really weird is that they don’t even show up in the coil tests as options. Also I my switches from node 9 CN 13 don’t register in switch test as well. This is not anything I have ever dealt with where should I start?

Should I reload the code to see if that was an issue?

Thanks, Mike

Are you sure that you didn't accidentally load the PRO code instead of the Premium/LE? I did that once (in reverse) and had some... interesting... issues until I realized my mistake.

Dude you the man and I am an idiot. Thanks

I'm glad my past stupidity has helped someone else.

It's weird that there's not a check to see what machine you're trying to update before flashing the code to prevent those mistakes.

Something to add to either the bug or the feature request thread?

Good idea. I'll add it to the wishlist in the IM bug thread. But they're not fixing even dead simple actual bugs, so not sure if it will do any good.

just noticed the LE stern manual has the roll over switches in the sarcophagus tear down pictures!!! Do you think Stern changed it or ran out of roll over switches!?

I'm betting they were replaced with cheaper switches.

It's probably more where the regular switches worked better than the roll over type. I just checked my game and the rear switch bottoms out before the arm is all the way down, creating stress on the switch arm when the ball rolls over it - a possible point of premature failure.

Rob

Here's a follow up to this fix. About a week ago, balls were hitting the upper left flipper every 8-10 launches.
Manual and auto plunges produced the same results.
Prior to this happening, all plunges were working 100%
I cleaned the playfield with Novus 1 and the balls now hit the post below the upper left flipper. I waxed the playfield and the game returned to 100%.

I would say this happened in as few as 50-75 games.
So. Before making any adjustments, clean and wax the playfield.

Lockdown bars and wax aren't solutions to the shooter lane failures. I get you've worked hard on finding a solution, but no other machine I've ever owned behaved this way. Sure, it's great to attach your lockdown and wax your PF, however shot failures shouldn't depend on pristine, waxed PF's. All it tells me is the solution you've arrived at is on the hairy edge of workable and when other variables change, shots start failing again.

The shooter lane guide is flawed...on some installations the angle is causing it to fail more than other installations. Getting the angle "just right" is really tricky, but once it's right, it shouldn't be effected by minor dirt (in a HUO environment, where it's not being played 1000 times per week).

So while it's great your game is working well again, keeping it waxed isn't a general solution for the shooter lane failures many of us have dealt with.

Once again, my ORB captive ball was out of whack (resulting in not being able to select a song because it was registering prematurely). The mech has the revised pointy armature secured with a dab of blue loctite. Turns out the screws that secure the mech to the PF were loose (even though I tightened them 20 games ago?). I just added a couple toothpicks to secure the screws. Tested. Seems like the weight/orientation of the mech loosens the screws no matter how tight/secure they appear to be. The wood screws are tight, but without a locking mechanism, they come loose no matter how many toothpicks I add. The loctite works great for machine screws. Any tips on what might do a better job securing these wood screws? Maybe a wider screw? I've tweaked a lot of games and never encountered a mech loosening so quickly after tightening. Weird.

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I agree. However, complaining about an issue that Stern hasn't addressed/fixed yet isn't going to fix the problem either.
(Now go put the shim (not that washer I saw you install) in and wax your playfield and have some fun)

I normally would use a piece of a bamboo skewer and some good wood glue in the hole. Going to a wider screw is also an option but shouldn't be necessary.

I've rebuilt completely thrashed flipper plate mounting screw holes this way and they've been solid as a rock for years afterwards.

Yeah, I try to avoid glue, but in this case I think it's necessary. This is a simple example of a poor design...they should have had this mech bolted down with lock washers/nuts. Tiny wood screws just don't work for this mech. Loosening after hundreds of plays wouldn't be so bad, but this is loosening after 20-30 plays. Unacceptable.

Thanks for the help!

No reason at all to avoid wood glue in this circumstance.

Agree this mech should have used been machine screws through the PF. Situation isn't helped by people having to remove them to fix them somewhat frequently.

So i was trying to install a shim to fix the autolaunch issue and i succeeded in losing the two screws to the top plastic on my Premium. Any idea what the specs are for these tiny screws? I am just hoping they fell somewhere where they will stay and not fall onto the playfield (99% sure that is the case as I have looked everywhere for them)

just find when i play the mode 2 minutes to midnigth supposed to be all the score you make on each mode but they no give you the score you make example fear of the dark you make 32,000,00 points but they just give you 2,800,00 point

Nevermind. I found them!

It changes depending on the exchange rate.

whow vireland thx for your very smart answer i sure silverball is biger that your brain

Don't encourage me.

Man, I hate when that happens. No idea on the screw spec, but one tip...no need to remove the top plastic to fiddle with autolaunch. The less screw removal, the better...

Another place for a ball hang up

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Sorry if this has been brought up before but i noticed that sometimes when i shoot a loop shot with my right upper flipper that it isn’t registering. Anyone else had this problem? bad opto maybe?

It's been brought up before. Ball is likely moving too fast for the opto to register. There is a fix, but I don't have a link. It just involves adjusting the opto, if I remember right.

Edit: Found a post talking about it with a suggested fix. Key post index updated with a link.

I thought I read that someone made some spacers (or something to that effect) to raise the opto upwards where it registered better. I don't own an IM, but I've been trying to keep track of issues and fixes, as I really want to get one (possibly this year).

Thank you Vireland!

bought this and it solved all problems not registering the loops:
https://pu-parts.com/imd-iron-maiden-pu-upgrade-kit

Me too.And it works superbly.

How does this work? What does it do?

I looked at the pictures but can't figure out how it improves things?

Will probably buy one anyway!

There's dimming modules for Stern SAM from Arcade Upkeep - i'm using them in 4 SAM games, and 1 WhiteStar.
Seriously great bit of kit if you don't mind building your own backbox light panel.

http://www.arcadeupkeep.com/backbox-kits/4587457160

I think it raises the opto receivers to read fast balls that were otherwise missed. It works. Kit also includes a ball trap plastic for right side of game. Mine is a later game and had a post installed.

So which screws specifically should I remove? This is my first pin and if I go to adjust the autolaunch again I want to have a better plan as it seemed like way more work than I anticipated (especially with screws falling all over the place).

You need to remove the ramp. Then remove the post the ramp rests on. Then remove the lock nut closest to the shooter exit.

Since this is your first pin and you don't have much experience, I'm afraid adjusting the shooter is not a great intro. I've been doing this for a long time and I can tell you that "dialing in" the shooter was one of the more frustrating tweaks I've made in quite awhile. A bit traumatizing

I suggest contacting Stern support for help, especially if this was a NIB purchase!

Just cleaned and waxed my playfield - have about 500 games on this and it didn't look like it needed cleaning.

Now my auto plunge is perfect again !
No need to lift the left upper flipper, ball goes smooth underneath it and all balls lock for multiball (before at least one wouldn't make it).
So before tryjng all the adjusting, wax the playfield.. makes a huge difference.

Played a couple IMDN's in the wild recently and both the manual and auto-plunge failed a majority of the time. Sad.

For those games that aren't fixed by cleaning/waxing, I urge you to contact Stern support. Stern makes business decisions on what to fix based on direct customer complaints.

I've had the ball get stuck up here a few times now. You can shake it loose but not without tilting.

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I'd stick a small post rubber on that hex post the ball is resting against. Shouldn't get stuck there again.

I thought you had the right idea but looking closer, the ball doesnt actually make it to the post. It gets hung up where the 2 pieces of sheet metal meet at an angle. The hex is actually too far away for a rubber to help but I think you are on the right track and I'm going to do some macguyverìng
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Had the same problem. Its the plastic tie they used for the cable on the post.you just need to raise it up the post and turn it to the smooth side. Not had a single hang up since.
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Intersting. I have this problem quit frequently as well, will have to look for the tie.

I hope this proves to be true for us. Last time I called I wasn't told this exactly--but in so many words---that they were kind of hoping Keith was gonna figure out how to make this work better. His game, I guess that seems fair. There has to be a better fix for this and the newton ball actuating.

Called Stern today and spoke with Dave in tech support. I believe was his name and told him that the balls were flying off the wire form actually on each side maybe more on the left. He says he hasn't heard of that problem but to send some pictures of the wire form where they drop the ball in the lane. So my question is this. Is this something that's been a problem on some machines and do they replace the wire form. Also this is a good reason not to have mods on the machine until you get things worked out because I would imagine if somebody takes pictures with mods that might be an excuse for them to ignore the problem. Things like plastic protectors.