Problem is that I cannot reproduce the problem, happens from time to time. I don‘t think that banging will be successful, because the shaker is working the time producing enough vibrations. Nevertheless, thank you for your comment.

I have looked for a red marked switch as bad switch. How can I see in the switch test that a switch is registering when it should not? Thanks to you as well.

Perfect description, thank you so much! You are helping a lot of pinsiders highly appreciated.

So, the switch matrix looks the same.

I will try the playfield vibration method tomorrow. Possibly, it is a dirty opto at the entrance of the lane under the black pearl right beside the map targets, because this opto activates the shaker, which is working in may problem case as well. So the bad switch must have a connection to the shaker.

This will definitely help explain the issue. It showed me which switch was triggering in a similar issue I had. My issue was an spinner opto that only provided five points. Your issue could be labeled as a "scoring feature" or "point enhancer". Leave it as is and show off them scores!

@ LOTR_breath: Thank you so much! I did not even know that there is a kind of switch history. Makes perfectly sense and I will try that.

@ MarZ_78: thank you to your comment as well. But I will not use the bad switch to produce unbeatable high scores Cheating myself is not the way to go.

Sometimes it's difficult to pick up on the in this forum... To be clear I was joking.

I know don't worry

I still have yet to check on my rampant gold scoring switch too. It makes me angry when I hear the damn noise, giving me fake scores!

Looks like I found my culprit last night via the switch history tool..!

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LTG is the next step to check under the playfield and see how closely the switch is gapped?

I know I watched Butch's video regarding switch adjustment. Definitely need a tool.

https://www.pinballlife.com/ultimate-leaf-adjuster-tool.html

If you can see it above works.

If not, you could always unscrew the bracket holding it to the playfield and lower it and look. Though that won't help much if the rubber ring is pressing it. Then you'd have to adjust both blades.

Power off. Tool works. Small flat nose pliers, thin screw driver, fingernails, etc.

LTG : )

I had a similar issue with the left rubber. That whole area is a bit of a pain to get to. I was able to fix mine by just pulling the rubber to give more slack in the front.

Oooooh! Yeah, that might be a good approach first.

Crazy, but sometimes just brushing my finger against that rubber was sending it ringing off a few times. So yeah, I might just try to loosen, move the rubber about for better placement, prior to jumping at the leaf switch...would could undoubtedly also be an issue too!

Gotta love the Pirates and Houdini people! You folks are always ready to jump in, and even better offer guidance and experience regarding issues that are commonplace, but new for some of us!

Hi pirates!

I came home from a trip and my potc won’t boot. First I noticed that half (top half) of my fuse LEDs weren’t lit. Then on later boot attempts they were. Now they’re back off again. Anyway, I tried the manual boot jumper and then the clear cmos jumper. The manual boot did make the cpu fan twitch, but that’s the most life I have. Very dead. I read through a lot of posts on the boot topic, but I’m not sure what to look at next.

Also, could someone double check my placement of the 12v connector from the power supply. It can go on either set of pins so I got confused.

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All of those fuses tested good btw (I put my dmm on continuity and they all made the screech sound—is that the right way to test?). I also tested the two fuses on the far right of that board (the ones like in my car with the number 1 printed on them)

The fuses on the top half of the board will be lit or not depending on whether or not you have the coin door closed or top interlock switch pulled out.

Yep. You nailed that. Thanks!

So same boot problem. All the LEDs are on now though.

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There’s a video on the JJP site under support about jump starting the cpu - did you watch that and try that?

I believe he did.

I'd try again, and power to power supply. Be sure it's plugged in tight.

LTG : )

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try it and just changed the button cell battery and tried again. When I try the jumpstart I do get a brief flicker of light and fan moving. But nothing else. Also cleared cmos and tried again. Same. Starting to wonder if I have a power supply problem or a mobo gone bad? Those both seem unlikely though.

What did you mean by this LTG? is there a connector that could come loose enough to not boot but still have power to that board with all the LEDs?

Thanks as usual for your help.

Yes. I'd go over them. Be sure a wire/pin isn't sticking up from a connector.

LTG : )

I'd check the pinouts in the manual for the I/O board and motherboard, see where power goes to them. Go over those.

LTG : )

Ok. I’ll check every connection today.

I don’t think I mentioned that the monitor has no power either. Not sure if that helps. I haven’t traced where it gets it’s power from, but it look like it comes out of the cabinet (maybe the transformer?)

Maybe the power supply ?

I'd get a meter on it and see if 12 volts is going out.

LTG : )

Ok. Monitor power is definitely from the computer power supply. I think I have it narrowed down to a bad pc power supply. I had a spare laying around and Frankensteined it in. It booted. Swapped everything back, hoping I had just reseated a connector better. Wouldn’t boot. Same symptoms.

So, I’m going to take on the laborious task of swapping them out and recabling it all in...and pray...

Definitely turned out to be a failed power supply. Hopefully nothing more than that. What a pain in the butt to put the new one in.

Two reboots and a couple good games and still flipping.

I’m glad it was a relatively easy fix! My PS went on that game too - I got random reboots rather than a failure to boot. Corsair had a bad batch apparently, probably related to that capacitor fiasco that continues to plague electronics.

I’m curious if you took the whole cpu box out to replace the ps? I didn’t because it looked like a mess. But getting the screws in to mount the ps in that narrow sliver of space was a nightmare. Literally 15 minutes of yoga to put in two screws.

No, I was able to replace it without pulling the CPU box. I had some tight right angle screwdrivers that helped.

Can you please provide a link to a decent power supply replacement? Seems like a good idea to have it in stock or replace it already to prevent a shutdown sooner or later.

The one I used is linked in this post. I went with what was in stock at my local Best Buy at the time, I don’t necessary endorse it (it’s another Corsair) but it does work fine.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjpirates-of-the-caribbean-troubleshooting-tips-issues/page/51#post-5460683

I had mine laying around from tearing down a pc. Can’t remember the brand but it wasn’t Corsair

Not sure if it is still the case but antec used to make the best power supplies. My 850w is going on 15-16 years now. Really need to buckle down and replace it. It is from before manufactures started making them efficient.

Dont know if you found your fix already. I had the same problem and it appeared to be the lock metal part (on the keft of the chest) being loose. I had to remove the plastic on the right to tighten the bold from behind the chest.

Lately, my machine has been getting stuck when I lose at Liar's Dice. It displays the screen that says I've lost, the music continues to run... but it never returns my ball. I can't even tilt the machine...

Anyone else have this happen? This has happened 3 times now -- all as Davy Jones. code is .99 (LE)

Balls magnetized and not rolling down the ball trough right ?

LTG : )

Okay, thanks for sharing LOTR_breath. That does make sense. In the meantime, I'll have to start winning more often...

I am getting a ball stuck under the right slingshot plastic. Twice in a day. Any way to prevent this?

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Tighter rubber ring.

LTG : )

My plan is to change the slingshot coils for weaker ones. The stock are just too powerfull and any adjustments in the coil settings don’t make a significant difference. Has anyone tried this before?
I agree some tighter silicone or rubber slingshot rings can prevent the balls from getting stuck under the ss plastics, but it shouldn’t be possible. Too many Potc suffer from this.

I agree about the slings being too powerful. I had to go with the larger double rung star posts due to some slight chipping. I do have the rubbers on the lower rung. Even with the slingshot power turned down as low as it will go, I still got CRAZY air balls to out lanes from the slingshots. It got a little better when I changed to regular 2 1/2" black rubbers.

If I put the rubbers on the upper rung then the kicker gets on the outside of the rubber in no time. I even tried two rubbers, one on both rungs. Same issue.

I have never really had any issue with balls getting stuck inside the slingshot like yours.

What about adding external springs to the plungers to give some resistance? I remember reading about someone doing that to their flippers on Deadpool.

I prefer to adjust the problem, not the effect. The coils are too strong: weaker coil needed. The spring solution might work too, but I just don’t like the idea. I don’t think a decent spring exists to solve this problem efficiently.

Thanks for replying. All optos seem to be functional. Chest lock 1,2,3 and treasure chest lane all seem fine. The metal arm also seems to be tightly on.
My game however doesn’t want to hold a locked ball. It immediately gets released and doesn’t register a hold

The Mystery saucer metal deflector bracket is extremely loose. Is this an easy fix? Also the loose screws that hold the bracket chewed up the white pop bumper skirt. I want to change the skirt, is it the same as a standard williams skirt?

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I just secured my scoop with thread lock.