I was wondering the same, but I bet you'd have to be logging the voltage on a scope or something when it fails to see the drop.

I know the SoC they used has a watchdog, but I am not 100% sure if it has brown-out detection or not.

What? If Stern made planes they would fall out of the sky? Not even sure what this is supposed to indicate. Planes have fallen out of the sky. Space shuttles have exploded in midflight, and they have redundancies, and are tested to the nth degree. Sometimes you can test and test, and everything works fine, then something unexpected occurs in the field and you have issues. It is a fact of life.

These are hand assembled devices with moving parts that are then shipped through several depots to your home. For all anyone knows it is a bad run of CPU boards where the issues don't crop up until heat and/or vibration cause something to loosen. AFAIK, Stern does test each machine on the line, but it isn't like they put a 100 games on each machine. Imagine the outrage: "My playfield had dimples from the factory! It looks like the line workers played the crap out of my machine!!!!". The 10 minutes of game time they spend on the line flipping the ball around might not have shown anything.

My advice to anyone buying the first run of a new pin who is angered and frustrated with issues like this is: don't do it. AC/DC, X-men, Metallica, WOZ, all have had issues with hardware in their first run machines. You then take into account that Spike is a relatively new platform and you can lay odds that there would be issues.

The good news is that Stern is great at supporting their customers. They will make it right for people who are impacted, and improve subsequent runs so that the issues are dealt with.

Do they even sell Zima anymore?

You guys missed our "Zima Talk" back on Page 1:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/major-out-of-the-box-kiss-pro-issues#post-2542794

Stern QC blows. My Luci came out of the box with several insert connectors connect to the wrong headers. Found that out while replacing an LED board as suggested by Stern. Also had a large blemish on the lower playfield window. Stern QC blows.

i am waiting for our premium to come and this thread is probably the same issues that caused the 2 week delay

Waiting on mine as well. Did Stern formally announce a delay in the Premiums? Their FB page has been kinda quiet.

I am going to msg sterns FB and see if i can get any info

Guessing the PSU is likely the case here not the Cpu board. Would make more sense for the cheap china psu to bite the dust before the medium priced china cpu bit the dust.

Damn, sorry to hear that. Did your buddy tell you if his game is exhibiting any of the same symptoms as before, or is he having all new issues?

With everything you've tried so far, it's entirely possible that there's an issue with a batch of one of the parts that make up the new SPIKE system. Unfortunately from your buddy's report, it doesn't sound like it's the CPU board.

I didn't have all of the same issues you had with KISS, but I did experience some random restart/shut-down issues with my SPIKE system game (Wrestlemania LE). Swapping in a new CPU board didn't solve my issue, so now Stern is sending me a new SPIKE power supply to try.

I got my Pro in, didn't run diagnostics but checked all the wiring, then proceeded to install some playfield mods, played about 10-15 games on the installed code, and then updated it.

I'm having no issues so far whatsoever. Well, actually one nuance I noticed but it was before the code update, was a loud weird pop sound when I got a "match" at the end of a game. Not sure if that's just normal though or something to worry about quite yet.

I'm surprised I haven't even experienced repetitive sdtm Gene balls or the black rubber markings many have complained about thus far. (I've only put in about 50 games worth, for what it's worth)

If all keeps going well I'm very happy with my first pinball purchase. I was afraid if I spent more on the Prem or LE the issues you're having or worse would definitely have plagued me, with my luck. You're posts definitely had me a little nervous about my Pro and I was expecting anything to happen.

I'm sorry to hear your still experiencing troubles with yours, Minneapolispin. I hope all gets resolved fast for ya. One Kiss tard to another.

Completely normal on every modern Stern and it can be turned down or off in the settings menu.

It to notify you, and everyone around that you got a free game or a high score.

I get that loud strange pop noise also when you get a match as well... Not sure if its intended though?

Okay, great! Thanks for putting me at ease on that.

That pop sound is normal for a match; I helped set one up for a friend yesterday and his was experiencing the same issues as yours and all we needed to do to fix it was to reload the code and then it played perfect; I would definitely try that if you have not already tried it.

Sterns knockers are faker than a porn stars!

Yeah, first time I heard it on my TWD I thought there was a malfunction
Don't know how that sound ever got approved

That 'constipated monkey fart' sound? It's been a Stern standard for over 15 years now. The electronic sound WMS used on their last WPC95 games is VASTLY superior. Why Stern couldn't record an actual knocker sound and use that digital image is beyond me. I guess someone else thought differently.

Just read in the Modern Day repair thread that Kiss is locking up on them as well… I hate to say it but looks like a problem with the game again, appears to be very similar to the issues with the walking dead code before it was fixed. Only some games are effected but effected they are.

Why even do that? Just use a real one... They're using 12+ coils in every machine. One more for a knocker isn't gonna kill the inventory.

I don't work for Stern. They've opted out of using a knocker coil for 15 years. I know you can put in a coil if you want. We are talking about the crap noise Stern uses.

Interestingly enough, the Stern on location at Modern Pinball in NYC is also having issues

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/what-failed-today-modern-pinball-machine-fails/page/10#post-2557298

Related KISS Pro issue pasted here for reference (from Eddie at Modern Pinball NYC):

"STERN KISS... came up with an issue related to software? The game would lock up during play.
Sometimes just the DMD would freeze and the game could still be played.
This issue was not present the night before.
On my 2nd ball about to start multi ball with 68mil showing the game locked up. Hate when that happens."

Definitely sounds familiar to what's been reported in this thread.

Sigh. I like how my question just gets glossed over. whats the point in asking for help if you wont take advice from real techs. Check the 5volt rail. Shotgunning parts is not gonna tell you anything.

check it at the psu unit itself and on the cpu. Should be a test point on the cpu saying 5voolt test. Likely a stand off stud or large solder pad.

Glad they have delayed releasing the LEs until this is fixed!

Also are these psu adjustable? is there a 5 volt pot that can be adjusted? They look like server psu units.

dead smack in the middle of board is a rx tx led tell me if those are on when the game fails to boot.

test point for 5v and 3 volt are also under these leds. Check them for me please. Only when the game fails to boot.

Just had a friend post his kiss machine frozen looks systemic at this point.

A friend of mine just got his this past Tuesday and has it on location with a bunch of games on it and it's working fine. I don't know the date it was made though.

I was reading in another thread that the delays were caused by part shortages from vendors...so I'm not sure Stern is actually working on fixing all of the issues they're having with the pins that are in production. Surely they're fixing some, but as soon as vendors get them whatever it is that they are currently short on...Stern will then continue with production to keep the cash flow coming in and will worry about the rest of the issues not fixed later down the road. So to summarize...our LEs will more than likely still have issues when we get them.

Any updates Minneapolispin?

My Kiss pro has been running steady on location for two weeks now, no problems to report. Just to let people know they are not all displaying these issues.

Are you getting the black marks all over your playfield?

Yes, but they are diminishing (less as time goes on). Same thing happened with my Tron. 5 minute wipe down and it looks like new.

my walking dead le broke for 6 weeks, cant even get any support as they are so busy handling the kiss issues. they sent me a light board and it wasn't the fix, now 2 weeks later and emails and cant get an answer. I hope they don't ship ANY more kiss pins till the issues are solved!!

Cool that Borg reassured you.

If it was me... I'd run down to staples and buy a new SD card, then load up the software. They are cheap, and it would be a quick check.

Thanks for the update. I wonder if this is why the LE's are rumored to be delayed.

and premiums

+1 Very cool btw that Borg addressed you personally about the issues. Seems like a good guy.

Borg did the same for me back when the Metallica magnet issues started to come to light. Stern does care & will make it right.

It worked on WNBJM.

Hope everything works out soon for you. Please keep us posted.