Trying to help a friend troubleshoot his pin. Previous owner had crazy stuff going on in the back box to replace the CFL, apparently there was a live wire exposed somewhere inside when it got turned on. the story is that it was on for a few seconds then went dead and stunk bad. the main fuse got blown.

so, I'm trying to diagnose, I pulled everything from the power board but left the power from the transformer connected, and the run to the sound board, tried again, Main fuse still blew.

never had to deal with this, what should I check next?

checking transistors, seems like both of the slingshots are shot. but not sure what's blowing it as it powers on. not seeing anything obvious under the playfield that is the source of it.

so I unplugged all wires bringing power to the different boards and the transformer itself between the transformer and the main line, and flipped the switch and the fuse didn't blow, plugged the transformer back in and it blew once we flipped it back on. so I guess I need to start with replacing the transformer, then go from there?

ok, makes sense.

so just tried that, disconnected everything coming out of the transformer, fuse blew, then disconnected the transformer, hooked up my multimeter and tested the 6 pins in the connector coming from the main line, and nothing is grounded (btw, I checked the thermistor earlier as well and it shows no sign of damage.