Looks like their SSL certificate just expired. Doh!

I'm sure they'll have it resolved soon.

You know I experienced this too (ball will get picked up from the magnet, going to the mouth, but doesn't look like it retracts all the way, and the ball sits on the magnet In the xenomorphs mouth until there is a ball search and the tongue will come all the way out and then all the way in and the ball will release).

It's not all the time, but when it happens, it'll happen at each of the following multiballs, as if it falls out of calibration. I have to recalibrate the xenomorph tongue, and then everything's fine for a good little while until it happens again.

Does anyone know a durable fix? I noticed on the pinball Brothers site there is someone talking about the rod coming from the stepper motor and that it has a flat side and to ensure that the bolt is on that side (and they show a single picture showing that rod and bolt), but outside of that, does anyone have any suggestions on this issue such that this doesn't happen in the future? Thanks!

What is the best way to remove the heat shrink > so I can inspect for a cold solder joint ?

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Working on a theory here. Can you take a picture of the space between the apron and the front of the cab with the lockdown bar and glass off? I am thinking maybe the playfield is to far back and the zeno magnet is hitting the back of tha cabinet

I haven't seen this problem pop back up since I made some adjustments to the switch arm, need it to stay closed slightly longer before it falls into the groove on the rod as it retracts

That’s a switch. You need to look at the coil. Below the flipper. Not the button.

My bad! Thank you!

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Nevermind. I was able to peel and then slide the heat shrink down the wires. Now can someone assist with identifying a cold solder joint ?

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Thanks. I think that's probably it.
When I take the xeno head off and take a good look, the switch arm seems to drop in only but just a little bit before it triggers the switch (even before it fully seats into that metal ditch on the arm). I think that switch arm needs to be bent up a little bit so that it truly falls into that ditch on the tongue arm before registering.
I was sort of thinking the same thing.
I think making that switch arm adjustment is gonna be the move. Thanks for chiming in!

Just a guess... the US side support is not likely that individual's full time job based on my interactions.

Anyone notice loose connections in the backbox or under the playfield control boxes? Some of the fuses and USB connections (anything other than molex) didn't seat that tight on mine. On all the connections I applied a small bead of hot glue and never had random freezes, lockups, or gameplay glitches again.

Just thought I'd share that.

That looks fine to me. If the solder is completely molten into the wires then it’s fine. Check from the other side as well. Cold solder is just when the solder is on top and wires are exposed on the other side. Can look a bit dirty sometimes too. Anybody can provide a better explanation!

Hey there - does it seem like both flippers on the left side are affected? If it is all coils on left side that would indicate an eleconic failure.

If just the one flipper, is it getting 'stuck' in the up position? It might be just a matter of adjusting the flipper in its bushing, sometimes if you have a gap too big or too tight it can get stuck

It does have a connection for the led right next to the switch connection.

Hi Mic, what brado426 is referring to is the button being stuck. Happens on heaps of my pins including alien. What happens is the plastic button inside the plastic casing has a small burr on its plunger. This causes the button to catch causing both left flippers to stay up and the button will feel depressed. Is this happening?

If so, unscrew the button from the cab, but on the inside, and take the button out. Feel for any bump or burr in the plastic. If you find one just sand with very fine grade sand paper. That will fix it.

Got a few dozen plays over the weekend. I adjusted the pops to be more sensitive and now there’s way more action. I also bent the tip of that chest buster lane in a bit so it hits that top switch better. Otherwise no adjustments.

Two things I’ve noticed with 3.0:

- Start button and door buttons will stop responding after the game has been on for an hour or so. Just occasionally. Flipper buttons continue working. Rebooting fixes it.

- had one black screen incident. Reboot fixed it.

- Even though game is set to no attract sound, about once every few hours it’ll play a speech clip. Annoying.

Otherwise working great, even the Xeno head. But that hypersleep shot is so hard!

Not sure if you did a 'factory reset' with the update, but maybe try one and then turn off attract sounds again, see if that catches it

Nothing is stuck up. The opposite. It is as if sometimes it is stuck down. Explanation follows:

In game play I will press the left button and the left flipper sometimes does nothing. Non-responsive. I press again and then it will work again as usual and then again I will press the left button and again the left flipper stays down. The problem is intermittent during game play. I will check to see if the upper left flipper is affected as well.

My bad. I came into the thread too late. Never had this problem before. That’s why brado426 mentioned the leaf switch. Not normal behaviour. I would definitely contact PB.

Hmmm.. I saw this happen regularly with 2.9, but never with 3.0 yet... I've been running it for a week and absolutely zero lockups or hangs.

I still think this could be a leaf switch issue. I've had cases where I've had to slightly sand leaf switch contacts so they make a good connection. I'd play with the leaf switches a bit more and see if you can prove that they are functioning properly. Maybe even put the right leaf switch onto the left flipper button and see if the problem reverses. Just throwing ideas out to help isolate it.

I just checked and yes... it is indeed happening on both left flippers.

My game only arrived 2 weeks ago and it was fine until just a few days ago. Mine shipped with 2.7 and last night I updated to 3.0 but the problem persists.

Why is it the intent and why wouldn't it be lit if it's a weapon target and a lightable target?

Andreas told me "In the initial project the 5 target wasn't supposed to be lighted, but lighted they looks cool." He also said they are still working on a solution for it... so I'm guessing they might do something with target 5 in a future update.

If so, are all of the coils on the left side of your game affected? Or just the flippers? How often dont they work? Does it happen all the time, very rarely? Also, did you do a factory reset after you updated your game? Have you made any coil adjustments?

If just both flippers are affected - it could be the leaf switch not making proper contact. If its all the coils on the left side that are weak it could be a transistor blown on the playfield board. I would contact PBros and open a ticket.

Just the two flippers.

Every game for sure now I am losing balls because the flipper is non-responsive.. Maybe every dozen to two dozen presses of the left button it does nothing. Sometimes it will work again immediately by tapping again and sometimes I have to tap the button several times to get a response.

No. My game only arrived two weeks ago and it had 2.7 installed. Yesterday I updated to 3.0. The problem persists.

No. I have not.

But the leaf switch is making proper contact. And per someones previous suggestion I have swapped Left and Right leaf switches without resolution.

I did. Thank you.

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Before the problem began last week I was scoring in the 500,000,000+ range.

Now because of the intermittent unresponsive flips I am losing balls and I can barely score above 12,000,000.

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I don’t know if this has been suggested but I would order stern flipper switch’s I remember my game acting up like this and you will like the feel of them better anyway!
I see you have a new le game and I have an early game but you owning 13 games should be able to tell if these flipper switch’s are like my orginal ones they have a very very soft feel to them and are instantly noticeable when you touch the flipper buttons.

We’ll I logged the ticket on Saturday midday AEDST 2am Saturday in Italy, received a response 11am Saturday Italy. Next response 5pm Monday Italy. Still awaiting response midday Italy today. Surely there is a faster way via zoom, Skype or some form of internet video chat to offer tech support

My problem is resolved.

In Service Menu > Tests > Switch Edges > a left press of the button would intermittently report as [80 UPPER LEFT BUTTON] and other times report as [78 LEFT BUTTON].

Andrea diagnosed that the gap between the 2 leaf contacts was too wide.

See attached photos.

I sincerely thank all of you that replied to my posts today.

Had been thinking that maybe the aliens were cutting the power to me flipper - "They're animals!"

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Any chance someone can post a photo of thee led lead please I’m thinking I’ll just make the lead myself just want to make sure of the connections

Can you raise a ticket for me? I can’t consistently get in the 500m range. Come to think of it, never got over 200m. Must be a technical fault

Glad your problem is solved.

Is it because it‘s not coded or is it because the boards are not connected by default? (At least my SV ones are not…)

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I have connected mine. As stated by brado426 , target 5 lights has not been coded by design.

Ah, I see! Thanks for clarifying

No, there's not enough wiggle room once the playfield is seated in position to allow the back of the xenojaw to touch the back of the cabinet. Now, if you have wires, etc or anything else running back there that might be causing interference, that could a source of obstruction, but otherwise, there's plenty of room. I really do think this is just a switch arm adjustment issue, or at least that's what I'm guessing/hoping.

How did you make the missing cable?

The newest/ 3rd generation targets have the necessary wires attached. This can be found on the free play website, which is what pinball Brothers uses to sell replacement parts for this game. Link is below. This should help.

https://www.free-play.se/en/game-specific-parts/pinball-brothers/alien/stand-up-target-rectangle-weapons-alien-pinball-brothers.html

I have an SV version of Kurt's translite if anyone is interested. I don't need it since I ended up with an LV and I'm getting a queen version. $275 shipped to the lower 48. I paid 450 with shipping originally, but the conversion rate is certainly continued to favor the US dollar since February.

Great deal for seombeody here! On the 'essential' mod for this game, somebodys gonna be a happy camper

I have no place to plug the LEDs in on the Rev B boards in my machine.

Look at henning’s picture again. This is a different cable. Nothing to do with the ones on the targets. It seems to connect both pcbs.

I just checked the boards needed for the stand-up target LEDs and noticed something interesting. There is an interface connector between board 3 and 4 specifically for the target 5 LED. I don't recall hooking that up or even having the cable for that, so maybe that's why we're not getting any activity out of target 5 LED? I asked PB about that and they say they're working on a Target 5 solution, so we can wait and see.

If the connectors don't exist on the earlier revision boards and you really want the LEDs, you'll need to replace these boards:

Board 8 - 174 euros (for target 1 and 2)
Board 6 - 165 euros (for target 3 and 4)
Board 4 - 122 euros (target 5... interface to board 3)
Board 3 - 50 euros (interface from board 4 and target 5 led connector)

So, 511 euros for working LED targets assuming all boards are missing connectors. Not sure if that is worth it. If target 5 really isn't used, then I guess board 3 and 4 would not be necessary.

My early revision board 6 had major problems and replacing it with a newer revision fixed major communication problems I had with the boards connected to it (particularly Board 1 that controls the trough). I'm thinking that was a one-off issue since other early machines seemed just fine.

I have an earlier build as well and had to replace my board 6 twice as well as board 4, current revision D has been solid since. My board 3 is an older revision without the connectors for target 5, it's all going to come down to when your game was made and what board revisions you have. And I have to agree with you at those costs I don't see it worth it if you have to replace boards.

Yes, henning already found that some posts back today. See photo in his post.

Yeah, I saw that after I posted. The realization here is Target 5 is likely never going to work without that cable. But based on info from PB, it will not work with the cable either... so better to sit tight and wait for an official answer.

From henning picture above it looks like board 3 is a 4 pin connector, is that correct or is it 5 pin?

Just a random thought.. if you replaced your xeno targets and still have the old ones there is a connector for the led that is 4 pin on one side 5 pin on the other.. could potentially be used to connect board 6 and 3

Odd place to get a ball stuck.

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That has happened to me often enough that I need to make a protector to prevent it. You are not alone.

Sorry for late reply. All my lights were already connected. I think the previous owner may have upgraded targets. I recently ordered the v3 targets and added the extra metal backings to these with the slight bend. Additional switch and light cables came with the v3 targets. That is how I have the lights connected.