Updated the code last night. Played one game and it worked fine. After the game ended it stuck in attract mode. No switch's worked. Could not press start, coin mechs stopped working, service buttons stopped working. I power cycled the game and got the I/O board not found error. Continued to get the error for the next couple hours of trying to start the game until I gave up. At this point it won't boot and is therefore unplayable.

Hard to say if it is related to the update or not. Earlier in the day we were fairly busy and it was getting a lot of play. We would have to shut it off and reboot several times. Each time it took more tries to get past the "I/O not found" screen.

For those that do not have theirs yet: If this screen comes up, it will continue to boot the game and sometimes looks like everything is fine. But no buttons or switches work. Its just locked up. Other times you will have either no screen, or no insert lamps, or neither. The PB website says its a known issue to be resolved in the next update. We are to power cycle the game to resolve the issue until then.

I was assuming this new update would resolve it, but it definitely didn't. Still waiting to hear back from PB.

Just waiting to find out. But I can't say its a code update issue. Its possible it could be a coincidence. I was just reporting here to let others know and to see if anyone else had the issue, resolution, etc.

does that mean you are a point where your game will not fully boot either? As in... You can't play a game?

I pretty much agree with everything you wrote. I knew what I entered into and am patiently waiting for the fix. Indiana Jones is the perfect game to have next to it. I think they are very similar in an odd way. Indian Jones is my favorite pin. Alien is my second favorite. Mine are not together right now, but they are only 4 pins away in the same row... Lol.

UPDATE: there are three USB lines that go from the backbox monitor/computer to a box under the playfield. USB2 and USB3 were swapped. After correcting I can boot and play! Customer service has been great so far. Cato is on the ball.

I strongly suggest you take a look at USB1, 2 and 3. Take three small pieces of tape and label them 1, 2, 3. Wrap them on the end of the corresponding USB cable under the back box monitor so you know where they came from. Then you can remove them with no worries. Cut off the zip ties that bind them together and follow them to the other end. Are they plugged in to the corresponding ports on the box? Mine were not. I was able to play games for several days but it got increasingly worse until one day it was unplayable. Its worth a look. Its an easy step to take and you will have to rule it out at one point anyway. Hope this helps.

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They were mismatched. For me the LCD end of #2 was plugged in box #3, and the LCD #3 was plugged into box #2. I just had to swap them so it is 2-2 and 3-3.

Sorry it is confusing to write.

Yes, the ports are in the order listed. #1 is closest to the monitor, #2 is behind it

I have been having issues with the game malfunctioning and locking up when I hit the scoop, MU/TH/UR eject hole or hyper sleep lock during game play. It happens quite often. Usually cant get more than a few games in before it happens. For any of you that are experiencing this issue, I am beta testing a new firmware update today that is supposed to help with this (already on 2.2A). I have described the situations to PB and they were able to duplicate the errors on their end, promting this firmware update. Lets hope this gets us all closer to the goal. I know it has been said a million times but these guys are responsive and are working it (seems like 24/7).

FWIW... Mine is on location and gets a lot of play that varies from the home the environment and is powered on 6 days a week for 8-10 hours/day.

There is a first for everything... I've never seen a flipper bat just shatter apart on a new game so bad. Had to remove the assembly under the playfield to swap in a new flipper. It was that or remove the ramp. The assembly was quicker.

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Wow, I wasn't going to tell them either, but now I should mention it too.

I'm not at the shop to check, but I'm guessing more than most people on this forum thread. Its on location and is played 6 days a week. I'm used to dimples from every manufacturer, it doesn't bother me.

Pay per play. I am an early adopter/guinea pig. Reliable has definitely not been the word, but its getting there with work and coordination with PB and this group. I rarely ever pull the glass from normal stuck ball situations.

Same question... Did you buy one @optimiser? If not WTF are you talking about? If any of us early adopters have issues that is for us to decide. Many of us got in early for a reason dude.

One of my customers made it to "All Out War" a week or so ago. It was pretty awesome to witness. I got video, but don't want to be a spoiler for those that like to witness it for the first during their own game. I will have to say, I wish there was more going on with the screen. It pretty much just displays the same wording the whole time.

Ha, I do not recall that at all. We stopped putting the scores on our site because I could not keep up with it. Well, you need to do it again when you come back! And introduce yourself when you are in so we can chat.

Check the leaf switch at the button. Very weak metal. Make sure they are making proper contact.

Edit:
After rereading your post, this may not be your issue.

After rereading your post this may not be this issue.

Cato set me this a while ago. Having the correct USB ports is important. See diagram. Mine came wired wrong and it caused issues to the point where it would not boot.

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Yes, USB 1 from your backbox monitor will go to the USB IN1 port in the black box in the cabinet. 2-2, 3-3. There is no 4.

You will probably have to cut the zip ties to properly trace them.

Check the coil bracket. Make sure it is aligned properly. I think it's held on by 3 screws. Make sure it is firing straight and not crooked. Also check to make sure the plunger is moving freely. If not loosen the coil itself (2 screws) and reposition.

I have had this issue for months. Literally months. They told me to check the cables and fuses. Did that and didn't work. I bought new cables and it didn't work. They sent me cables and still didn't fix. They sent me a new controller box for the cabinet and still didn't fix. They sent me every new board for under the playfield, a new computer in the backbox, another new controller box, a new wire harness set. It worked for 2 days and it came back. I have since received a new motherboard, but that has not helped.

I still get the volume flicker. I am one of the early adopters from the first shipment. I have had the game for almost a year. It has been playable on a and off for a few weeks here and there.

I am ready to throw in the towel, but Cointaker said they don't offer refunds or exchanges and to take it up with PB.

Before I swapped all the boards under the playfield, the first controller box, the backbox computer, and the cables the issue was that it would lock-up on boot. Black screen and GI's only. This was not the usual occasional black screen issue that is common, it was more serious. Then they sent all the new stuff that I installed and it was playable for a couple days. It locked up on a customer and upon reboot I got the volume flickering. I have spent countless hours trying to rule out parts since I have two to three of just about everything. Oddly I narrowed it down to the RAM or SSD (so I thought). They sent me a whole new motherboard (that would make three at this point). But the flickering remained. So I did not, in fact, narrow it down.

I tried swapping the Audio Amplifier board this morning and noticed they forgot to install the connector cable in the new box. Using the old board with the old cable did not work for the flickering, but it cleared up a nasty crackle in the speakers while it attempts to boot. Next I tried the old router box (that is what I am calling it) that is screwed to the bottom of the cabinet- no change. I also have 3 controller boxes that I have swapped and none change the status.

I found that the wires in the connector that come from the tilt mech were never really crimped properly and after plugging and unplugging a handful of times they just fell out. So I fixed that, but I was not expecting it to do anything for the problem at hand.

I'm going to be going through the 2 wire harnesses next to see if there are any loose/poorly crimped wires.

The response from Melissa was petty at best. It was the quickest email I have ever received from them and not even something like, "sorry you have had such a poor experience." Just a few quick sentences to wash her hands of the situation.

I have yet to hear back from PB yet, but it has only been a few days since I told them the newest part didn't help. It was just Friday. I am confident they will respond, but I am not feeling confident that they actually know what is going on. Seems like they are just throwing parts at an unknown.

To be continued....

EDIT : to answer your question directly, the only part not replaced other than the cabinet and playfield and mechs is the power supply.

I find it hard to believe it would be that, but who knows. They asked me to try and "rebuild the machine" using a USB to interrupt the booting and to factory reinstall the software, but not even that works. It does not interrupt the boot. I can manually interrupt by pressing F8 and using the prompt to boot from USB, but that does not work either.

I am waiting for a reply from PB on this. I asked for a new machine or a refund. I have the ability to professionally pallet wrap and send everything back to Cointaker. They can spend time helping Cointaker fixing it with all of the spare parts. Melissa can then gain an education in helping others fix the game and not brushing off her customers (or learn what its like to spend countless hours f'ng with a machine that will not work for some reason). It's a win for everyone.

In the meantime there are a couple people throwing me advise via DM that I am actively trying. Thanks to this forum we have a community of help.

Not if you were in my drivers seat.

By the way most of the companies do play test the games. If you look there usually are dimples on the playfield when they arrive. There are definitely pictures and video of Spooky employees play testing. I have seen pics of Stern play testers too. My Alien had dimples when it arrived.

I am not looking to argue, just pointing out something I know to be true.

Responding to service tickets is great, I give PB all the credit in the world for responding. Blindly sending out parts just to make people happy and string things along is not really customer service. Understanding the nature of the problem and resolving it swiftly and accurately is good customer service.

Both my Alien and R+M did... LOL, but I imagine there is a mix based on timing of current issues, production time lines, etc. I suppose there is no way every single game can be tested when rushing production.

According to PB they are hell bent that it's a connection issue. Grounding has never come up. That's a legitimate question. The ground braid seems to be connected properly. The boards are not like old school Bally, Williams, Gottlieb and Stern, but the screws apparently act as ground on most of the boards.

I have been trying to rule out faulty soldering connections that could cause shorts or possible no connection at all. My 8 year old daughter has been learning to solder and does a cleaner job.

This is just some of the handy work. The pins were left long on many of the solder points. I was thinking maybe they were making a connection to the box since they were almost as long as the standoffs. I cut them as they should be, before reinstalling.

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Not so much that it was not a solid solder connection, more that there may be sloppy solder that made inadvertent connections. But mostly melted/burned board and scrapes and scratches with a lot of flux on one of them. I did not see any signs of inadvertent connections of solder. Not exactly a professional job none the less. For those that have not had the luxury to get at these boards, its not a quick or fun process.

Seriously!?! I will let Pinball Brothers know they have a candidate for the service department. I appreciate you and your six pinball machine knowledge.

I'm gonna go back to private messages for a while. There is nothing to see here, everything is dandy in PB land. Good luck everyone.

Cheers!

Just got off a long video call with Andrea from PB. He had me recheck every connection that I had tried many times, and swap most of the boxes and boards I had already tried, none of this helped. He was feeling as frustrated as I was and we were just about to break from the call and take a day to reevaluate the situation when he threw out one last effort. After ruling out many parts, he unplugged three cables from the back of the 'cabinet' controller box on his game and was able to recreate the flickering. He then re-plugged in one cable at a time (powering off between) until the issue went away. It was narrowed down to two cables. We ruled the ethernet cable out because I had tried three different ones already. So, I checking the continuity on the other wire harness (I did not have an extra) with my multimeter and it was fine. So, not the cables.

I had already tried swapping the box itself, but we tried one more time.... It worked! WTF!?! Game booted. I have 1 bad cabinet controller box and 1 faulty one.

He is sending me a new cabinet controller box. Now I have to turn it off, properly secure the box, clean-up the cables, and try powering it back on. I definitely have a better understanding of the inner working of this game. I am cautiously optimistic at this point.

I will say, Andrea cares about what he does. He is trying very hard to make things work for everyone.

I have not even cared to address the xeno head, but when I have everything situated, I would love that video.

Some bad odds with some long hours to figure it out again. Sheesh. Don't wish that on anyone.

Thanks for chatting with me off to the side on this one buddy!

DUDE, huge thanks!!! This link solved my new sound issue that started after we fixed the other issue. Now if I can keep it from shutting down on its own after being idle for around 10 minutes.

EDIT:
(SV from the first run of 20(+/-) machines, running code 2.6, frankensteined with original and new revision parts)

Updated above...

There is a quick fix for this without powering off the machine, but you have to remove the backglass:

1.) Remove backglass
2.) Slightly unplug the HDMI cable on the far left under the monitor.
3.) Plug it right back in

The screen will come back on. I suggest not unplugging it too far, so you don't have to fumble to fing the hole again.

Andrea had me do this and it has works everytime.

When the issue occurs, take backglass off, insert a USB stick, go to menu>Reports>Debug Report

Send the file to PB using the ticket system

My machine was powering itself down when in idle or during game. Did not take long after game was booted. I would have to wait for minutes to much longer before I could re-power back on.

I had a feeling it may be thermal and felt the back of the backbox computer and it was hot.

If you have been forced to open up the backbox computer/monitor you could inadvertently cause this, I did.

Here is the fix... There are two cables that connect from the ITX board (computer) to the monitor. One or both will want to route themselves in front of the fan. One or both should be zip tied to make sure they don't pass in front. I did not make sure they were zip tied clean enough (mainly because I had to keep going in and out of the darn thing and you have to cut the zip tie each time). Nonetheless, one or both of the thick wires were making contact with the fan and keeping it from rotating.

It has been running for 7 hours with some good play and so far, so good.

I know and agree, I was just providing some information.

Yes, while it is on.

I suppose anything is possible, but I have 3 ITX boards and I get the black screen on all of them. I suspect it has something to do with the HDMI compatibility as someone mentioned above. I was chatting with Andrea yesterday. Not so much about this issue, but he brought up the black screen and he thinks they are very close to nailing down the underlying issue.

Edit... The black screen is fixable by unplugging a cable and replugging it in, while still powered on. That pretty much rules out the ITX as bad

Is that melting or clear pooling? I can't tell what it is.

Take Manny65 's advise. I was plagued with this issue until Andrea and I solved it. Open a ticket.

In the meantime, try this:
Check all the cable connections on your playfield controller box, just for piece of mind. The real place to look though, is the cabinet controller box. Check the USB and ethernet cable connection at the back left of the cabinet controller box. Follow those cables to the front of the playfield controller box and make sure they are making good connections on both ends. If this still does not help, it may be inside your cabinet controller box. That would be for you and Andrea to work through. Hope its up and running swiftly.

Are you talking about the crackling that comes from the speaker during bootup, but then goes away? Or is the sound still flakey and crunchy after it boots up and is playable?

Also, are you a new run game or one of the older/early run games?

You need to remove the Amplifier cable from either the box that has LCD screen (in backbox) or the playfield controller. They each have this cable. Only remove one of them, not both (or you will lose sound). Someone posted pictures of this a few pages back. He removed it from the controller box. If i have time tomorrow I will take pictures.

Has something to do with a newer update. PB says to save the connector in case you need it again.

Wow, that was fast. I have been on the beta 2.7 for a few days now in the arcade and it has been playing great.