Hello All,

After getting my latest purchase of a Stern 2002 Playboy all working perfect and cleaned up ... suddenly it is acting very odd and I don't know where to begin to figure out what is wrong with it.

After several months of perfect working order, all of a sudden on powering up - the DMD flashes the STERN screen as normal and the playfield lights light up, the DMD goes blank and the lights go out on the playfield and it just sits there.

The back row lights remain lit as does the backglass translite.

A couple times it screen flashes OPEN THE DOOR, and then goes dead again.

I have gone through all the connections in the backbox and the machine hasn't been moved, or anything since it was working perfectly.

Like I said, I have no idea where to look to start diagnosing the problem because the DMD and SERVICE options go blank.

Can someone point me in the right direction? Really want to get this game fixed because I was so please as to how well the whole thing cleaned and fixed up after I "rescued" it earlier this year.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

How do I increase the 5v and where can I check it with a meter to know?

phishrace

That is a very interesting read, and describes the problem I have been having almost exactly.

Before I attempt anything, I am going to take photos of my boards and post them here so hopefully you can show me exactly where to check the 5vdc and also if I need to solder a jumper or wire - where would be the proper place to do so.

Will post the photos later today.

P.S. I love this website - (pinside) - It seems any problem anyone has, someone has had it before and knows how to fix it somehow.

Thank you.

phishrace

See attached.

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As that info suggested I measured the voltage off the lower leg of resistor R114 and got a reading of +5.01 VDC - so the pan pot seems to be set correctly.

Because my board is Revision G - is the attached photo the best way to handle my issue?

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PinballManiac40

Where is a good place to measure the 5VDC voltage on the CPU board? And if it is below 4.8 volts, what pin has to be re-pinned?

Please advise.

PinballManiac40

Ok. Here is where I am at.

5 minutes after I posted that last message - I found the 5VDC loop to test on.

Both boards are at 5.0 - 5.1 VDC volts.

I also soldered a jumper in the fashion stated in my previous posting between the resistor and the open slot.

I reset the main MPU board and it worked for 5 seconds and then resumed the same problem.

I also did what that thread suggested and powered of and removed the J16 connector and powered up and the playfield lit up as it should - but that was is. I powered off again and reconnected the J16 and had the same problem as before - game turns on -there is a click of a relay in the backbox, then everything shuts down on the playfield.

So as of right now - I am stuck and REALLY don't want to have to spend $500 on a new MPU or I/O board, but I'm currently stuck.

kermit24 PinballManiac40 NPO

Here are pictures of th board removed from the cabinet - I didn't realize the leakage was so bad on the board it is is probably shorting something out. Like I said, I rescued this pin from the dead and an abusive owner. And when I got it - there were no batteries in it at all. It was a fairly dark area where the pinball has been sitting since I got it and it was hard to see how much leakage there was.

I have no problem with surface or through whole soldering - I have a good weller pro soldering station for microchip soldering. I don't know a lot about circuitry - but someone years ago asked me to learn soldering for mass manufacturing of prop controllers. Didn't know how they worked - but could solder microchips, resistors, and micro smd dmds in place ... funny huh.

I have a new battery holder that I can replace the scuzzed one with. What do you suggest I clean the board up with?

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Playboy and Coke - now that funny.

Anyway - I ordered replacement sockets and replace anything and everything acid touch and re-soldered everything. I used vinegar and isopropal alcohol to clean EVERYTHING off first. Sanded down all the traces and followed them all under a powerful microscope and "thought' I got everything cleaned up well.

I installed the boards and although everything powered up - the game still sat there and wouldn't start the game.

Frustrated and aggrivated I decided to bite the bullet and buy new RottenDog CPU and I/O boards (because it might have been an IO issue all along). I figured I could sell off the original I/O and Whitestar board here n pinside to make up some of the difference - fully explaining in the sale what happened to the orginal boards.

So, I got the new Rottendog Boards in the mail from Pinball life - they came pretty quick. I updated the chips from 3.0 from the original board to 5.0 and moved over the other chips that are the same from 3.0 to 5.0. ... and installed both new boards.

The game started up right away and I THOUGHT I was out of the woods. Then I tried to play a game - and the RIGHT FLIPPER wouldn't respond / work. Everything else worked perfectly - just the RIGHT FLIPPER. So I checked cleaned the contact for the flipper. Still didn't work.

So, I opened the service menu and had it run a cycle of all coils - and the right and left flipper worked fine.

I then pressed the service/ credit button inside the coin door and not only did it fire the flipper - but it added a coin as well. Kind of hard to play pinball using the left flipper and then a button inside the coin door for the right flipper?!?!??!?!?! LOL!

I checked all the wiring harness from the flipper button all the way up to the boards and there are no hacks, crosses, or repairs.

So everything works - but the button for the flipper doesn't - unless you press the CREDIT button inside the coin door.

I am completely at a loss now and frustarted beyond belief that I am have SO much trouble with this ONE table / pinball even after replacing ALL the electronics in the backbox - due to ignorance and further frustration.

So - I ask - NOW what should I be looking for to remedy this. Where does the contacts for the flipper button (not the coil) connect in the backbox to make the coil fire?

BTW: I checked all the connectors, all the pins, all the rom legs to make sure they are seated properly and everything looks fine.

Please advise. And thank you in advance for any assistance offered.

Once I get this working (hopefully) - I will post the previous CPU and I/O and plasma DMD up on the for sale section at a low price if anyone is interested.

PinballManiac40

Ok, here is where I am at.

At the advice of both Rotten dog and Pinball Life - I check ALL the connects on both boards for any pin miss-alignment. All was good. I removed all the chips I moved over from the previous board and checked all of them and re-seated them and checked under a 300x microscope to make sure each pin was seated properly in the sockets - all was good.

I traced the wires from both the right flipper and the CREDIT button inside the door and there were no breaks - crossovers or anything odd.

I ran the coil test and the flippers fired fine through the test.

I ran the diagnostic dedicated switch test and came up with something interesting....

The Left flipper worked just fine - as before.

The right flipper button didn't even register on the DMD chart when pressed.

When I pressed the CREDIT button in the door - the DMD registered BOTH the credit button and the RIGHT flipper - which is kind of insane to me.

See third picture I included.

What could possibly cause this? Now - RottenDog didn't have this board listed as working with the Playboy table, but Scott at Pinball Life and a tech at RottenDog says it WOULD work with this table. Originally I had rom set ver 3.0 installed in my order board set and I upgraded to 5.0 because I figured I would just update it at the same time. I wouldn't think that would have made a difference.

According to the Playboy Manual (https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Playboy_Manual.pdf) on page 102 connector CN6 is where the inputs from the buttons come in and the I/O board is what fires the coils.

So - since I am clueless as to why or how this is even possible or how to fix the present wiring issue ... is my best option to cut the wire that is currently connected to the right flipper and run a new wire up to pin 3 on the CN6 (removing the other wire that is currently there). That way the right flipper is solely connected to pin3 and the credit button is isolated to just pin 7?

Or is there something else I have overlooked?

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PinballManiac40

Didn't know you repaired boards - can you send me an PM / DM or whatever the private messaging is called here with a quote for repairing my old boards?

I am out of my depth at this point.

BTW: I Always thought RottenDog had a good reputation - perhaps I was wrong in that assessment.