I decided I was sick of not seeing my score on my F14, so I ordered an XPin, which went in nicely. But as long as I had the game open... you all know the drill. Little fixes ALL OVER the place. Tightening screws, replacing flipper rubber, tweaking the plunger to actually be able to plunge the ball, tweaking the kickback to actually be able to kick the ball back, etc.
I also turned my attention to the MPU. It was serviced (professionally, I guess...?) ages ago, and the delightfully leakage-free battery compartment was augmented by a supercapacitor. Thing is... it's not capaciting anymore. The game is in a perpetual state of amnesia, with the cap's voltage absolutely stuck at 0.20V. Even after I left the game on to let it charge, the voltage level went nowhere. So I will be removing the cap, and the battery holder itself, and either going NVRAM or installing an offsite battery holder.
But as long as I have the board out of the game for that work, I thought I would ask you guys for your thoughts and experience here: Is there anything else I should do to this board to prolong its longevity? The board (shown below at the highest resolution I could make with my phone) is in remarkably good shape, save for a resistor array that's a little darker than the others, just below and right of the flipper relay.
May or may not be related to this board but I might as well bring up anyway: This thing runs loud. Definite (and arguably a little sick-sounding) hum from the speakers during operation. Probably the power supply.
Also, the lamp matrix literally sounds like a mainframe computer from Hollywood. Even with the speakers disconnected, the lamp drivers on the MPU become a very lamp-synchronized square wave orchestra. Is that normal for this game?
Icing on cake: No GI connector burn anywhere. I need to appreciate my games more.
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Vandalia, OH
