I need to pull the connectors on my Black Knight to reseat and also inspect them while they're off. Any tips/best tool(s) to use to safely and easily pull the ones with the full-length interlocking tabs, and also the really long interconnect strip between the cpu $ driver boards? I'm much more accustomed to removing the Bally/Gottlieb types that simply pull off and I don't want to use the wrong tool like a screwdriver unless that's normal. Thanks!

Owned the game since the 80s and bought it out of a guy's living room and I think I remember him saying it was never in an arcade, and it doesn't have a scratch on it so it is *possibly* HUO, so I doubt if the connectors have *ever* been pulled. I tried pulling them and they do move a little on the pins (not seized) but man those interlocks are really stiff, I'm pulling and they just won't come off so I tried a screwdriver to eak one end of the tab out to get a little more reseating play on a few. I will just try again with screwdriver and more pulling. Game acted goofy for a few games in a row this morning for the first time EVER (sort of froze in mid-game with all switches inactive and/or flippers dead but background sound and controlled lights still in previous state) so I wanted to start with reseating.

First one I tried, wow, the pins aren't seized but they sure as hell ain't loose! I had to use pliers on one, pins were gripping tighter than a snapping turtle. I'm finding if I just over-flex the interlock tab down first it kind of clears the connector pretty well and then I can pull them more easily. Not enough room up top there on the cpu board for me to try wedging something thin between the connectors after they separate a little and wedge them apart but I might try to do that instead of pliers if one won't budge.

See my description of issue above, it started acting very goofy this morning for the first time since I owned it (not including the occasional dirty switch).

After reseating only the regular connectors on the cpu board (and twern't easy!) for starters, it doesn't seem to be acting crazy now for about a dozen games or in attract so I'll cross my fingers and keep an eye out for recurrence. Probably wasn't it but I guess I'll find out sooner or later. Thanks!

Acted up again (coils locking up like the bell and the GI relay) so to start with I've ordered a cap kit for the power supply, the ones in there all look original.

Recapped the power supply board, the old caps were definitely 30 years old at least if not the originals, the big one even had silicone sealant behind it to make sure it didn't move, along with the wire ties. The big one was also 30v @ 25,000 uf which is twice the usual replacement 25v 12,000 uf, maybe one of the reasons why this game took three decades to finally develop an intermittent hiccup? Will see how it goes.

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Ohhh crap, didn't work, still hanging up in mid-game randomly. Guess I gotta really start digging around, checking all the voltages on the test points etc. I hate intermittent unpredictable problems like this where you get no error code or indication of what might have happened. End of thread.

Okay NOW I found the cause of the my game-in-progress lockups. During further testing yesterday it blew the solenoid fuse while playing a game. Game has never blown a fuse before. Then I read where bad coil diodes especially the flippers can cause cpu lockups during play, which was my original unsolved problem. Turned out the upper right flipper coil diode was blown to smithereens, nothing left but the innards. Replaced it, done!