Hi All,

For my first pinball purchase I decided to go for a CFTBL which, other than a couple of bulbs needing replacement, seemed to work fine (I never really played that many CFTBLs prior to buying this one so I didn't have a full picture of gameplay).

Recently I discovered the centre lane entry gate switch wasn't triggering consistently as I was rarely registering centre lane shots so I replaced it and via the single switch test it worked consistently. Even so, centre lane shots still weren't registering. After continually testing the centre lane exit switch it seemed that it wouldn't trigger 100% either so tonight I replaced that as well. The bad news is that it still didn't fix the original problem.

With a ball in play I blocked the outlane and proceeded to move the ball around the playfield by hand and then realized that some switches (such as the centre lane entry switch and right ramp entry switch) would cause the flippers to briefly flip. I could repeat this a second time but not a third time and from then on the centre lane shot would then register fine. After a period of time where I would hit bumpers or trigger a popper, centre lane shots stopped registering again...strange!

A previous owner had modded this Creature to light up the pop bumpers so I thought that maybe there was too much power being used. I disconnected those lights (they were wired to a bulb on the General Illumination (GI) 3 line) but even then the problem persisted.

So my problem is that I have no idea what's causing this and where to look next. I'm dreading that the next step is to get a repairer to take a look but run the risk of paying hundreds for no solution as I have a feeling that something like this isn't that common and easy to fix.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Vas

Hi All,

OK, I've had a look at the links provided and printed out the switch matrix then in test mode I went through all of them one at a time and each switch lined up to the appropriate item in the matrix (I compared the printout with the display that shows when a switch is closed and they were the same). The only thing I noticed is that the two slam tilt switches (one on the back of the coin door and the other at the base of the cabinet) came up as the same item in the switch matrix (21) which I'm guessing is normal.

So, in test mode everything works normally but when a game is in play that's when the craziness starts. I just finished testing the behavior and fed the ball through the centre lane shot 3 times, the first two times the centre entry switch (18) would trigger and the flippers gave a brief flip and the centre lane exit switch (63) wouldn't register. The third time the centre entry switch activated and the flippers did nothing (as they should) and the centre lane exit switch then registered the ball passing through.

The same test on other occasions would result in one of the pop bumpers firing when the centre lane entry switch was hit. On other occasions I have seen other switches, such as the right ramp exit switch (61) fire the flippers.

To make matters more confusing, the last game I played triggered the slam tilt switch and the machine was definitely not being moved...the ball was just moving slowly around the playfield..this the second time I've seen this happen.

It's as if the problem moves around the playfield. The theory that the switch matrix was getting confused makes sense as it looks like a switch is performing a different action to what it should be but it isn't showing up in the test mode.

I had to pick up a fuse today from Pinball spareparts as I blew the General Illumination 3 fuse in my attempt to disconnect the pop bumper lights and took the opportunity to ask if they had heard of this before and based on my brief description of the behavior they suggested that it may be battery acid damage on the CPU board. I removed the batteries and took a look at the battery holder and couldn't see any damage around the batteries. I didn't check behind the CPU board though. The LED lights on the CPU board appear to be showing normal operation based on what the manual says.

So, I'm still stuck and am happy for more suggestions before I resign myself to having pay to have someone take a look at it.

Thanks

Vas

Hi Guys,

Thanks for persisting

Donjagra, the following versions come up in test mode :

The Creature
20018 Rev L-4

Sound Rev L-1
Sy. 2.52 2-15-93

Criss, I looked at J208 and J206 and they are both empty (not connected). The connectors are on J207 (lots of green wires) and J209 (lots of white wires) instead...could this be the problem? I didn't want to change them back to J206 and J208 until someone with more knowledge than me advised it but based on what the switch matrix diagram says it certainly would suggest they should be on J206 and J208.

I'm guessing that the CPU board is used on several games and J207 and J209 are used on those and not others...so, should I change them over? I hope it's something this simple (fingers crossed)

Thanks

Vas

Thanks Criss,

Focussing on the switch matrix I found an extract of a manual called "Pinball machines: how they work & troubleshooting By Norbert Snicer" that had a clear write up on checking the switch matrix by unplugging the connectors and then testing the pins, which I did, and...everything worked fine...which I guess isn't too bad as it means the CPU board seemed to be fine.

My next thought was either the direct switches (such as the coin door) and also in the area that you mention, the Opto/fliptronic board...I was planning to disconnect them and run some tests to see if things worked whilst they were disconnected. Unfortunately the whole family decided to pay me a visit in the garage so I was distracted and did the next best thing and worked through all of the connectors to make sure everything was seated correctly...I've got to say there were a handful all over the place (including the Opto board) that were not seated firmly. After pressing them all down and running some tests I (knock on wood) have not seen the symptoms that I had been seeing (or maybe the power of positive thinking is not letting me see the symptoms . Hopefully this means it was a loose connector (I'd love that to be the case) so I'll monitor it over the next week and see how it goes. Failing that I'll run the next set of tests suggested.

I really appreciate your and Donjagra's help.

If anyone else is interested here is the preview link to the above mentioned manual (hopefully it won't be chopped when I post this). I think the pages it lets you preview change each time but it's page 34 that had the switch matrix diagnostic info.

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=SjpDdjhWr1UC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=Pinball+machines:+how+they+work+%26+troubleshooting+By+Norbert+Snicer&source=bl&ots=my7WwbO9sn&sig=f9g5rJXgSCpEsy5rakiLMuSFWaY&hl=en&ei=zzyMTr6pLI2aiAfBmNDUAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Hey Criss,

I spoke too soon...the problem is still with me...very frustrating!

I went back to my diagnostics but before looking at my Opto board (it's a Fliptronic II) I wanted to eliminate the coin door as a potential issue...the reason being that the door connectors have been patched in a backyard sort of way. I disconnected the door switches after starting a game and moved the ball around but the problem was still there. I then re-checked the custom pop bumper lights and thought the socket terminal of one of the lights was touching the pop bumper housing so I isolated it with a piece of paper but the problem was still there.

Moving back into the headbox I re-checked every board connector and re-positioned some of the wire harnesses after which time the problem seemed to get worse (maybe it was my imagination but I was annoyed at myself thinking it had been working 90% of the time and now only works 50% of the time).

The last check was to disconnect the data cable between the CPU board and the Fliptronic board (the 3 connector data cable was still connected to the audio board). When I did this I couldn't reproduce the problem anymore. Obviously the flippers didn't move at all with the data cable disconnected so I can't be sure the problem is related to the Fliptronic board or the jarring movement of the flippers (I'm assuming the data cable I disconnected was the switch matrix connector you mentioned).

So, has my test actually proven your theory that the Opto board is to blame? Or do I have to test it some other way than pulling the grey data cable?

Thanks

Vas