I've gone through many forms and videos, but they always talked about an entire row or column being out. My issue is that I have 5 out of 8 switches in the same column not working on my Flash. Only the three bumpers consistently work on Switch Matrix column 3. What I find most crazy is these three bumpers are not even wired in order, switches between them don't register. Every now and then though I can get the other 5 to register, but it's very very rare.

I've traced down the green/orange and confirmed a good solder connection at every point. Also the white stripe cable for the rows look good too at each switch.

I took the molex off of the board, pulled out the green/orange wire and tested by attaching the single wire to the board without the molex connector, same issue. I then pulled a different column wire (green/black) and directly attached to the molex pin on the board, allowing me to use different switches in test mode to get the non-working switch numbers to display (so switch 33 would display 17 on test). So this tells me that it's not a board issue, right?

No other switches outside of column 3 have issues.

Another fun fact. If I hold down a switch that isn't working and then trigger a bumper, I get bumper points and the non-registering same column switch points.

Attaching photos of matrix, and manual where I noted which order the green/orange connects to each switch.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

PXL_20221217_083128186~2 (resized).jpgPXL_20221217_083128186~3 (resized).jpgScreenshot_20221217-023803~2 (resized).png

Sorry, yes that was a typo. Shouldn't have wrote that so late at night/morning. Ha. So clear this up, if I take GRN/BLK wire and attach where GRN/ORN goes instead, switch 33 will register as 17 100% of the time. So that tells me it's not a board issue. Same for the rest, GRN/BLK will trigger 21-24 without a problem using switches 37-40.

Ah, another thing I just tested, if I take GRN/ORN and attach where GRN/BLK should be, the same switches fail to register anything to the corresponding GRN/BLK . Bumper switch's still work and display correct corresponding number on GRN/BLK.

Continuity at every switch is good, I got tone when triggered by the switch....toned out jingle bells, haha. Each switch also has a diode.

During one of my tests just now, all switches worked. Then I triggered a bumper and then the five went out again, bumpers continued to work. Rebooted, only triggered switches known to have issues, dead again. Also if they are working, if I reboot the machine they tend to be dead again when it comes back on. I haven't found any consistency. Just turned

So I stopped working on this issue while I had the game torn apart to install a Hardtop. After putting it all back together the switches have been working. Knock on cabinet.....Maybe with all the work on the playfield and connections during the process I somehow fixed a short unknowingly.