Hi all,

I posted this issue in a general forum earlier but was recommended to post here for help.

My TOP GI-LEFT lights aren't working properly on my Stern Jurassic Park LE and I'm getting OVERCURRENT alerts for Node 9. I have the Mezel Tower Mod and the T-Rex Gate Mod (that has LEDs in this area) - lights on both are out. These mods have been in the game for well over a year without issue. The only thing that has changed recently is that the helicopter opto board has crapped out so I was in the machine making physical adjustments to it. This part area has nothing to do with the opposite side of the playfield in question AFAIK.

Powering up results in:
- CHECKING NODE BOARDS 9 OVERCURRENT DETECTED
- Game restarts
- Same message presented again
- OPERATOR ALERT! TROUGH DEVICE MALFUNCTION
- Game starts and all but 2 of the TOP LEFT G.I. lights blink/work
- Going into Service I get 2 Alerts:
1 - CHECK NODE BOARD 9 OVERCURRENT PROTECTION
2 - DEVICE MALFUNCTION TROUGH
- I go into NODE BOARD TEST and navigate to NODE 9. Display reads:
- OVERCURRENT PROTECTION
- UPPER PLAYFIELD
- DRIVE: NONE (From what I've read the DRIVE value in diagnostics tells you where the problem is (LED socket, coil, w/e) but in my case it's DRIVE: NONE)
- LIGHT: TOP GI-LEFT
- I Select Node board test, navigate to 9 and when I hit the test button all TOP LEFT G.I. lights blink except for the two in question
- During gameplay all but the two LEDs in question function just fine.
- During LAMP > TOP-LEFT GI Test, NONE of the LEDs function/flash.
- General Node Board tests reveal no errors/issues with Node 9.

I have followed the flowchart in this manual for troubleshooting: https://sternpinball.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/SPIKE-System-Manual.pdf
I am now on page 46 as directed at the multimeter step:
"At the node board, measure the source wire of the G.I. to ground. Use the manual to determine wire color."

I have no idea what it means by "source wire of the G.I." nor what exactly to test with my multimeter. The JP manual doesn't note a "source wire" for the G.I.

I've checked all connections and nothing looks wrong. I replaced the Tower Mod LED that wires into the Tower Lights. For about 5 min everything lit back up and there were no alerts. But within my first gameplay ball everything went out again, rinse and repeat with that Node 9 GI overcurrent alert and Trough malfunction messages. I then disconnected the two LEDs in question entirely. No change. Now the issues I mentioned above are 100% consistent each time I power up.
The mods have been in the machine forever without issue. I have no other mods that leverage the machines power and again eliminating them didn't change anything. The only things that have changed are me pulling in/out/up the playfield over and over while trying to diagnose the issues.

I have a hard time believing that the board has gone out as these issues only arose after some slight adjustments to unrelated parts/places in the machine, with the machine powered off each time.

I've attached a number of screenshots of the alerts and aforementioned steps. Can anyone help? I'm only a couple months out of warranty but given that that has expired I'm at a loss of what to do. I'm hoping I can get help from this community to troubleshoot before going the route of buying and taking the time to install a new Node 9 board that may/may not fix this issue or hiring a technician. Much appreciated.
PXL_20210110_025417865 (resized).jpgPXL_20210110_025421815 (resized).jpgPXL_20210110_025444155 (resized).jpgPXL_20210110_025452757 (resized).jpgPXL_20210110_025516223 (resized).jpgPXL_20210110_025525117 (resized).jpg

Thank you so much! Are you saying to take out all bulbs in this G.I. area, power the machine back up and the errors "should" go away? Then if so, start going through one by one with the bulbs?

I'm confused sorry. Like I mentioned in my post if I had already removed all the connections to the 2 mods (literally the only GI lights that don't light up right now, they just wire into existing light sockets, I've put them all back to their original LED bulbs). All other GI lights work still but I get all of those errors. I have now removed bulbs from 3 different sockets, replaced bulbs one by one, rinse and repeat. Once and only once during this process all of a sudden ALL GI lights were working. I then powered down/up again and that resulted in back to square one. I cannot pinpoint which socket/LED could be causing this. I feel like it's something else. Any additional steps I can take to figure this out?

I think and hope you're right. Removal of all bulbs themselves doesn't change anything though. Isn't a removal of the bulb essentially eliminating the given socket as being the problem or can a socket without a bulb still be causing this?

As far as finding a short, do I just test for continuity between the pins of each light socket that is out? Will I need to un-solder each socket wire and do the same for the wires themselves if I find continuity in all sockets? What about the Node 9 board connections, where would I start with that if needed? Forgive my ignorance on the pinball electrical aspect but why isn't the OVERCURRENT "feature" alert nor GI/mode board 9 tests telling me which of the many GI sockets/coils/whatever is the problem?

I have stared at everything for many hours. Visually looking for something that is bent or rotated is a lost cause. Many prongs or w/e are intentionally bent as far as I can tell. Nothing is disconnected. Again why doesn't the test point me to the specific GI component assuming that it is simply a component/socket in this GI area that's causing the issues? Why does it only pinpoint node 9, top left GI, Drive = None??

I've verified continuity with the 2 sockets in question as well as 4 other ones that do turn on. All show an Ohms value and all don't look bent more than any other prong on any other socket in the machine. I'm giving up for tonight. I don't think this is something that forum messages back and forth can resolve. I also don't understand why I'm the only JP owner describing these issues and asking for help. Someone else has to have come across this particular GI issue before with JP and figured out root cause.

And you diagnosed and resolved them how?

Thank you so much PinMonk ! Getting somewhere. Good news = Removing only CN15 has made all errors go away. So I'm now going through all the 154 labeled bulb sockets. However, I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I am physically inspecting the spring inside and the solder points on the arms to look for anything suspicious. I've inspected 5 of the 9 sockets so far and nothing stands out. I have used my multimeter to check continuity between each sockets' arms. I'm getting readings on all of them so far.

How do I now perform a process of elimination? For example let's say (theoretically) I got incredibly lucky and removed the bulb from the socket causing the issue, leaving all other sockets with bulbs. If I then power up the machine and get no errors/alerts, have I proven that one is the bad socket? Or will the errors still occur even when the problem socket has no bulb in it? Again none of this has happened, just an example.

The two sockets that I suspected were the problem (b/c these were the ones that remained off during the overcurrent test + were wired into the two mezel mods) do not currently have bulbs in them but I still get the errors/alerts. I also get the same errors/alerts if I put normal LEDs in them. So are these two not part of the problem or is there something else I need to check with them?

At this point, I'm trying to understand what I'm supposed to do in "checking" to eliminate the good sockets from the bad and narrow this down to the problem one.

Steps I've taken next:

1. Detached the Node 9 board from the playfield and checked under it just to make sure no washer/screw/metal anything was causing the issue. Nothing stands out, seems fine.
2. Removed all bulbs from all 9 "154" sockets.
3. Reconnected CN15
4. Booted up

Result: Same errors/alerts

7. With everything still in this state, remove CN15 again;

Result: NO errors/alerts

So it looks like I'm here now?:

If taking all the bulbs out and plugging in CN15 you have the error still, then it's one of the nine 154 sockets that has a physical short. They'll all need to be inspected top and bottom. Probably a broken spring, but since you were in there messing with mods before this happened, you may have moved something and made a short outside the socket, so hard to say.

I have physically inspected all of them and for the life of me they all look fine.

NOTE: Both with some bulbs removed and others still in and with all bulbs removed, I tested continuity between each of the 9 sockets' arms with and without CN15 connected. Every single socket reports continuity (BEEP!) which is NOT expected, correct? Other GI sockets (not in this UPPER LEFT GI) DO NOT report continuity (NO BEEP!).

Just to clarify, I wasn't messing with the mods that leverage the GI sockets in this area prior to this issue occurring. The issue showed up seemingly out of nowhere. I hadn't (at least intentionally) changed anything in this area prior to the start of the issues. Since the issue I have disconnected the mods to troubleshoot. The only other change is that a few days prior to this issue, I was messing with the helicopter. This is on the opposite side of the playfield and its opto is now out (I think I scraped the opto board). I am still waiting for a new opto board for that. But again when that went out it wasn't like this issue started immediately. Multiple days later.

ADDITIONAL INFO 1/10/21 5pm PST: With the CN15 plug disconnected, I tested DC voltage on the CN15 pins on Node Board 9 -- pins 2 & 6 and 1 & 5. I get 5.5-6V across both. So that at least tells me my node board itself is not the issue, correct?

With CN15 plug connected I did the same and I get NO voltage reading. However, I guess that's expected b/c the machine is disabling voltage due to OVERCURRENT PROTECTION, right? I don't know how to force the machine to try to pass DC to any of the sockets when CN15 is connected since I assume it's disabling that to protect itself. If it did, I could at least test the voltage at each socket as well.

Right but like I said all 9 report continuity between all of their respective "arms" with no bulbs in any of them. Can you please elaborate on exactly how I should test each socket if what I mentioned is me simply doing it wrong?

I haven't yet clipped all the zip-ties and such, no. That feels like its going to be a huge mess but also difficult to follow all the wires without doing so. Outside of the already zip tied bundles, yes I have multiple times followed every wire I can to every connector and reseated even though none appear to be disconnected. It's highly possible I'm missing an obvious disconnect or "pinch" but there's tons of stock wiring and connectors from this upper playfield/node board around to the back of it. Again physically I have yet to see anything wrong. But the irony of that statement is that I think at this point it is physical since that's the only thing that's changed = me lifting the playfield and putting it back down over and over again while troubleshooting the seemingly unrelated helicopter opto issue in the first place before all this happened (as I described earlier). As I also mentioned in my just now edited reply above I did confirm at least proper DC voltage is coming through the CN15 pins on the node board.

EDIT 1/10/21 10:30pm PST: UNRESOLVED

Unfortunately it looks like I spoke too soon. After 5 plays the issue has resurfaced out of nowhere. Sorry for jumping the gun.

It's become intermittent again. I'll have the issues/errors/alerts, power down, pull up the playfield, wiggle some areas/sockets/wires around node board 9. Lower the playfield to a holding position, power on. No errors and all lights work. I'll then completely position the playfield, no errors. Power down and back up, no errors. Load the balls back in. Then play for a single ballplay and bam all lights in the GI go out. I'll then rinse and repeat. Upon power up if no errors/alerts and all GI bulbs are working I go into settings I get a brand new alert: CHECK SWITCH #9 LEFT FLIPPER BUTTON. I go into that test and don't see anything wrong. I power down and back up and again square one with all of the initial errors/alerts, no GI lights no new alerts, just the same as before. I'll do all of this again, GI lights working, no errors/alerts, play for a short amount of time and back to square one yet again.

I'll dig in again tomorrow.

THANK YOU to a) everyone who posted here and most importantly, b) PinMonk who got me a huge step forward with his incredibly detailed advice and bent98 who spent probably 4-5 hours on the phone with me today going step by step through testing.

I'll get this sorted / unshorted soon but only b/c of the incredible help by others provided thus far.

Previous, thought to be resolution description below:
RESOLUTION! 1/10/21 8pm PST: Houston, we have a resolution!!!

It turns out that this was a "wires crimped together" issue after all. In the attached photo (which is horrible sorry) see the two sets of wires going to 5 different sockets which are all tightly zip-tied together (by the factory, not me). Clipping off those ties all of a sudden brought all 9 lamps of the TOP LEFT G.I. back to fully functioning, without errors/alerts. I then went one by one, putting a bulb in, powering on/off to make sure the errors/alerts still didn't show up. Once all bulbs were in and I verified all was working, I then went one by one, screwing each socket back into it's intended place, powering on/off each time like before. Now all sockets are back in their original places and all bulbs are in.

Before putting everything back together I meticulously looked at each wire in these clusters to see if I could find a cut/pin hole/anything that could have made contact unexpectedly anywhere else. I have yet to find such a thing aka I still don't know which exact wire(s) are the root cause. I will say that the stock zip ties in both areas were incredibly tightly pulled. I had to be very careful when clipping them to make sure I didn't grace any given wire. They were so tightly zipped to the point to where I can see the indentation in the wires' sheaths after removal. I still don't see any exposure of frays or anything sticking out. So I still don't know the root cause.

I still don't know exactly what happened here (which wire(s) exactly) since again nothing was "intentionally" adjusted in this area of the playfield in days prior to the issue and those zip ties have been there as is since I got the machine > a year ago. I'm going to let things be for now and play over the next couple of days. I'll keep both the tower and cage mods disconnected for now and report back if the issues resurface without touching anything.

I know time is valuable and many of you have spent a ton of time helping me in the background. I can't thank ALL of you enough for digging in and providing so much advice. I learned a lot through this and I hope this thread helps others too. I will surely post detailed info if I do figure out exactly which wire caused the shorting.
crimped wire bundles (resized).jpg

Yes and it's powered outside of the machine via a single USB cable. Doesn't even come close to touching any of the wiring in question if that's why you're asking.

NEVERMIND, STILL UNRESOLVED 1/10/21 10:30pm PST: I should have waited and played more before declaring resolution. After 5 plays I'm back to the same issue again. I've updated my last post about it: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/spike-2-node-9-overcurrent-protection-gi-failure-stern-jple#post-6066265

I haven't taken the glass off, picked the playfield back up, moved the machine, nothing since I posted the resolution, just played some games.

I have spent my entire weekend as well as wasting others' weekends trying to figure this out. I'm extremely deflated that it's now happening again seemingly out of nowhere. I have to walk away from this for tonight. Thanks again for everyone's continued support and expertise.

I'm not sure I'm even at a headstart at this point. I've now conjured a new alert and even more confusing behavior. See my edited post. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/spike-2-node-9-overcurrent-protection-gi-failure-stern-jple#post-6066265

This machine has been a lemon since I first got it. I have spent more time during the entire year of purchase troubleshooting physical issues, contacting Stern, awaiting then installing parts, testing, recording and sending videos, following troubleshooting steps, scheduling technician visits, etc. vs. just playing/enjoying the machine. Now I'm out of warranty and this most confusing of all issues has arisen. I honestly at this point feel like I should just sell the machine with the known issues for whatever I can get for it and buy a new Prem. I'm literally the only one having this latest issue on an LE/Prem. This is driving me insane. It feels like there's been a much larger issue at hand with this thing since day one that is going to continue no matter what I do.

How do I fix a short when I can't even figure out where the short is?? Everything about this issue is now intermittent. Everything you and others have recommended, I've already done except for unsoldering then resoldering all 9 sockets one by one. Which I think is a lost cause. I've already proven it's not a bad socket, just a wiring issue that is apparently nearly impossible to pinpoint, right?