Awesome- thank you!

Anyone else find any fixes for the horse shoe drain down the middle? I saw the post about the plumbers tape, haven't tried that yet. I am getting drains mostly from entering the Hoth side leaving the Death Star area..My game is pitched correctly and leveled. Thanks

I installed a small plastic diverter with a transparent tape. Not nice for the moment because it was experimental but it work so perfect i didn't try to make it more esthetic and cannot see it from player point of vue.

Shots from Hoth are going now 99.5% to the left flipper, before it was 50% to the center drain.

IMG_6371 (resized).JPG

I was able to re-align the rail enough by loosening the holding nuts and gently bending. The same for the Mystery eject and left orbit. Now the Mystery hits the left flipper squarely and the left orbit hits the right flipper even at full speed. Both would sdtm.

Thanks HPR and D-Gottlieb will give both of these options a try to see if I can get the shots working better. It is a fun game when everything works. It's the only game I owned where you have to tweak the heck out of it for it to work.

Hope it's ok to post in an older thread. Have a NIB Star Wars LE (1st home pinball!) and have put on about 25 games or so... have a few questions:

1. Mystery ball - ball shoots out so fast right down the middle - what is best option?
2. Occasionally during play "Replay" comes up and VERY loud screeching noise comes over one speaker.... is this a glitch
3. Updating firmware - download the file off stern site - the zip has 2 files and another zip inside it ... i imagine that's not right?
4. Sometimes balls "fly" above/over flippers and even have hit the glass with reasonable force... is this "normal?
4. What other "best practices" for adjustments should I be making with the LE and also what should I be "checking?"

Thanks - I made the decision to buy based upon this site... so, I donated to show my support.

-Scooterd

Mystery you can physically adjust the scoop so it goes to the flipper. You can also set a separate ball save timer for that drain

Screach that’s normal. There is a volume adjustment for it in the menu

Update. Unzip it first.

This is an air ball machine so yes you will get those. Make sure it is set at 6.5 degrees to keep them down a bit.

Have fun and welcome!

Thanks for the fast reply! Can you point me to a post on how to adjust the scoop? I'm a newb for sure

The unzip had another zip inside it... 3 files -but one of the 3 files (inside original zip) is also another zip archive -- is that correct?

The volume adjustment - the "electronic glitch noise" only happens on the "replay" screen (not even sure what that is yet).

Should I also adjust the mystery hole speed in the menu?

Thanks !

The screech is a virtual knocker triggered for replays. Knocker volume is adjustment #45 in the menu.

Search for the mystery scoop fix. I thought it was in this thread could be in the club thread. I just set the ball save.

Have you tried the update? If all the files are in the root directory it should work.

First thing you need to do whenever buying a Stern pinball machine is set the knocker volume to "off". Pinball Life sells a real knocker that is loud as hell if you want to have a knocker.

you can adjust the coil strength + or - in the settings under star wars. it's easier than manually adjusting the scoop

For now, reducing the right eject power has at least solved some of the problems. I saw the more involved video on taking apart the pinball... not really someone who wants to do that yet...

However, next question re: the LEFT side drains - 95% of the balls that are "lost" are from the plunger or come back from one of the ramps.... usually at high velocity... I read that you can change the post locations or increase the size of the black plastic bumpers - for home players, just looking to have fun, it's a negative when 10 seconds after starting the ball is off the left side.

What settings or physical changes can I make to ensure the game is more or less operating the way it was intended. I read about the right lane guide being moved to solve some of those issues... is there a picture someone can show me?

you can also adjust the coil settings for the plunger + or -

Thanks -- does that simply effect the speed at which the ball comes off the plunger? (Assume yes)

I noticed the left post seems to have different positions - can that be moved "up or down" with just loosening the top screw?

I know, I'm asking really dumb questions probably, but tools and I are not on a good level

i would just play with the plunger setting until you find a good number for less outer left lane drains from the plunge. you can always move the outlane posts to make the game easier or harder. i have never needed to move them down, most people prefer factory outer lane posts. It's your game! do whatever you would like and enjoy it!

Just posted this in the main Stern Star Wars group, but thought I'd try here as well.

Still having issues with my mini LCD screen booting up all white. I've tried replacing the cat-5 cable with another one. That seems to work for a while, but occasionally (more often than not) I still get the white screen. I've found if I manually hold in the cables on the node board while I boot, it will boot up correctly. But it's a pain to have to lift the PF all the time.

There may be an issue with the cable socket. Not really sure. I've notified Stern about this and I've never received any good response on possible resolution. If the board that the screen plugs into is bad, any ideas on replacement costs? Any other suggestions? Does anybody have any suggestions on a "premium cable" or a cable with some sort of upgraded connectors?

Very frustrated. It makes me want to leave the game turned on all of the time (which can't be great for the game).

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That screen uses an hdmi cable. Wiggling doesn't fix it?

No. There’s the HDMI and a CAT5 going into the mini monitor.

Well, if it never blanks out during use, then I would recommend a reflash of the SD card. The software may be a bit corrupted.

Been a happy owner for a few weeks, after some tweaks .... here's a weird one -- installed a shaker motor on Friday... played a few games and turned on the machine today and all the high scores are gone, except the grand champion score... any ideas on how to get back all the scores? Are they "gone" forever?

Thanks in advance for any ideas - Scott

Scores reset after 2,000 plays, or something like that. There is an adjustment setting you can change if you don’t like it.

Thanks- will want to change that... will be some sad household members.... what menu and option to change that not delete?

2000 plays... wow, in 6 weeks!

Did you buy it NIB? If so it prob something different.
Resets scores when you update code or reset factory settings.
The setting is in the standard adjustment menu, scroll through and you’ll else it.

Yes, NIB and had a little over 2000 plays when I checked the audits - 8 children under 10 for a month will do that I guess

Found the setting - thanks again for this forum!

check the optos that detect the ball while it is being held behind the fork in the ball guide. if they are failing, the fork won't know when the ball is being held there or not.

when in test mode, try banging on the playfield with your fist to see if any switches register. i've had and seen problems where optos on ball guides fail because the guides themselves get bent back from gameplay, resulting in intermittent opto switch registers.

This is a stretch, but have you installed the Stern node board fix it kit? I kinda remember having intermittent issues with my fork ramp before node board 9 failed and took out the rest of the node boards.

If the opto was bad, the fork should still lower when ball search kicked in.

It's was probably installed by the factory since your game is so new, but they will provide if not. It's basically just a spacer and wire tie - pretty laughable - but prevents the legs of a diode on the node board from breaking due to vibration. You can easily see if it's installed by looking under the playfield. I believe it's on node boards 8 & 9.

my table is displaying some odd behavior out of the blue.

each press of the flipper button (L and/or R) will trigger the outlanes. points are scored and lights are lit without any ball movement. it can be a small, quick press of the button, or a full press and the table awards the outlane. when starting a new game it won't let me cycle through characters. as soon as the ball is loaded it fires and selects the character for me. i don't believe it is a vibration issue as i've pulled the ball and tried every type of shake to cause the same event, but only flipper buttons cause the outlane scoring. any ideas?

To help troubleshoot, I would suggest entering diagnostics and look at the switch tests. You can also navigate the menus with the flipper buttons.

I did that today and I got CN11 right lane triggered when pressing right or left flippers. I checked all cat5 cables and checked for loose connections, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Does this happen when the machine is first turned on after being off for a while or after warming up? Or does it matter?

it happens every time and in every situation.

Assuming wires and connections are good, you can call Stern tech support and they will help troubleshoot.

to the best of my knowledge they all look good.i checked for loose connections on all boards (pin connectors, cat5, plugs, etc.).

the table is only a few months old and was BNIB. no mods or poking around other than gaping a tie fighter switch that was smashed too close during game play.

Well, give them a call and keep us posted. They are quite helpful. I called on a volume control issue I was having and they wound up sending me a new board.

I don't understand calling Stern directly :/ When do you guys call them versus working through the distributor? Do I need to get it cleared through my distributor or get a case number first before I can call Stern? Have some simple questions about a failing SW node board I would like answered but afraid I am going to not say the right things and be told to go away if I call them directly.

Calling the distro is applicable during the first few months or maybe upto a year for possible warranty coverage. After that, Stern is who you can call with tech problems. They do support over the phone.

Problem resolved. The outlane switch was stuck and causing all of the problems.

My outlane gate makes a loud buzz noise at hold open, so trying to diagnose and fix. Anyone else have this issue?

It functions fine, and understand there are numerous posts on getting it to work properly. I'm about half way through this thread and tried some searching already. It's a mini-coil magnet that pulls in the bracket, so no plunger/coil stop to file/smooth. Happy to take out, etc. but not sure what good that is going to do. I thought about seperating coild and bracket to isolate source. Also, the coil test in the service menu is just gate open then close, so don't hear the noise. It's only at hold open in game play, so have to trigger the hold open during play to troubleshoot. Unless there is another way to test?

I was able to resolve the relay buzz. The extension bracket to the diverter rod was slightly bent. Bending it back allowed the mechanism to function properly, so no more rubbing/loud buzz.

I just got a premium and the more I play it, the more annoyed I get! LOL. I'm sure all this has been covered on pinside BUT...

If I shoot the left side of the small horseshoe, the ball rockets out the right side and right down the middle.

A pretty high % of autoplunged balls result in a drain down the left outlane and a ball save BUT the saved ball gets plunged right back into the left outlane again and there is no 2nd ball save.

Many times, the tatooine saucer exits fast right down the center. I noticed there's even a ball save for this shot! LOL. Who would design SDTM shots like this into a game & then remedy it later with a ball save?!?

Many times after a shot, the ball comes back so fast that when trying to catch it on the left flipper, it jumps over the flipper and drains.

I've also had shots jump up from the playfield onto the left wire form enough times that it's obviously a design issue somewhere.

The shaker is not used enough IMO. It doesn't even shake on a "danger" tilt.

This machine can definitely benefit from some tweaking, but once it’s set up properly to minimize cheap drains it’s a blast.

I’ve have a premium for some time now and I’m just now realizing that there isn’t an interlock switch...

What adjustments can be made to keep the Death Star left half from hitting the hyperloop wire as it closes? On my premium, the wire form seems to be biased to the left of the jump ramp, and the Death Star seems biased a bit to the right, so the rail is right up against the cutout. I think adjusting the bumpers on the inside of the Death Star won’t help because then the halves wouldn’t close evenly.

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Has anyone bought a set of the six Star Wars art blades and open to parting with one of the right sided blades in the set? It comes as a set of 6
https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/502-7049-00

My machine came with the Boba Fett art blade on the right inner side and I'm interested in substituting it for the yoda or princess lea/R2 art blade. If so, please send me a message. Thanks!