Hi all. This is my first post and my first pinball machine. I know there are some other threads on this topic but I wanted to see if anyone had experience with my specific boot issue.

When the games boots correctly it stays on and operates properly until I turn it off. But, roughly 25% of the time the machine boots into an error state.

The most common situation is as follows:
- Machine boots, display is dark, general illumination is on, the other lights (should be flashing / attract mode) are off. All status lights on boards are flashing correctly except for: Control board status light is flashing too fast, display board status light is on and steady (i.e. not flashing).
- 10-15 seconds go by after power on
- Display board status light begins flashing at normal rate and display turns on with, however the display is just blinking the screen where you have the info in the 4 corners (GAME OVER, Score, Coins, ##) sometimes the text is garbage here but other times not, the playfield lights still aren't on and the game doesn't work (doesn't recognize coins, start button does nothing).

Less common:
- Machine boots, display is dark, general illumination is on, the other lights (should be flashing / attract mode) are off. All status lights on boards are flashing correctly except for: Control board status light is OFF, display board status light is either OFF or on steady (not blinking).
- Display NEVER turns on.

Things I have tried:
- I don't hear the constant beep when I have the boot issues (I've seen this described as a symptom)
- Checksum is 89AA so I have the latest GPROM code (GPROM sticker says 742/6)
- Display ROM sticker says 742/3 so I think that is also the latest.
- Battery reads roughly 3.6V
- Power supply is adjusted correctly and holds steady. Performing the test where I slightly raise and lower the voltage seems to have no impact on booting.
- removed and reseated all ribbon connectors between boards
- removed all cables (ribbon and otherwise) from display board to see if it was the culprit by looking at control board status light, here is what happens: Sometimes the control board status light flashes rapidly as it did when it was in the boot error state. Sometimes the control Control board status light blinks in bursts of 4 flashes, perhaps it is indicating that it doesn't sense a display board (??) and maybe this is correct behavior.

I know there are some things to try next (e.g. replacing caps or chips) but they are more invasive so I was hoping someone had my exact issue with a solution or maybe y'all could suggest which thing to try next.

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Thanks guys. mezzblue did you put in a battery holder or did you find a battery with the tabs on it?

@yeoldpinplayer, thanks for the link. It seems the newer control board ROM (which I think I have)was supposed to prevent the need for the common fixes with replacing caps and chips...

Hi all. I replaced the battery (installed a holder in case I have to do this again).

It didn't work. Boot problems are the same. Any other ideas?

zezami is your problem intermittent or does it happen every time?