I’m trying to sort out a Stern Stingray I bought last week and need some guidance. The seller didn’t have any photos so I was really expecting a disaster to walk away from but when I got there it looked decent so I decided to take it. I’ve really enjoyed my Stingray and so I thought I would get this one for my brother and his kids. I got stuck in traffic so was running late getting there and was a bit hurried getting it broken down and loaded up. There also wasn’t a lot of light so I hoped for the best. The backglass has some flaking but seems to be better than average without too much touch-up. Playfield has a couple wear marks by the kick-outs but the plastics are good and rest of the paint looks right. Cab has typical small scuffs and might have been repainted at some point.

The problem is that while it lights up, it doesn’t boot. After looking it over more closely with a work light in my house there was something cooked in the back left of the cabinet where the power splits and something toasty on the solenoid driver board. I’ve copied the photos into a folder:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5tUX1xdnkRlRTBWamZJcnJxMVU&usp=sharing

I was poking around online and it looks like the hi-voltage regular portion (shield missing) of the AS-2518-22 solenoid driver board cooked maybe due to a voltage surge/spike that cooked that thing in the left rear cabinet. I didn’t see any other damage or problems visually with the transformer, any coils under the PF, or any blown fuses. Would something other than a big spike cause that?
I’m hoping someone more knowledgeable than myself can advise first :
verify that what caused the board’s problem is fixed/gone before a replacement board is installed
verify that the solenoid driver board is dead
verify that the transformer and other boards are ok
If there’s not a way for me to do those I suppose I could hire a service call but don’t have anyone yet.

Then either replace with a used ebay board, or a board from a pinsider, or used guaranteed board -
or send my board to be fixed by Steve Kulpa in Nolesville, TN or someone that fixes them since I don’t have the skills or nerve to get parts from Big Daddy and do that. Probably cost $50-100
Or buy an Alltek Ultimate solenoid board for $150 from Chesapeake VA and hopefully be operational for years to come. I’m leaning toward this option.
Or buy the combo Alltek MPU and solenoid boards $335 and not worry about the battery from 11/2000 leaking/being replaced. My MPU appears to be a replacement from Twobits.com in Austin but it has Good written on it in pen so maybe it’s a refurbished one?

Some threads about the MOV helped a lot and it sounds like it tried to eat a big spike so I’ll give the little guy a proper burial and replace the 130v metal oxide varistor at $1.29. But if I understand correctly that the machine should still work with a dead one since it doesn’t stop power from getting in the machine, just buffers a spike. I didn’t find anything I could understand in the Stingray manual but am guessing the little box under the MOV is an RFI filter?

I enjoyed several threads about spikes/strikes so in addition to replacing the old MOVs and generally leaving my machines unplugged, if I have any money left I will also think about adding to my Christmas list a surge protector, HEPD, & a voltage regulator/UPS:
$70 http://www.microcenter.com/product/304253/8_Outlet_Surge_Protector_4270_Joules_with_Phone-Fax-Coax_Protection_and_6_Foot_Cord_-_Black
$107 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-Home-Electronics-Protective-Device-HEPD-HEPD80/203540660;jsessionid=8F9D3F5DB428BECB52606018260394B6#.USeKl6Xvh8E
$45 APC LE1200 Line-R 1200VA Automatic Voltage Regulator http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009RA60/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl