I just noticed that a few things on my STTNG are not working.
While there might be some that I missed, the pop-bumpers, left and right sling-shots, the upper right flipper (sometimes works sometimes doesn't) and the rollovers at the top of PF, are all not working.
With those roll overs, the lights seem to come on for some of the "light shows", but then it's not on for things like when the ball rolls through.
The upper right flipper seems to work sometimes, and then not at all other times.
The game hasn't been moved in years, and gets light amount of play, so it's not like something got knocked loose in transport, or after 10 hours of intense play....lol.

Thoughts?

I was hoping this was a fast fix, like a fuse...lol...rarely do we get off that easy in this hobby, right?!?!
I gave it a fast look, and I don't like the look of some of the wires in that area.
However, I go in for a neck surgery in the morning, so I'm going to have to let this be for a bit, as I am going to be unable to work under a playfield for a few weeks to say the least...lol.
Thanks for the fast replies, I will resurrect the thread when I'm able to start poking around under the PF again.

Ok, so the neck surgery went well, and now I'm in the rehab portion, which means a lot of being cooped up in the house with cabin fever.

I thought I would give working on my STTNG problem a stub for a little while today. I can't do too much, but I figured I would do what I could.

Just before I went in to surgery, I found one lamp in the upper right area that had loose wires (this was the area people said to look for loose stuff). I jumped in today, and soldered the loose wires on the one side, the light went back on. However, I giggeled it a little to make sure it would be okay after I put everything back together, and the bulb went off. I haven't been able to get the bulb back on.

Then, I look down and I see two white wires with stripes hanging down, and I'm like okay, they must have fell off too. I looked at other lamps, and it simply looked like I should attach them to the other side of the lamp. I solder everything, turn game on...nothing.
I figure let me try another bulb....nothing. I then try a different bulb socket...,nothing.

I'm at that state of frustration that I start questioning if I should even have games....as I can't ever seem to get things right.

Can somebody help me.....before I start listing my games for sale out of pure frustration?!?!?

If possible, can somebody with a STTNG take a pic of the bulb in the upper right hole of the game (see pic), or if somebody is able to tell me what should be attached where.

I currently have 2 yellow wires, 2 green wires, and 2 white wires with green stripes -- all needing a home (see pic). Keep in mind that how I have started hooking up in the example pic may not be correct!

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Hey LTG,
I know...it's just so frustrating.

I know you said the white with green is not for a lamp, but it looks like the other ends of them are connected to lamps too?

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Hey guys, I'm doing my best to try and "read" the wiring in the manual, but it is all a foreign language to me. I know it is easy for you guys, but trying to figure how to read it out solo has been not working.

This is why I am on the verge of just getting rid of the collection....I often feel out of my league, especially with the more complex games

Sorry for the frustrated whining!
I know it can be fixed, and saying I want to get rid of my games is silly -- and it totally is! But making my frustration even worse is my post-surgery stuff. Not only am I in pain, I get such a small window to be up and about, and when I hit something, like this, which won't "do what I want quickly", it gets very frustrating.
Again, sorry guys, and thank you for the encouraging words and patience with me!

Baby steps.....

Found that I blew out the fuses for the GI while I was meddling around with stuff earlier.

Replaced GI fuses and got GI back on.

I tried just hooking up the two yellow wires, but the lamp still isn't on. I tried a second bulb and a different socket, just to double check -- still nothing.

Now, I'm tracing the wires.

The green wires: 1 seems to go to a loom of wires going to the head. The second seems to go to a wire that appears to go to a pop bumper under the BETA QUADRENT ramp. I now see this pop bumper appears to be out.

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Ok... another step, the pic that made it look like the white wire with green stripes was attached to the green board is an ILLUSION....ugh....I am dumb!

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Another step forward!

As I was looking at the GI in the area that was in line with the socket I was having issues with, several times when I would touch (gently) a yellow wire, it would simply fall off the socket (I guess the solder was shot).
Also, there were times when I went to redo the yellow wires, and the wire and metal inside would just crumble apart.
As a result, I figured that the yellow wire in this area should be replaced, as even when I thought an area was okay, the slightest touch would creat a new problem.

I tested each socket first and found that the initial socket that I was trying to fix was fine, it was actually a socket two up in the chain that was dead -- and causing problems further down the chain.

I couldn't find a socket that matched perfect, so I tried a socket where instead of a top tab, the wire was soldered to the arm. (See pic)
It worked.

I also found a socket I think could have caused some problems. The way the tabs were, and the way the solder was, it was like the top tab and the bottom tab were touching (see pic).

I pulled all the old yellow wire, and grabbed "new" yellow wire from the parts box that I save from old games -/ this way it wouldn't create a problem in the future with matching a wire color with what is in the manual.
Happy to say, all are soldered in line, and they are working now.

Problem 1: fixed

Now, the next thing is to figure out where the green wires and the white with green stripe wires go.

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Well, not reall "all" sorted out....only 1/3 sorted out...haha.

I still need find the homes for those other wires

Hey LTG...

The lamp socket I used is cool...right? Like I said, I didn't have one with the top tab, but figured the soldering to the arm was the alternative.

Also...do you think that one lamp that had the solder connecting the top and bottom tabs created any sort of problems? I don't know if it was like that since factory, or if prior owner did something, but it seemed weird it would be like that

Ok, so it looks like I have the "dangling wire" and some lights out problem fixed. I found a pic of a STTNG underside online, and I zoomed way in to the area I was working in, and although it was blurry, it looks like that original hole/socket I was asking about had all SIX wires attached to it (2 yellow, 2 green with white, 2 white with green), so when the solder gave out on that socket, all 6 wires were dangeling.

The wires needing replacing have been done, bad sockets replaced, old solder redone, and the dangling wires are now are where they need to be.

So, I will say I am 1/2 fixed...haha....

My next issue is the fact that the POP BUMPERS, R/L SKINGSHOTS, and LANE ROLLOVERS (could be other stuff too, but that's all I noticed for now) are all still NOT WORKING. I tried fuse 104, as it seemed like that might have been it, but no luck. The fuse that wa in it tested fine on the multimeter, as did the new one I put in just incase.

Thoughts?

UPDATE:

Checked all stuff in that chain you asked me to...and all look okay. One solder spot looked "iffy", so I redid it, but still nothing.
Now I see ALL of my flippers are not working either.
I did a coil test and the pop bumpers, slingshots, flippers, etc etc .... all of them are firing with no problem.

I did a test mode, and I got:
Check Switch 31 BORG LOCK
Check Switch 48 BORG ENTRY
Check Switch 71 LEFT JET
Check Switch 72 RIGHT JET
Check Switch 73 BOTTOM JET

What am I looking for on these switches? Does this mean one or more are stuck "on", or "damaged", or have a broken wire connection?
I just want to make sure I know what I am looking for, before I meddle too much, and disturb things that maybe shouldn't be moved.

Also ... would these switches errors account for the problems I am having?

THANKS!
--Ed

HUGE step forward!
I did the switch of J207 to J206...and nothing.
However, I switch it back, and HUZZAH...all the items in that line are working again!
The harness seemed snug on the board previously though.
Should I redo the wires in the connector...or leave as is...and know if it happens again it will need to be done?

NEXT PROBLEM -- I don't think this problem was happening before....but I may have just not noticed it, as the coils not working was a morning glaring issue.
Some of the targets are not registering (see pic). I press these targets, but nothing happens. When they are needed in a mode, the light comes on, but still nothing.
The other targets that I didn't circle seem to register, as they make the sounds when I press them....I didn't notice if they were registering points.

Where should I look at for the targets issue?

What's crazy is all of this seemed to happen all at once and out of the blue. It has been in the same place in my game room for years now, and only gets played once in a while (no heaven use). It's not like it was getting slammed by an abusive player...or was getting jostled around in a truck for a move.

And I need to say again, thank you everyone for your help....it is all truly appreciated! I don't know where I would be without this community!!!! Well, I do know that if I didn't have this forum as a resource, I would never have had the confidence to have the collection I have...that's for sure!

--ed

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Since I don't have a punch tool (just ordered one for future), I used a mini flat screwdriver, and pressed in the wires on j207 to make sure they were all snug and getting good connections. As I did, I saw a couple move in more, so there were likely a couple of loose connections.

I am happy to report that all of the targets are now working properly.

Small bummer , I now have ONE gi bulb that isn't working. I tried changing the bulb, redoing the wires/solder, and even tried a different socket. There wouldn't be any reason the lamp in the area in pic would be related to anything I messed with...would there?

I'm not going to pull my hair out over the one GI bulb...for now....as it has been a long road to get all the other issues I had going on fixed and ironed out. So it's time to enjoy the pin for a bit (unless that GI bulb is something that will be easy)

Thank you again, everyone, for all of the help, and encouragement throughout the long process for the various issues I needed to address....I learned a lot from all of you!

--Ed

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LOL...yes...In that photo I believe it is...I just grabbed a pic I had from showing the previous issues on here, and I zoomed in, cropped it, and added the markings to show where I was referring to

Cool...thanks...I did try another bulb and even another socket...so I will start the wire following soon....I will update when I find something