Hey guys, looking for some help on my STTNG. It has a few problems that all showed up within a day. I'm not a newbie to collecting, but am when it comes to doing my own repairs...willing to learn though. I just had knee surgery so standing for periods of time could be difficult. If I don't respond right away, it's probably because I'm on painkillers and couldnt get around to working in the machine that day. I'll do my best and I appreciate all your help.

-flashers do not work in backbox
-some lights are out on right side of pf and Borg ship
-missing 20V to the driver board. Checked the test points, nothing. Checked all fuses and are OK.
-CPU board LED not lighting up properly
-LED bulbs that are out in backbox, not on PCBs, come back on when I simply touch them with my finger. Is this normal?

I looked this up/talked with a few STTNG owners and it could be several things from bad bridge rectifiers to bad or missing capacitors, to reseating the chips, etc.

In addition to these known problems the game plays different minigames at the same time.  When you pick the probe minigame it sometimes just skips over it and continues to play the star trek theme music, not giving me the chance to shoot the cannon because it doesn't load it.  It doesnt allow you to cancel Data's suggestion for 10,000 points with the flippers either.  Other times you will be in the middle of a mission and it will unexpectedly end the mission much shorter that it should.  It allows you to play two minigames at once.  For example, Q talks to you and the inserts are lit even when it says that Q's Challenge is over and you're shooting around the pf.  Two different music clips play along with the associated sound clips from whatever minigames are going on.  Separately, Borg multiball started without me even hitting a target associated with it. Sometimes the initial launch of the ball from the plunger changes your rank (eg: ensign to lieutenant).  Balls are getting stuck all over the pf so gameplay stops and it activates all the upkicks, etc to find the missing ball(s).  So there are all sorts of weird things happening with the game...I am unsure what could be causing all of this.

Looking forward to fixing this...thanks!

Just had the machine delivered to my house from a fellow pinsider. He says everything was working the day before. We fired up the game and all of these problems were present. We checked all connectors to make sure they were in and in the right spots.

From my memory, the top LED on the board isn't lit at all, the second is flashing, and the third is on all the time.

I defaulted all the factory settings.

No error messages come up on the DMD.

yeah, as far as I know none of the ribbon cables have ever been replaced.

batteries are on, no corrosion.

haven't looked for burnt coils in the subway.

no burnt connectors in the backbox.

Bump for help pulling the Picard maneuver sometime soon

I was able to stand today so my buddy came over to help me diagnose the STTNG. We started off and played a few full games. Took our time, played some long games, tested all switches, cannons, etc and got through the Final Frontier. The game was playing great, but a few minor software glitches still came up that I had mentioned above. So the game miraculously hadn't fixed itself in a week from being off.

Did not replace the ribbon cables but had a look at them. There weren't any breaks or anything like that but the cables do hang pretty free in the backbox. Sometimes they're a little twisted around but not tightly enough to worry about anything by far. I always wonder about what resistance the cables have when they're not totally straight (or if it matters).

Looked at the flashers between the backbox and the playfied...none of them worked at all. Checked connectors; everything looked fine. Coin door was closed or I held the push buttons down with my hand if it was open. The coin door was notorious for opening during a game...I wonder if that messed around with anything that could cause a problem?

Took all the fuses out on the power pcb and tested them; they're all good. No burnt connectors.

Took off every connector on the power pcb and sprayed with compressed air. Then hooked them back up.

Watched a Pinball Ninja Youtube video about the same 20V problem with the flashers. It was a bridge rectifier. As soon as he replaced it the flashers all worked. So I feel like it's either BR3 or BR4. I didn't take off the board and test the bridge rectifier yet though.

Hooked everything back up and all of a sudden the game wouldn't play. Game booted up, lights were on (minus the flashers), DMD displayed properly, etc. But, the start button wouldn't work and I couldn't play a game. I took a ball and tried to play it on the playfield but the game didn't want to play and it ended up looking for balls (as stated on the DMD). Looked in the backbox to make sure all the connectors were hooked up properly and it all looked fine. Even went through the schematics to make sure the correct sequence of wires was happening for all power pcb connectors. Did a switch test and every switch worked in the test mode, even the start button. That's where we stopped since we had been at it for awhile and then all of a sudden the game stopped working.

I attached some pics of inside the backbox for your viewing pleasure. Thanks!

photo_1.JPG photo_2.JPG photo_3.JPG photo_4.JPG photo_5.JPG

Weekend bump.

I did everything from above and posted my findings. No luck...it's actually gotten worse and all I physically did was check fuses for connectivity (good) and blow compressed air in the connectors.

-Game cannot locate balls and seems to freeze when trying.
-Start button does work in test but not outside test mode
-made sure game has credits, start button still no response.

In test mode I can't even clear the balls. About to call in a repairman if we can't figure it out.