Hello all,

This is my first post, thank you all in advance for your help!

I just bought a STTNG (new to me) pinball and it worked at the guys house except for it cut off and rebooted randomly shortly after it was turned on. It did this twice but then played fine for about 10-15 minutes. He said it had never done that before so he thought it was just a fluke as he had just changed the batteries on the board.

Fast forward to I brought the machine home and hooked it up and now it keeps turning off and on withing 2-3 seconds of being on and it never stays on, it just keeps looping turning on, off, on, off, etc. over and over again. It also flashes the message on the dmd "Error 50023 Press Enter for error report" and then it launches the balls around the ramp, makes a loud knocking sound and shuts off then it immediately turns back on and does the same thing again. It continues to do this non stop.

What I have tried so far...

1. I replaced the batteries and checked for corrosion or leakage damage on the board and terminals and there is none.
2. I checked the caps and don't see any bulging.
3. I checked the connectors and ribbon cables to make sure they are all pushed in all the way and did not notice anything loose or out of the ordinary.
4. I made sure that the machine is plugged into its own outlet without any other games on in the room and the electric outlet goes straight to the breaker panel without any other splits or junctions in between.
5. I have 6 other pinball machines and have had them plugged into that same outlet before and have not had any problems like this ever happen before.

Thanks again for your help. You guys are awesome on here and I hope someone can point me in the right direction. I have mostly bought newer pins in the past and don't have a lot of experience working on pins but I am able and willing to learn. I know how to solder and I can use a volt meter ok, I just don't know where to start for troubleshooting as I am a noob.

#STTNG
Star TREK THE NEXT GENERATION PINBALL

Thanks guys and gals

Hello Forceflow,

Thank you so much for the help and the links! I just ordered the board. The game seems to be bare bones original and there are not any mods installed that I can tell. It does not even have any LEDs installed in it. Any idea of where to start testing for the voltage levels? Do I start on the caps or the connectors or on a specific board?

Thank you again for your help

Kind regards.

Hello HurryUpPinball,

Thanks for the reply!

I'm jealous about TZ, that is probably going to be the next pin I buy if I can find a decent one near Atlanta! I love the theme and I love the game! Sorry yours had the issues, I hope mine can be fixed because STTNG has been a dream pinball for me for many years! I am very happy and thankful to finally have it! Did you try the adaptor board that ForceFlow mentioned by chance? Also thanks for the information and the links. I will start checking them out now.

Regards.

Awesome!! Thank you so much for the schematic! This really helps me out!

Kind regards!

Thanks Pinguy! I will certainly check out one of those color DMD displays as soon as I get this beast working!!

Thanks again for the schematics! I will test it tonight and let yall know what I get. I will also take some pics and a video to show yall what is happening.

Regards.

Hello PinGuy,

Thanks again for the schematic and telling me what to check. I Would have been lost without this!

So I checked all of these and the ones that did not look right are the TP5 (below TP7) was 7.5V.

And the TP4 (on the left side of board) was 0.412V.

All of the other TP points where within either right at the range or above the range.

Any idea what this means?

Thanks,
Daniel

Hello Many65,

Thank you very much for the help and the schematic. I checked the lower on TP2 and it is 5.03. Also, I checked the eprom on pin32 and it was 4.97.

Does that mean anything?

Thank you!

Hello PinGuy and thanks again for the help!

So I tested TP5 again and I am getting -10V to -9.6V on TP5. I am placing the red (positive) lead of the tester on TP5 and the black (negative) lead on the metal braded ground wire at the base of the cabinet. I have attached some pics for your reference.

I turned the machine on and the lights on the CPU board blink in the flowing order (using numbers 1, 2, 3 for the lights where 1 is the top, 2 is the middle and 3 is the bottom).

First turn the machine on and audio goes din, ding ding, lights turn on 1 and 3 and then quickly flash to 1 and 2 for a few seconds and stop on 1 and 3 again. I have also attached pics of this for your reference.

Thank you!

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Hi PinGuy,
Thank you for the info. Sorry for the late reply back, I work night and every other weekend and this is the weekend I work so I have not had time to check back in with yall yet. I will pull the board and try what you recomended when I get home in the morning.

Also, I wanted to send you an update on what I did try. On the UD Rom pin on the bottom right that you told me to check, I was reading about 4.7V, could that be an issue?

Second, I turned it on and off and it is acting different then it did originally now. For example, before when I turned it on the machine would try to boot up, shoot the balls around the ramp a couple of times, flash the 50025 press enter for error report message on the DMD and ding, ding a couple of times.

Now when I turn it on the machine makes a knock sound (does not ding, ding) and does not flash anything on the DMD.

The lights on the CPU board do still turn on and off though. They start with lights 1 and 3, switch to lights 2 and three, then switch back to lights 1 and 3 and stay there.

I tried to count the number of blinks on light 2, however it was blinking so fast, I could not count it (is this normal)?

So to capture the blink sequence I thought to use my I phones slow motion camera feature and I was able to count the blinks. Light 2 seems to blink 6 times in rapid secession and then switch to light 1 and 3 staying on. Also, another time light 2 seemed to rapidly blink 10 times (if I counted properly) . These patterns were different then the diagnostics that you posted. So maybe I am looking at it wrong? I tried to upload the video on here foe yall to see, however pinside does not like my video format. I will see if I can send the video to my computer and reformat it for upload purposes.

Also, like I said, I will pull the board and try pushing the chips down on a flat surface to ensure they are seated properly in the morning and let you know what happens.

Kind regards

Hello PinGuy,

Thanks again! I rechecked TP2 amd it was fluctuating between +5.5V and 5.4V. I also checked the Pin on the chip on the CPU board again and it fluctuated between +4.98V and +4.99V. I forgot to I check U10 as I was running late for work and checked it before I left. I also have not pulled the board and pressed down the chips yet. I will do both if these in the morning at around 0700 and let you know what I find.

Regards

Hello PinGuy,

So I pulled the board and pressed down on alm the chips on a hard surface. I also wiggled the AA batteries. I checked the blue cap U10 and its voltage was +4.98V.

After this, I checked the power level on the chip on the CPU board again and it still read +4.97V. While checking this I accidently touched the positive (red) Voltage Meater metal tip on the pin directly to the left of the pin you asked me to check and the machine reset, like the power was turned off and then back on. The only thing different however, was that the DMD lit up and the machine stayed on. It actually stayed on for hours last night. I was excited and thought that it had some how miraculously fixed itself.

I just went into the game room to turn it on again to make sure it was still working, and when I turned it on this morning, it started not working and resetting again. It did this 3 or 4 times and then it started working again...

Any ideas??

Do you think I need to replace the caps, or that I could have a cold Sauder or something?

Thanks again for your help