I've seen this happen before on my game but it just happened again:

During the middle of a game--on ball 3--when I pressed the right flipper the game ended instantly and went to game-over mode.

Can't recall if the previous instances involved the right flipper or not.

Doesn't happen very often: last occurrence several dozen games ago (at least).

I'll call Chas on Monday, but anyone got any ideas on this one?

TIA.

Sounds good Lloyd, will do.

Many thanks.

Trough optos; ball 3's?

Thanks.

OK, just took a look at the trough and optos and made the following observations:

In the trough assembly, there are two optos and 3 microswitches.

One of the two optos records trough jambs and the other opto records trough position one.

The three microswitches record trough positions 2, 3, and 4.

So when ball three is in play (namely when my premature game-over occurred), there would have been no physical ball present in trough position 4 (while the other trough positions had physical balls closing their respective switches). There are four balls in this game.

Wondering if the above data now points to a false closure of the microswitch controlling trough position 4 (when ball 3 was on the PF)...or do you guys feel my focus should still be on the opto PCBs and their respective IDCs?

(I did observe one IDC was slightly not fully seated--in fact the pic shows how I found it. Got an IDC insertion tool and reseated all 5 wires in the connectors and reseated the connectors to the IDCs.)

Suppose the thing to do now is just play some test games--or does anything else come to mind per the above and attached pic?

Thanks all!

TRON_LE_Trough.jpg

Will do.

Many thanks LTG & to all your helpers!

Thanks for the double-check Jason.

As a fail safe, I also gave the one that's out-of-sight the same treatment when making the initial assessment/repair (IDC insertion tool on the wires/re-inserted the IDC to the PCB).

We'll see if it that does it.

If not, I'll make a note of the recurrence in this thread--and then I'll remove all the solder on the Optos and the IDC pins that attach to both boards.

Thanks again to all.

What it's really all about.

Or should be.

: )