I would look it over and see if the harness is stretching at some point and causing the thing to fire on it's own.

LTG : )™

This happened on my acdc once. One of the optos that detects its position was not working so it would autofire for safety. stern sent me a replacement opto and that solved the problem.

I think your ok here. Mine does that every now and then during game play and places a perfect shot up the left barn ramp and around on its own. I posted on it but no one had an answer. I long ago decided it must get triggered and have something to do with what happens during play and the rules that we don't yet understand. Think about it - if it does that and the music doesn't change to the slow crossbow music then it's not giving you control of the crossbow so hitting the fire button isn't going to do anything here.

Interestingly, this happened to me once where it loaded the crossbow on its own, music didn't change to the slow crossbow music so I wasn't in control, and it fired a perfect shot right up the bicycle girl ramp. I freaked out. It was the first time a bicycle girl ramp shot was achieved on my machine via the crossbow.
(Since then that's the only shot I like taking when I'm given control in the crossbow mode because it is so satisfying to make)

Since it is not going into ball search mode and it is hitting targets perfectly and not actually going into crossbow mode where it gives you the control, I still say it is something in the code we haven't figured out yet.

When it happens to me there is just too much going on so I have never been able to figure out what occurred during play to trigger this. But I like it. Shows you how deep our Rules are really going to be when the code is finished someday.

Also I will say this if it helps people. I changed my outlane posts and moved them down a notch awhile back (because I'm new and I suck). I unscrewed the ball return troughs on both sides to get to the posts. After I put it all back together I kept getting the ball returned on the left trough going to the crossbow but the game did not recognize this and was causing it to go into ball search mode (where the crossbow activates and shoots).

It was an easy fix. Loosen the screws that hold the left ball return trough. There are 4 of them to the lower part of this trough that I had to deal with. Pull the return trough all the way to the closest side (so standing in the players position - to the left) and then tighten the top 2 screws while your holding it this way. It took some trial and error for me to dial it in as I was figuring this out on my own, I have no prior pinball experience. Now move the ramp slightly to the right at the bottom and tighten your bottom 2 screws.

Problem solved... for me anyway. Remember, all that trough adjusting is for when the game isn't directing the ball to the crossbow intentionally which causes it to go into ball search mode to find the ball when it ends up at the crossbow.

Otherwise when the ball goes to the crossbow and shoots itself without giving you control (and ball search mode isn't being activated)... I suspect it's some sophistication in the rule set that we are not privy to yet.

I had a similar problem which was mainly solved by pulling the lock bar and separating the "leaf springs" that get compressed when you push the fire button. Mine were all kind of pressed together with no separation. I bent them so they were just slightly apart when the button wasn't pressed, but would touch when it was.
Solved the issue almost completely. I say almost because randomly I had the issue reoccur twice, once as a result of not having the lockbar back on while the glass was off and play testing the Bicycle Girl ramp I just reinstalled and once randomly another time and in that case I think as Yipykya mentioned I don't know if I remember the music changing for Crossbow.

And one more thing Ed... If you do call Stern and explain what your perceiving as an issue to Chas he WILL offer to go have a conversation with Borg and find out if this is an anomaly or if there is some conceptualization behind it.

PLEASE post back here and let me/us know what the verdict is. I'm on pins and needles.

There are a few shotgunned suggestions here. You should take a systematic approach. Get into the switch test and verify that the lockdown bar button works and isn't shorted together. If it doesn't work and shows always registered then follow n0s4tu's instructions.

Otherwise, verify that the crossbow is actually suppose to be loaded. Is the yellow light lit on the sign on the right ramp? If the crossbow mode isn't actually running and the ball enters the crossbow then it will do exactly what you describe. There is advice above on how to investigate some of those issues.

Finally, if the crossbow is actually suppose to be enabled and the button on the lockdown works properly, then you should investigate the crossbow home and away position switches doing a crossbow and switch test.

I do recall a third LE owner bring up this very question awhile back in passing but there was no discussion on it like I'm attempting to get started here. I can't find where it was mentioned, it's buried in an obscure thread somewhere. Since it was an early question I share and am privy to I've paid it attention during my meanderings at pinside and thus would take notice of. So I've recognized at least 3 LE owners were vocal on this very subject so far.

Since it doesn't harm gameplay in any respect that I recognize it has not been a detractor in my enjoyment of the game. Still, I am interested to bring it into the public discussion and get an official response from stern tech. You go Ed, I hope you continue your valiant quest for a proper answer!

I don't know how unlikely the coincidence if it isn't normal for at least 3 LE owners to have the same exact part "failure" (if that's what we should be calling this) to cause the crossbow to activate on it's own and perfectly nail targets. That's why I am tentatively confident it has something to do with the sophistication in the coding that I hope will be fleshed out in the future for our understanding. If that is to be the case we will need other LE owners to join the discussion here. Does Lyman have a pinside account?

Just wanted to bump this thread -- having the exact same problem as the OP but the crossbow goes about 1/2 of the way out before auto firing. It came this way out of the box and the v1.19 update didn't change anything. I've tried the above ideas -- button is working, switches are working, crossbow moves fine in crossbow test. Nothing yet.

Has anyone heard back or fixed the issue?

I'm consulting Stern and will report back if I hear anything on that side.

Thanks!

Does it also seem to stick sometimes and not go out at all and autolaunch almost from it's starting position?

I fixed one problem and developed an intermittent problem of it either not going anywhere or going out partially and then being pulled back in, which is caused by the switch that brings it back somehow getting tripped when the ball actually loads into the crossbow.

Whatever is your issue Danger, I hope you'll post up what fixes it or how Stern handles it.

Oh man. Why is this bow so cross? I'll definitely report back my findings. The only other problem I've had is the "Check Switch 60" error v 1.19 was supposed to fix. Funny story: Switch 60 doesn't exist.

Had this happen on our LE more than a few times.

Yellow Crossbow Light lit, make shot, Crossbow music starts, Crossbow swings out and can't shoot the Ball using lockdown bar button, Crossbow fires on its own (sadly making no CB shots ;-{(.
Also had this happen, CB lit, make shot, CB music starts, hitting LDB Button Ball won't shoot on swing out to right but can be fired hitting LDB Button while swinging back to the left ??

Lockdown bar Button tests fine, Crossbow tests fine.

Running 1.19

Also have had the Ball occasionally divert (?) down the CB Ramp, no CB music & ball kicks out midway across, figured it was a Code fluke - Game is set @ 7 degrees, with a very slight lean to the right to help with SDTM releases from Prison or Well Walker.

Have yet to discuss it with Chas, waiting on new Hex posts for the Bicycle Girl rear Ramp, back Ramp is too high or warped.

I believe I've repaired the crossbow! (Stern still hasn't gotten back to me). The crossbow switch #52 which tells the game the ball is loaded in the crossbow was the problem after all. The switch actuator was physically hitching up and not letting the ball activate the microswitch properly, thus not activating. That meant when I depressed the switch with anything but the ball it worked (like in the switch test, or during a game, with my finger).

It also meant that the ball search was actually what was causing the crossbow to swing out and fire.

It was a silly oversight. But it did take some serious switch actuator adjustment to get it to work just right.

And just in time for the lone opto board to give up the ghost. Argh! It' getting a TON of plays in the office so let the stress testing continue.

How do you adjust the switch actuator?