Transformers (LE)
Stern, 2011My Stern Transformers LE is displaying this error code. It's done it a few times in the past but it would normally clear with a reboot or two. I contacted stern and was told to reseat the ribbon cable between the CPU board and the power board. Did that, and again in the past it worked, but not this time, it's being stubborn. I understand that it's a security thing and it has to do with sensing the power being supplied to the machine. Anyone know a fix?
Quoted from Phantom1911:My Stern Transformers LE is displaying this error code. It's done it a few times in the past but it would normally clear with a reboot or two. I contacted stern and was told to reseat the ribbon cable between the CPU board and the power board. Did that, and again in the past it worked, but not this time, it's being stubborn. I understand that it's a security thing and it has to do with sensing the power being supplied to the machine. Anyone know a fix?
did Stern mention anything about voltage selection on the power box inside the cabinet?
Quoted from Cycloneman:did Stern mention anything about voltage selection on the power box inside the cabinet?
They did not say anything about that. It's set to 115v and I've metered the output of the transformer. It checks out fine.
Quoted from Puffdanny:Is leaving Canada an option?
If you're paying. 
Quoted from Phantom1911:They did not say anything about that. It's set to 115v and I've metered the output of the transformer. It checks out fine.
hmmm,honestly this is the first time i have ever heard of this problem.did you buy the game new from Stern?
I actually had this happen to my Met pro. Did a ton of digging and talking to a tech and can be 3 things. Battery on mpu is dying or dead. Capacitors have drained down really low,if you let the machine sit on with that message showing for about 10 mins and then shut down,count to 10 and turn on it should then be ok or last scenario and worse is your house took a hit and you didn't even know it. Look at the metal box in cab that has power wires in it and smell. Anything smell weird...I had a blown varistor and black soot everywhere underneath. Cleaned and fixed. I now have all machine on multiple apc units in game room.
Quoted from Grizlyrig:I had a blown varistor
Ah,now its starting to shed more light on the problem.'the varistor' i havent heard that word in years.thanks for the info Mike..
Quoted from Grizlyrig:I actually had this happen to my Met pro. Did a ton of digging and talking to a tech and can be 3 things. Battery on mpu is dying or dead. Capacitors have drained down really low,if you let the machine sit on with that message showing for about 10 mins and then shut down,count to 10 and turn on it should then be ok or last scenario and worse is your house took a hit and you didn't even know it. Look at the metal box in cab that has power wires in it and smell. Anything smell weird...I had a blown varistor and black soot everywhere underneath. Cleaned and fixed. I now have all machine on multiple apc units in game room.
Thanks for the suggestions. I checked the battery on the MPU and it's good. I doubt it was a power surge, everything else in the house is fine as are my other machines, plus all the machines are on APC power conditioners, but just in case I had a look at the varistor and it looks ok, no smell, swelling or charring. I left the machine on for about 15 minutes and power cycled it, still no luck. So I'm thinking either the caps are done and just won't charge or it's something else.
I just remembered that the last time this happened the machine turned on fine, I power cycled it a few hours later because my kid pressed the start button multiple times and started a 4 player game. After the power cycle the error came up so I shut it down for a few hours and then it restarted fine.
I had this happen to my NIB Metallica Premium
I bought it and kept it safely in storage for 12 months
When I finally opened it and turned it on, I got this same message
I turned it off and then on again, the message disappeared, but the audio was cracking
I repeated on/off and the lights were failing
With that, I contacted my distributor and they organised a pinball tech to come over
We tried reseating the ribbon cable and anything else that may have been loose
Also did a code reinstall
Finally as it turns out, the CPU was the culprit, the distributor ordered me a new one, I installed it and the game has been working perfectly ever since
Quoted from Coyote:Honestly, the problem sounds related to this (see attached PDF).
Maybe your zero-cross circuit is starting to fail?
That definitely fits! Are you able to point me to the components that could be failing?
Quoted from Phantom1911:That definitely fits! Are you able to point me to the components that could be failing?
Unfortunately, I don't know Stern's system well enough to help there - I just remembered seeing that message in one of the bulletins. Hopefully, someone else here knows what to look at.
I *would* first try it OFF of the APC power conditioner - it's possible it's outputting a non-true AC waveform that's causing the issue..
Hey,
So what happened here. My tf LE is having this error almost all the time (90%, sometimes it will play after a hard/soft reboot). I'd hate to buy a new cpu board on a whim. I tried changing country settings on the dim switches. I tried different outlets. I measured volts at the wall (120v ac) but I don't have a fluke or something cool to check frequency. No signs of damage in power supply or on the cpu board.
Thanks all!
Quoted from Schmak:So what happened here. My tf LE is having this error almost all the time (90%, sometimes it will play after a hard/soft reboot). I'd hate to buy a new cpu board on a whim. I tried changing country settings on the dim switches. I tried different outlets. I measured volts at the wall (120v ac) but I don't have a fluke or something cool to check frequency. No signs of damage in power supply or on the cpu board.
Have you contacted Stern about it ?
LTG : )
Hey LTG, thanks for reaching out.
Yea, they suggest reseating the ribbon cable between the i/o board and the cpu board. I've tried a few times, and it's not working for me yet. The pins look good, hard to tell inside the connector though. Waiting to hear back. Hopefully we get there sooner or later. It was playing today, after a handful of soft resets in order to get one not to hang up.
Thanks all.
It checked out at 3v. It's old, maybe time to replace just for good measure.
Stern tech got back to me and said it was probably the i/o board if reseating the cable didn't help. Anyone good at diagnosing those boards? I'm not totally out to lunch with a solder iron or multi meter. Mine is pretty basic, but not above buying new tools. Just not sure where to start. Would need the specs for every component on there. Not sure if that doc exists. I'll research that one.
Thanks again.
Unfortunately Stern was absolutely no help at all. The response I got was basically that if reseating the ribbon cables didn’t work you’ll have to send the board in for repair. When I asked what components might need replacing I got a “we don’t know.” Which didn’t exactly instil me with a whole lot of confidence.
According to them there’s a circuit in there somewhere that monitors the line voltage frequency. North America is 60hz while the EU is 50hz. If it malfunctions it will think that your North American game is in the EU and that message will pop up. My sense is that they are unwilling to divulge any information on it to someone outside of their official service structure.
My machine is temperamental. If I leave it turned off for an extended period it behaves on startup. If it’s been on a while and I power cycle it the issue comes back. That suggests to me it’s heat related, and that something is getting unstable when warmed up, but no idea where.
Frankly I gave up on Stern.
If you’re into guessing and think it’s warm temperature related, take a can of keyboard cleaner, turn the van upside down, and start spraying individual components to cool it off and see if the problem disappears. The last component sprayed is likely the culprit.
Stern replied to me with a little more info than you got. Maybe after a couple years they've figured a few things out.
"Take a look above F5 thru F8. You should have some surface mount diodes that we have seen get cold solder and you will need to reflow the solder."
That's cut out of the email.
I plan on checking it. Not sure how much I can see, but give it a shot before I send the boards off.
Woah you're fast on the pix 
I tried reflowing those 3 diodes (funny how yours looks exactly like mine). It worked the first boot out the gate and I got very excited. It failed the next several boots (soft boot from cpu board reset button). So it looks like I gotta send it out. I cannot vouch for my solder work. Maybe I just did a bad job with that. Who knows.
Anyone know a good repair place in Michigan area?
Thanks all
A little bit of a laundry list of things to try:
Have you measured the power supply voltages? Only do this if you are comfortable. If so, check them when it's been off (and works), then let it heat up/act up, then recheck the same supplies for a change in voltage. What do you have for meter?
If it heat's related, get a can of freeze spray. The upside down aerosol can trick mentioned above works to an extent. Freeze spray will definitely take it well below sub zero. Hit or miss since you are sort of guessing when the problem area is at.
I don't think you replaced the battery? I don't know if that's an issue or not, but it's so simple I'd do it anyway.
Got the new battery and checked volts on the i/o board at the service points.
All seem fine except the 50v circle is reading about 76v. Sound ok? Was further away from spec than I thought would be normal. The others were within 10%.
Didn't try freeze anything, wouldn't know which parts to start freezing for that one.
Thanks all.
Quoted from Schmak:All seem fine except the 50v circle is reading about 76v. Sound ok?
Yes. Not under load 50V will be higher.
LTG : )
Just updating this.
On a flyer, I bought a new ribbon cable between the two sam boards and it's working better. Aaaahhhhh!!!!!
https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=rc-02-20-0450-00
I'm not fully sold on it yet. I have seen the error since the new cable, but it's better.
I'll update if anything changes.
Quoted from Grizlyrig:I now have all machine on multiple apc units in game room.
Just tossing this out to the group, APC units have the same/similar MOVs as the ones in your power box for lightning protection, nothing more.
In case someone looks at this post later, my issue was also the ribbon cable between the two main boards in the back box.
Mine had just loosed and came unplugged after moving the machine.
Quoted from northvibe:My Venom pro keeps doing this on route, seems to happen every boot up.. any spike 2 fixes for this?
Did you ever get a fix for this? My Mando on location just started this as well.
Quoted from madamyates:Did you ever get a fix for this? My Mando on location just started this as well.
Yup, had to get warranty replaced cpu. Verified by swapping a different spike 2 board in, and both sd cards over
Quoted from Phantom1911:My Stern Transformers LE is displaying this error code. It's done it a few times in the past but it would normally clear with a reboot or two. I contacted stern and was told to reseat the ribbon cable between the CPU board and the power board. Did that, and again in the past it worked, but not this time, it's being stubborn. I understand that it's a security thing and it has to do with sensing the power being supplied to the machine. Anyone know a fix?
Run a long cable to Buffalo, NY
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Pickering, ON
Detroit, MI