Quoted from CTHOMAS1998:Good Morning PinMonk I tried applying pressure, and had no luck. When machine is on, and all 6 leds are lit, when manually kicking a ball out to the shooter lane, the left led goes out, and when the ball return, it comes back on, as it should. Just doesn't recognize thr balls are in there.
So, it sounds like the trough board itself is registering that the opto is triggering (based on the trough board lights coming on and off correctly), it's just not communicating that to the machine?
At this point I'd swap node 9 and Node 8 boards (change the dip switches on each board to the opposite board's settings so they know their new role) and see if the problem moves to the left ramp sign and the dino, because that's what CN14 operates on Node 9. If your trough resolves, but the problem has moved, then that node board was likely damaged and will need to be repaired.