My statements...
Quoted from ChrisHibler:Why on earth would you suggest to a newb, that he either do board work, or spend a bunch of money on shipping and board work, when it's quite possible that the power/driver board has nothing at all to do with the problem?
Clearly, simply reseating J101 helped some.
Big70...the sequence of my statements implied something other than my intent.
The first paragraph was aimed at these statements, which jump to a conclusion, without first examining easier (for a newb) and cheaper solutions.
Quoted from Big70:Personally, from your description of how it started and has progressed to every time you hit both flippers, I'm pretty confident it's a bad BR2 bridge rectifier and it's associated capacitor C5 on the driver board.
Quoted from Big70:a huge majority of the time, you problem is going to be a bad bridge rectifier BR2 and it's associated capacitor C5 on the driver board.
Quoted from Big70:Again, based on the description you gave, I'd start by replacing these and be extremely confident that'll fix the issue.
Quoted from Big70:There are other less likely things on the driver board that can cause the reset issue, but I'd suggest dropping $8 - $10 in parts with shipping for the bridge and cap and spending 15 - 20 minutes replacing the parts and reinstalling the board if you're experienced. If you're not experienced at soldering, probably best to send it off or get with a local person that can repair it. It's an extremely common problem and shouldn't be a hard or expensive fix.
Quoted from dbeeson:I would try to reseat connectors, usually in my experience this is the case, or the bridge rectifier/power capacitor combo could be due for replacement.
Quoted from DK:I think you should get a Rottendog MPU board... It should help I think
The order of the Wiki steps doesn't imply "greatest probability of failure" first. As it states, the order is a based on a combination of "easy to test" and "greatest probability of failure". And, it's ordered to help beginners be successful.
For this fellows problem, IMHO, the greatest probability issues are connectors at J101, J114, and J210 (fractured joints or tarnished male/female connections) or the thermistor in the power box. Reaching vacation planner when this all started is probably nothing more than a coincidence. But, I'd still suggest to him to work through the Wiki step-by-step. It doesn't cost anything but his time, and he'll learn something along the way.
I apologize if I underestimated your repair experience. It didn't come through in your initial posts.
BTW...welcome to PinSide. Always good to have experienced techs on board!
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Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The Place to go for Pinball Repair Info