Star Tech Journal

March 1997
STAR*TECH
PLAYFIELD PROBLEMS WITH WMS STAR TREK:
DEAR STAR TECHJOURNAL:
I am a route operator and have been
for the last fifteen years, usually I have
no problem with troub/,e shooting but ...
I am having numerous probkms with
Star Trek: Next Generation:
1. Start of game, ball gets shot into top
lock at launch probe, ball goes into left
launcher, will move and launch from
trigger, problem after launch is it will
say launch probe a second time and the
trigger will activate the solenoid a sec-
ond time.
2. When in one player or two player
mode, ball goes into the jackpot hole,
problem is ball will not come back into
play, after roughly 15-30 seconds the
player loses their turn and play will
reset to next player. This is intermit-
tent and happens more so when play is
into their second ball play.
3. While testing the game not in play,
I drop a pinball into the left launcher,
launcher will move but will not acti-
vate soknoid automatically, but it will
activate when trigger is engaged .
4. Intermittent problem when starting
game, will not start, says missing
ball.
5. Numerous times I have changed
lights at top of game next to top lock,
and found that one or two lights burned
out after only few days, could it be just
my luck?
I have done the following troubleshoot-
ing to the game: Checked all emitters
and receivers and found all working.
Gone through all self tests and is okay.
Cleaned under playfield with air com-
pressor for dust. All switches working.
EdHum
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Kerry Messana, Games Tech
Waterford, New York
Ed, Your questions in order:
1: The opto in the launcher is not
working 100% of the time. I have
noted this type of problem on a
few different games. What hap-
pens is the wiring coming through
from the bottom of the playfield
gets intermittent due to the twisted
motion of the cannon going back
and forth. To test, grab the wire
from the top and bottom ends and
pull hard enough that it would
stretch or break the insulation but
not too hard as to actually break
the wire should it be good. The
solenoid could also be intermittent
due to the same type of problem.
2: It would be better to know
where the ball is actually winding
up. Is it getting hung up in the
lower ramp assembly or is actually
making it to the correct place? This
calls alot of items into play. ALL
optos attached to the lower ramp
should be checked for cracked sol-
der joints and should be cleaned
with a glass cleaner or a facsimile.
Blowing compressed air doesn't
really clean after awhile when
gunk has started to build up. The
divertors should also be checked
for proper operation within the
lower ramp. I have seen a
misadjusted divertor cause all
kinds of wierd problems with
game play, especially when it is
just barely out of adjustment.
3: I am not sure if that is even an
issue. One thing that is possible is
that the software revision you are
using is different than others that
Journal
NG
you may have and that it is actu-
ally working the way it was in-
tended for that revision. I always
like to keep pins that go through
my shop up to date software-wise,
so they are the latest and greatest
in features and fixes as well as con-
sistent in their behavior.
4: Again, intermittent optos could
do this. They could be anywhere
a ball is allowed to stay in the game
for example under the cannons, in
the trough etc ... Also, a ball not
making it through the lower ramp
(maybe hung up on something lay-
ing in there or a machine out of
spec on pitch and level) could also
make the ball to appear in
oblivion.
5: I would also like to know why
those bulbs pop up there all the
time. The closest GUESS I could
take is just the way all those nice
powerful coils are all around them,
causing some heavy duty vibration
and shock to them ... Anyone have
the answer to that?
A good going over of the lower
ramp assembly, all optics (send
and receive) throughout the ma-
chine, the wires passing through
the playfield beneath the cannons
and a good general going over
should reveal the problem to you.
Sometimes its worth spending 15
or 20 minutes looking over the
obvious and not so obvious things
that may be wrong with the
playfield. I have found some
strange problems just like you
have described by having some
patience and going through with
a fine tooth comb. Good Luck!