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Earthshaker! Fault! Help!

O

OohGimmeShelter!

Registered
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
10
Location
Blackpool
Hi Pinball Info.

I joined this site through the recommendation of a friend and pinball machine owner. Hi!

I posted a YouTube video which - I hope - explains my predicament regarding my Earthshaker! game. It displays a curious fault (ha ha!), and no-one has yet been able to solve the issue. Kindly take a look at my video and if you can offer any guidance/solution, I'd be MOST grateful.


Greetings from Sunny Blackpool.

Simon
 
Welcome to the forum :thumbs: What version of the game code are you running.....software bug maybe?
 
ronsplooter said:
Welcome to the forum :thumbs: What version of the game code are you running.....software bug maybe?
Click to expand...

Hi Simon - welcome aboard. ES is a great game, and one I know well from owning.

Chris beat me to it ...what ROMs are fitted ?

This discussion here also mentions some Quick Multiball code issues.
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.pinball/OqHjz51QkXs

and here

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!s...ll/rec.games.pinball/fMNheRfX2mE/Z3lYxd2gn30J

If not that then this sort of issue is almost certainly related to a flaky switch - either in the trough or related to the locking sequence.
 
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I defer to these more knowledgeable folk. But what about cracking line up. Three of the all time greats
 
It runs on LA3. I'm almost certain it's not a software bug as I've changed the ROMs (from LA3, to newly-purchased LA3), and the Earthshaker! I owned in the 1990s ran with LA3 and didn't suffer this bug. All trough switches have been replaced. Pinball Heaven / Phil Palmer kept my game for 3 weeks and confirms that all switches operate as they should - but couldn't fix it.

I am at my wits' end! I'm thinking there's a mis-wiring / wire missing somewhere(?)

Simon
 
As i said before, change the settings to immediately kick out the ball from the subway. ES locks 2 balls but only has 1 switch. Change the settings and report back.
 
Thank you.

If one ball is already locked (at the lower ball-popper) and then MATCH UP is collected from the Shelter, the lower ball-popper ball immediately kicks out (fast Match-Up). The game is on this setting already.

Thank you again

Simon
 
Thank you for replying.

I apologise for the unclear nature of my video, but there is never more than ONE ball at the lower ball-popper.
 
Do you think that maybe the backbox interconnect board may be faulty? I have already tried a replacement ROM/Main Board and the problem still exists. Maybe a NEW backbox interconnect board might solve this issue?

Thank you for your continued support. I am willing to offer CA$H to anyone who can visit Blackpool and fix this for me (its beyond frustrating)

Simon
 
My Earthshaker! still is not fixed. If anyone is able to visit my home in Blackpool (UK) and fix this issue, I will pay for your services AND donate £250 to Pinball Info. I would be most grateful. Once this issue is fixed, then I can go about applying my cabinet decals and purchasing a new playfield, plastics, etc. (there's little point continuing this process with this ongoing fault!)

THANK YOU so much.

Simon
 
Crikey!! Very generous! I'm sure between us we can get you up and running. You're in a convenient part of the country for assistance. Naturally I refer to the Royal we! I'm useless
 
@chris b managed to sort out a multiball/ lock problem on a whirlwind (very similar game to ES) that had defied a number of knowledgeable amateur and professional folk on the scene

Maybe take it to him if he has capacity at the moment ?

Or could you take it to nlp? See if folk might take a look ? You will have the best brains in the uk pinball scene in one płace ?

It can take "game conditions" to yield a problem. Playing with switches individually in test might not do it, as it is only their interaction that prompts the symptoms. - the "squares" on the switch matrix like @ronsplooter had with his space station shop log

My whirly was spitting two balls into the shooter lane, but only when the first ball was locked. And only periodically. The ball trough switch for the second ball was sometimes sticking. Might you have a sticking microswitch, one that takes a second to reset, as I did ?

Do a rigorous switch test where you activate multiple switches simultaneously to see whether you can find a phantom. One iffy diode/ wrongly wired switch combined with another switch being closed (ie ball lock) and a third switch being operated can cause all manner of chaos. Obviously focus on those that are relevant to the problem you are having

Is the shaker triggering a particular "hair trigger" switch or opto ? Put it in switch test with balls in relevant pisitions and shake the crap out of the game to see if one triggers

Next test for me would be to swap boards for known working ones - get an interconnect from somewhere, or get your game alongside a working system 11 and beg the owner to let you swap boards over. I diagnosed sound problems on my banzai run by taking the board from my old bk2k.

I can only then suggest things like ...... power supply, are you getting ac ripple on the 5v ? Cleaning connectors? Reflowing the pins.
 
DRD said:
@chris b managed to sort out a multiball/ lock problem on a whirlwind (very similar game to ES) that had defied a number of knowledgeable amateur and professional folk on the scene

Maybe take it to him if he has capacity at the moment ?

Or could you take it to nlp? See if folk might take a look ? You will have the best brains in the uk pinball scene in one płace ?

It can take "game conditions" to yield a problem. Playing with switches individually in test might not do it, as it is only their interaction that prompts the symptoms. - the "squares" on the switch matrix like @ronsplooter had with his space station shop log

My whirly was spitting two balls into the shooter lane, but only when the first ball was locked. And only periodically. The ball trough switch for the second ball was sometimes sticking. Might you have a sticking microswitch, one that takes a second to reset, as I did ?

Do a rigorous switch test where you activate multiple switches simultaneously to see whether you can find a phantom. One iffy diode/ wrongly wired switch combined with another switch being closed (ie ball lock) and a third switch being operated can cause all manner of chaos. Obviously focus on those that are relevant to the problem you are having

Is the shaker triggering a particular "hair trigger" switch or opto ? Put it in switch test with balls in relevant pisitions and shake the crap out of the game to see if one triggers

Next test for me would be to swap boards for known working ones - get an interconnect from somewhere, or get your game alongside a working system 11 and beg the owner to let you swap boards over. I diagnosed sound problems on my banzai run by taking the board from my old bk2k.

I can only then suggest things like ...... power supply, are you getting ac ripple on the 5v ? Cleaning connectors? Reflowing the pins.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Unfortunately, I have zero electronics expertise and I am really going to have to rely on more technically-minded PinInfo members to VISIT my home and investigate what is wrong (and hopefully put it right).

Thank you again.

Simon
 
I love Earthshaker and I am delighted that you wish to expend money preserving one.

Who is going to do your playfield swap ? Why not ask them to sort out your current problem ?

I really do not wish to sound harsh, but if they cannot sort this, do you really trust them to do a playfield swap ?

The underside of an Earthshaker is a complex organism. Fixing your current issue is almost certainly profoundly simpler than the task of putting a new playfield in.
 
DRD said:
I love Earthshaker and I am delighted that you wish to expend money preserving one.

Who is going to do your playfield swap ? Why not ask them to sort out your current problem ?

I really do not wish to sound harsh, but if they cannot sort this, do you really trust them to do a playfield swap ?

The underside of an Earthshaker is a complex organism. Fixing your current issue is almost certainly profoundly simpler than the task of putting a new playfield in.
Click to expand...

I was hoping for Pinball Heaven to do my playfield swap. Pinball Heaven already took my Earthshaker! away for a couple of weeks but failed to identify/fix the issue for me. (this is the only time I have been left disappointed with their otherwise exemplary service).

[EDIT]
I must add that Pinball Heaven didn't follow my written instructions and online video, and thus couldn't make the fault happen at their workroom. However, when the delivery guy returned my Earthshaker! after some three weeks, I made the fault happen 5 times out of 5 trying for the guy to see. Unfortunately, I couldn't demonstrate this BEFORE Pinball Heaven picked up the machine since they insisted on it being disassembled prior to pickup.

Fixing this issue should not be an impossible task. In fairness, I guess Pinball Heaven were just too busy to investigate my Earthshaker! woes thoroughly.

"BONESHAKE-EER!"

Simon
 
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