Hello,
Ok, I think I’m feeling more ready to start looking at my beautiful Sega Star Wars Trilogy pinball machine which is infused with the dark side and is being very rebellious.
Disclaimer: I really am a newbie. I’m a network engineer by trade and own a few arcade cabs and have done some /very/ /simple repairs and resto work. I also own a Bally Knockout and managed to solve one problem on it, but that was bloomin hard work, and it’s developed another problem since then and that depressed me so much I’ve left that alone now too. I am not a butcher or bodger, preferring instead to back away when I’m out of my depth, to do reading or ask questions, or simple multi meter reading to try to figure out what the smeg is going on. I’ve bought the manual for this machine and have been reading it but boy it is pretty hardcore. I think I understand 1% of it so far! I will get there, I’m just a bit slow and sometimes just need a gentle nudge in the right direction.
Apology 1: I talk a lot and regularly muddle my words so much that I convey the opposite thing to what I mean. Being misunderstood scares me to death, so please be patient with me and I’ll do my best.
NB: Pictures are at the bottom of this thread.
Problem 1
On the very first night of getting this game (ironically this was within a day of getting my Bally Knockout), during the first or second play on it, the display brought up an error saying x-wing cannon malfunction or similar, so I turned the machine off and ran away. This pinball is like having a real Ferrari to me, in that it’s so special to me, I don’t want to hurt it and do want to treat it with respect, only investigating and fixing things with great care. Hence turning it off and leaving it until I knew more.
NB: At this point I focused my attention on my Knockout table, as I wanted to learn more fixing skills on not-my-ferrari. If you can’t sleep, the thread about the Knockout is here http://www.pinballinfo.com/communit...azy-when-turned-on-doesnt-move-the-ball.7691/
Since then I’ve tried to read up about x-wing cannon problems but have not found much, except a single forum thread elsewhere out on the net saying that sometimes it just needs adjusting so that the microswitches are pressed in correctly. From my limited understanding they were saying the x-wing is on a post, with screws holding it in place. They seemed to be saying this could slip and cause it to rotate slightly, therefore not making contact with the micro switches properly when it rotates back to normal/home position.
This kinda makes sense as it was delivered vertical on a pallet from a lorry so I’m speculating it’s slipped a bit in transit possibly.
In the tech messages, section of the bios I can see it complaining about this unit
By gently touching the x-wing, pushing it back 2mm so it’s straight, facing the back head unit box thing, I can hear a microswitch under the play field ‘click’, which kinda suggests this has slip has happened - but I’m not sure. I forgot to video that tonight but will do so in the morning and post it up.
I can also see that underneath the x-wing there is what looks to be a twisted up paperclip holding a plastic bar in place. That can’t be right, surely.
I also noticed that the plastic bar is flimsy and wobbles up down and bends when very gently touched with my little finger. I’m wondering if this is the/an issue.
Problem 2
One of the next times when I turned it on briefly to go through the bios to try the diagnostic features to see if I could get any clues or more verbosity about the x-wing cannon problem, I found that the game would no longer coin up with coins. The game would start if I used the service credit button inside the coin door, but it would no longer fire a ball from the trough to the plunger lane to actually being play - i couldn’t hear it trying to either.
Possible Problem 3
Following the kind encouraging words received on this forum, tonight I was taking photos and examining the machine with the play field up and trying to see if I could find anything obvious. I found that a coil had a connector block (lego looking thing) screwed to it. I’m no expert, but that looks wrong.
Problem 4
While taking photos of the head top unit insides I saw a fuse which had a black burn/smear mark inside it, so gently took it out and put my multi meter on it in continuity mode, which it fails. I think this is dead. It’s from F21, which the manual says is:
“3A 250V S.B 50V DC coils”
The fuse I took out says “3A 250v 312” on it and it’s made in Mexico.
Johnny Pictures go here:
Questions
Ok, so dumb-ass questions coming up:
1) Has anyone else here had an x-wing malfunction?
2) I’m wondering if the blown fuse is why a ball isn’t being kicked out. Sound sensible?
3) I guess the fuse blew for a reason and that I should not turn the machine on any more until I’ve found the cause of the problem, fixed it, and replaced the blown fuse with a new one. Is that the correct approach to take?
4a) S.B - does this mean slow-blow?
4b) Can I go to a shop, Maplins say and ask for a 3amp 250V s.b fuse and it be the one I want? (I will buy more than one as spares are a good thing to have)
4c) Since the description says 50V DC Coils, Can I assume that some coil has/is poorly causing the fuse to blow up?
I will go and test all coils with my multimeter tomorrow morning and report back the meter reading for each coil if I don’t find any that are obviously dead straight away. I’ve tested a couple of coils in my knockout before with my meter, but forgotten how to do it, but will read up before i do so.
5. Am I correct in thinking that coil I found at the back of the pinball table should not have a connector block screwed to it?
6. One of the pictures shows my hand holding some wiring which has a light and a circle thing (capacitor?). This looks out of place. Is it normal? or has it fallen off something? or has someone done it as a bodge?
Thanks for reading my first post in this thread. I promise to update it as and when I make progress. Please note: My life is chaos and I get barely any time in the week to do anything so most work will be at the weekends.
Cheers,
Johnny
p.s sorry my pictures posted twice, I'm unsure how that happened and am far too tired now to rewrite the thread, it's taken me ages to get this uploaded, so please forgive me.
Ok, I think I’m feeling more ready to start looking at my beautiful Sega Star Wars Trilogy pinball machine which is infused with the dark side and is being very rebellious.
Disclaimer: I really am a newbie. I’m a network engineer by trade and own a few arcade cabs and have done some /very/ /simple repairs and resto work. I also own a Bally Knockout and managed to solve one problem on it, but that was bloomin hard work, and it’s developed another problem since then and that depressed me so much I’ve left that alone now too. I am not a butcher or bodger, preferring instead to back away when I’m out of my depth, to do reading or ask questions, or simple multi meter reading to try to figure out what the smeg is going on. I’ve bought the manual for this machine and have been reading it but boy it is pretty hardcore. I think I understand 1% of it so far! I will get there, I’m just a bit slow and sometimes just need a gentle nudge in the right direction.
Apology 1: I talk a lot and regularly muddle my words so much that I convey the opposite thing to what I mean. Being misunderstood scares me to death, so please be patient with me and I’ll do my best.
NB: Pictures are at the bottom of this thread.
Problem 1
On the very first night of getting this game (ironically this was within a day of getting my Bally Knockout), during the first or second play on it, the display brought up an error saying x-wing cannon malfunction or similar, so I turned the machine off and ran away. This pinball is like having a real Ferrari to me, in that it’s so special to me, I don’t want to hurt it and do want to treat it with respect, only investigating and fixing things with great care. Hence turning it off and leaving it until I knew more.
NB: At this point I focused my attention on my Knockout table, as I wanted to learn more fixing skills on not-my-ferrari. If you can’t sleep, the thread about the Knockout is here http://www.pinballinfo.com/communit...azy-when-turned-on-doesnt-move-the-ball.7691/
Since then I’ve tried to read up about x-wing cannon problems but have not found much, except a single forum thread elsewhere out on the net saying that sometimes it just needs adjusting so that the microswitches are pressed in correctly. From my limited understanding they were saying the x-wing is on a post, with screws holding it in place. They seemed to be saying this could slip and cause it to rotate slightly, therefore not making contact with the micro switches properly when it rotates back to normal/home position.
This kinda makes sense as it was delivered vertical on a pallet from a lorry so I’m speculating it’s slipped a bit in transit possibly.
In the tech messages, section of the bios I can see it complaining about this unit
By gently touching the x-wing, pushing it back 2mm so it’s straight, facing the back head unit box thing, I can hear a microswitch under the play field ‘click’, which kinda suggests this has slip has happened - but I’m not sure. I forgot to video that tonight but will do so in the morning and post it up.
I can also see that underneath the x-wing there is what looks to be a twisted up paperclip holding a plastic bar in place. That can’t be right, surely.
I also noticed that the plastic bar is flimsy and wobbles up down and bends when very gently touched with my little finger. I’m wondering if this is the/an issue.
Problem 2
One of the next times when I turned it on briefly to go through the bios to try the diagnostic features to see if I could get any clues or more verbosity about the x-wing cannon problem, I found that the game would no longer coin up with coins. The game would start if I used the service credit button inside the coin door, but it would no longer fire a ball from the trough to the plunger lane to actually being play - i couldn’t hear it trying to either.
Possible Problem 3
Following the kind encouraging words received on this forum, tonight I was taking photos and examining the machine with the play field up and trying to see if I could find anything obvious. I found that a coil had a connector block (lego looking thing) screwed to it. I’m no expert, but that looks wrong.
Problem 4
While taking photos of the head top unit insides I saw a fuse which had a black burn/smear mark inside it, so gently took it out and put my multi meter on it in continuity mode, which it fails. I think this is dead. It’s from F21, which the manual says is:
“3A 250V S.B 50V DC coils”
The fuse I took out says “3A 250v 312” on it and it’s made in Mexico.
Johnny Pictures go here:














































Questions
Ok, so dumb-ass questions coming up:
1) Has anyone else here had an x-wing malfunction?
2) I’m wondering if the blown fuse is why a ball isn’t being kicked out. Sound sensible?
3) I guess the fuse blew for a reason and that I should not turn the machine on any more until I’ve found the cause of the problem, fixed it, and replaced the blown fuse with a new one. Is that the correct approach to take?
4a) S.B - does this mean slow-blow?
4b) Can I go to a shop, Maplins say and ask for a 3amp 250V s.b fuse and it be the one I want? (I will buy more than one as spares are a good thing to have)
4c) Since the description says 50V DC Coils, Can I assume that some coil has/is poorly causing the fuse to blow up?
I will go and test all coils with my multimeter tomorrow morning and report back the meter reading for each coil if I don’t find any that are obviously dead straight away. I’ve tested a couple of coils in my knockout before with my meter, but forgotten how to do it, but will read up before i do so.
5. Am I correct in thinking that coil I found at the back of the pinball table should not have a connector block screwed to it?
6. One of the pictures shows my hand holding some wiring which has a light and a circle thing (capacitor?). This looks out of place. Is it normal? or has it fallen off something? or has someone done it as a bodge?
Thanks for reading my first post in this thread. I promise to update it as and when I make progress. Please note: My life is chaos and I get barely any time in the week to do anything so most work will be at the weekends.
Cheers,
Johnny
p.s sorry my pictures posted twice, I'm unsure how that happened and am far too tired now to rewrite the thread, it's taken me ages to get this uploaded, so please forgive me.