Start button being weird

[Dinsdale]

Hi all

On my T2, my start button flashes in attract mode.

However, in test mode, that lamp doesn't flash when I test the start button lamp.

So. I went through all my lamps on a single lamp test and noticed it does light up when I test "Chase Value" it's worth noting that this lamp does light up too.

So I took a look, and it seems like a resistor has been soldered to the lug of the chase value lamp. Is this right? There are therefore two wires coming off one lug. It looks out of place. Here's a pic.

 

[Jay Walker]

A check for the Start button lamp would be to set Free Play to Off, and see what the lamp does then; with Credits at 0 it shouldn't be lit, with any number of Credits added it should light, maybe flashing in Attract Mode/steadily lit in play (tempting inquisitive kiddies to press it, and upset the player 'up' at the time). On later games, Williams added an adjustment 'Game Restart' to control what happens in such a situation.

The component between the lugs of the lampholder is actually a diode, which only allows current to flow through in one direction. Without one on each 'feature' or 'matrix' lamp, there'd be back-feeding or ghosting through the connecting wires, causing lamps that weren't meant to be lit to also show up, either faintly or fully.

Towards the back of the playfield, I'd expect one or even both wires to be duplicated; Red-brown is the colour for Lamp Row 1, with seven other spots to reach on the playfield. Yellow-gray is Lamp Column 8, also with seven other destinations, one of them (the only one off the playfield) being the Start Button.

If you're using Single Lamp test, when any lamp is selected, pressing the start button summons the Help information; listing the wire colours and connecting pins which are used for the lamp in question.

 

[Dinsdale]

Ah, now that's interesting. Could that diode (thanks for correcting me) have failed? Because I do see some very light ghosting on a multiplier bulb.

If that diode has failed, it'll explain why the Start is flashing when it isn't supposed to in test, but how does it explain that the start doesn't flash in test at all?

 

[Jay Walker]

Since it's the only 'feature' lamp in the cabinet (T2 not having a Buy-in feature), the start button has its own connectors on the driver board, J 135 (though it may actually be any of the three stacked identical connectors 133/4/5) for Row 4, with Red-yellow wire at pin 5. Williams didn't reckon on needing more than two lamp columns in the cabinet, so the smaller J 136 brings out two columns, with Column 8 using Yellow-grey in J 136-3. Are those connections correct?

With a lamp matrix problem where multiple lamps are lighting wrongly, it's best to look at the particular games' Lamp Matrix chart, to see which lines the erratic behaviour is associated with. Single Lamp comes into its own when chasing (pun unintentional) lamp errors. Only the lamp (or TBE the spot in the grid, which may have more than one lamp) selected should blink, any other lamp is getting a stray feed somehow.

 

[Pick Holder]

Since it's the only 'feature' lamp in the cabinet (T2 not having a Buy-in feature), the start button has its own connectors on the driver board, J 135 (though it may actually be any of the three stacked identical connectors 133/4/5) for Row 4, with Red-yellow wire at pin 5. Williams didn't reckon on needing more than two lamp columns in the cabinet, so the smaller J 136 brings out two columns, with Column 8 using Yellow-grey in J 136-3. Are those connections correct?

With a lamp matrix problem where multiple lamps are lighting wrongly, it's best to look at the particular games' Lamp Matrix chart, to see which lines the erratic behaviour is associated with. Single Lamp comes into its own when chasing (pun unintentional) lamp errors. Only the lamp (or TBE the spot in the grid, which may have more than one lamp) selected should blink, any other lamp is getting a stray feed somehow.

That is a good place to start. Sometimes the wire pops off those small connectors. It looks like CHASE VALUE is on the end pin and START BUTTON is on the 4th populated pin.