Skateball going da da da

[swinks]

I have a pinball question in relation to my Skateball

Since getting the skateball around April and after Skybeaux fixed a dodgey chip I played for about 3-4  months ramdomly while waiting for a flipper kit to arrive to put in to solve the sticky flippers. Then in mid Aug I received the kits but then also had a fall at work, damaging my knee and hadn't been in the shed for 3 1/2 months until today.

Today I was there and thought I would have a quick game and unfortunately it wasn't the day.

I turned on the game and it booted up and made it's sounds, reset all soluneods (flippers and drop targets) and then I pushed the credit button and it spat out a ball in the lane and then before I could shoot it, it made a deep da da da noise getting deeper in tone with each da (at first thinking maybe a tilt noise), and then the game just wouldn't play. The lights stayed on, with the displays on but when you shoot the ball no sling shots work, nor flippers etc.

I did this 4 more times as there were 5 credits turning off and back on each time and same again. After a few machine turn offs I couldn't even get to the point of hitting the credit button and it did the da da da.

In addition pulled the BG out and checked the main board and on boot up get 1 flash then a pause then 6 flashes with shorter pauses.

- The shed does get a little damp after a big rain - could the dampness have affected a switch (contact corrosion) though doubt it would be that bad as have had a sheet over the machine to reduce any air flow into the machine.
- Could it be like a sticky switch as 2 flippers would have been stuck up for a while since the last play a few months ago and maybe haven't drop back down.
- Could it be another switch needing contacts cleaned.
- Could another chip on the board have gone though the machine has not been moved since it played well.

Any help would be appreciated and haven't lifted the playfield as I have a heavy item in the way stopping me taking the glass out and still under doctors order (compo) and not to do anything risky.... so best not to at this stage.

[Steve2010]

Jady, just trying to work out in your post what the da da da sound is.

By chance, is this the sound associated with the slam switch closure?  I also had an issue with my Skateball (but could have been any of my Bally SS games) where the slam switch sound came on mid play.

Here's a sound clip of what the sound is like.  This is from a Hotdoggin', but the same sound applies to the Skateball.  At the 35 second mark of the video, the slam switch is manually activated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dYxxZWH1vE

If this is the sound you are hearing, then my gut feeling is you may have a switch closing and not gapped enough.  Then again, I may be on the totally wrong direction.

[swinks]

Hi Steve

I appreciate your help on this. I got an email from Skybeaux (Ken) and he thinks a tilt switch sound.

I checked out the video your thought and not quite the same sound, but then checked out a few more from the same guy and this video - http://youtu.be/LuFKrbVR92A - has a similar sound at the 2min 12 sec mark. I think it confirms a tilt sound as it appears the guy gives the machine a shake.

I will investigate late this arvo.

cheers

[Strangeways]

Sounds like a Tilt noise. Check the tilt mechanism inside the cabinet. Make sure none of the wires have come loose and are shorting near the plomb tilt. There's also a tilt stitch on the door itself, on the bottom right hand corner.

[swinks]

Still not working after a inspection and test this arvo:

- I checked the plumb bob, and the door switches and all seem ok with no wires touching nor switches closed when they shouldn't be.


More test information:

- I made sure the ball was out of the lane incase the game is searching for the ball to start up - which admittedly I did not do after the 2nd try yesterday.
- I turned on the machine with the ball drained - no problems
- the machine booted, lights and displays and coils all reset (including the ball in the drain into the spot ready to flick into the lane but not into the lane) - still no problems
- I booked up some more credits - no problems
- I hit the credit switch on the door (with the door closed) and as soon as the game start sound starts and the ball flicks from under the apron the game does the da da da da - PROBLEMS
- then what I did not try yesterday, was I then launched ball onto the playfield (with no items triggering like slings and bumpers etc) with the ball rolling into the drain and then all the coils reset for ball 2 of the game and as soon as it automatically shoots into the lane it does the da da da da - PROBLEMS

Could it be something with the switches under the apron around the ball eject unit ????

[Steve2010]

Jady,

It would be good to know exactly what this da da da sound actually is.  Does it sound recognisable, or maybe its a sound the sound board normally doesn't produce.  The things that come to mind are:

1. Sound Board.  Maybe its something faulty with the sound board.  I've just had a quick read through Clay's guides (searching on the key word of "sound"), and there are things that a faulty sound board can do to the rest of the game.  With respect to the sound board topic, I would try (a) pressing the main self test button through the sequences until you get to the sound board test to see if the sounds produced are OK, (b) apparently the sound board itself has a self test button - see what this does (Clay's guide has more info on this), and (c) try removing the connectors to the sound board to see if the problem goes away.

2. Stuck switches.  Just to make sure there are no switches stuck, main self test button again to diagnose.  I suspect though that you do not have any stuck switches.

3. Interesting that the problems seem to occur after the outhole kicker is activated.  Possibility of a faulty diode across the outhole kicker solenoid, with the back EMF causing this problem?  Not sure.

[swinks]

Thanks Steve
I will have to have a read of Clay's guide and learn more about the self test button.
I will update my findings.
cheers

[Strangeways]

Might be worth checking that the diode across the start switch (front door) in not shorting out against the metal door. When this diode shorts out, strange things like this can occur.

Also, run the coil test in the diagnostics. See if the sound re occurs after the outhole kicker is pulsed, then it could be an issue with that coil / diode.

[swinks]

Thanks for your help Steve, Nino and Ken as all your help was appreciated and helpful even just to learn for future reference.

Ken let me know that he strongly believed that it was the capacitor that is part of the tilt mechanism and so I clipped it and fired up the machine with the problem going away.

This is a great site with many helpful people, thanks.

ps. attached is an image of the culprit.

[swinks]

I recorded the da da da da as I know some of you are trying to work out - what the hell is he talking about.

Since I recorded the sound with a ipod nano the sound file is a MPEG-4 Audio file - sorry if you can't still hear it.

Attached are 2 files:
1 before cutting the capacitor - turning on Skateball, booting up and then da da da da
2 after cutting the capacitor with the regular sound of start up and game play - turning on, booting up, game start, shoot the ball, drain and reset for another ball and shoot again then turn off and then sorry for the keys jingling at the end

[studley67]

that sound is not soundboard but a coil firing 3 times. ie resetting target banks etc.that is normal,me thinks

[Steve2010]

Jady, excellent news!  It's always satisfying when you get to the bottom of it.  Would have been interesting to see whether this faulty cap would have shown as a stuck switch with the self test diagnostics.

Anyway, looks like you're back to enjoying Skateball ...... top game.

[studley67]

is it fixed?

[Strangeways]

Great Work ! These caps can cause problems with these machines. The Fathom was doing a similar difficult to track issue that ended up being a capacitor. Well done with the repair !