Bride's head turns endlessly

[floyd1977]

I'm having an intermittent issue when multiball starts. Instead of turning to face #1, the head cycles endlessly. Here is a video I took. When this happened, I cradled two balls and went into the switch test mode:

https://youtu.be/IJE6EfMscWg

You can see that the facePosition switch (#67) is functioning properly, yet the game cannot find home.

I then let the two balls drain, and the game was then able to find face #3. When I started a new game, multiball 1 worked just fine.

I can also sometimes get the issue to happen in the head position adjustment (service menu). Whenever this issue happens (during game play or test mode), switch #67 seems to be working properly. I can also successfully test this switch in BoP 1.0 mode.

[TheKorn]

I've had this happen when the game asked which face it was on upon boot and I entered the incorrect face. Try checking that; if the face position doesn't match the actual position the game gets really really confused.

[floyd1977]

Does yours ask you what face it's on every time you boot up the game? Mine does not. I may start to go into the menu and make sure it's on the correct face every time I start up and see if that helps.

[TheKorn]

Does yours ask you what face it's on every time you boot up the game? Mine does not. I may start to go into the menu and make sure it's on the correct face every time I start up and see if that helps.

No, mine only asks if I've been in bop1, or seems to if the game crashes or has been restarted dirty.

[floyd1977]

Ok, thanks. I've been shutting down with the cabinet switch and letting the shutdown module do the rest, and I always set the face correctly when coming back from 1.0 (which I've only done a couple times).

I'll keep an eye on it. It worked just fine today.

[floyd1977]

This problem has happened a few times in the last week. This morning, I powered the game on and went into the adjustment menu. It was already set to Face 3, but I selected Face 3 again and saved the setting just to make sure.

I started a game, and when I got to multiball 1 the face turned but never stopped on face 1 (or any face). When this happens (see my video above), the facePosition switch appears to be in the correct state, so I don't know what the problem could be with my particular machine. I assume the problem is my machine since no one else is having this issue?

[TheKorn]

This problem has happened a few times in the last week. This morning, I powered the game on and went into the adjustment menu. It was already set to Face 3, but I selected Face 3 again and saved the setting just to make sure.

I started a game, and when I got to multiball 1 the face turned but never stopped on face 1 (or any face). When this happens (see my video above), the facePosition switch appears to be in the correct state, so I don't know what the problem could be with my particular machine. I assume the problem is my machine since no one else is having this issue?

This happened to one other guy that I remember, but I can't remember exactly what the fix turned out to be. I sorta/kinda remember that he replaced his head position switch and/or the connector for it. Though I'm not sure if that was the fix or just one of the things he tried. Might be worth a shot.

[floyd1977]

Thanks, Vince. It's good to know at least one other person has seen this. A switch on my Pinbot broke yesterday, so when I ordered a replacement from Marco, I also added this BoP roller switch to my order, so I'll give it a try. In the meantime I will fiddle with the connector, though if anything, I would guess it's the swith that's the culprit.

[floyd1977]

The connector seems pretty solid. Test mode shows that the switch is working properly, so I'm doubtful that replacing the switch will help. I don't know what else I can do. Hopefully Koen can chime in since he knows the code. If the head position switch is working (according to the switch test, it is), I don't know what the issue could be.

[Koen]

I'm kind of at a loss here too. Knowing the code and reading your info it almost looks like the head motor can be enabled, but not disabled.
I'm curious if the relay which determines the head turning direction isn't disabling as well.
What happens if you go into service menu and set the head position to 4? Normally the head should turn to the left once, expecting to land on face 3 then. If the relay would disable at that point, but the motor would not, the head would start turning in the other direction. Let me know if that's the case or if it keeps turning left. (counter clockwise).
In BoP1.0 everything works as expected always? There's a motor test in the service menu there, check to see if everything works as expected there.

- Koen

[floyd1977]

Thanks, Koen.

If I set head position to 4, it correctly turns to face 2, thinking it's on 3 I suppose (though sometimes the face is slightly crooked, but not so bad that a ball would fall through).

I just went to BoP 1.0 and it went through the normal head calibration and correctly found face 1. If I go into the head cycle test (T-14), it correctly cycles through the faces and activates the mouth/eye kickers at the appropriate times, and switch 67 is showing correct behavior in the display.

Keep in mind that this problem is intermittent. Sometimes multiball works perfectly fine (MB1 stopping correctly on face 1). I have also been able to get this issue to happen in test mode (BoP 2.0), though not this morning.

Do you think maybe my relay is flaky somehow? Your explanation makes sense that there could be an issue with the relay since the facePosition switch seems ok. I just can't account for the fact that I didn't have this issue in the original BoP (pre 2.0 kit conversion).

Thanks for your help.

[floyd1977]

I will also check the relay board for cracked solder joints, etc., as I'm desperate. I know that was an issue on my first BoP, which would sometimes turn the wrong direction.

[floyd1977]

I will also check the motor test. I think there are multiple head related tests in 1.0. I forgot to do that one before leaving for work.

[floyd1977]

I was in the motor/switch test (T-12) of 1.0 for quite a while just now. No issues turning left or right. The machine always turns one face to the left or right and stops, as it should.

[floyd1977]

I recorded another video, which may or may not shed light on this:

https://youtu.be/On11kcNP8XE

In test mode, I repeatedly entered face 4, causing the head to rotate to the left. Kind of hard to explain but you can see that with each turn, it starts to fall behind, as if it isn't making a complete turn. Eventually you see that it actually stops halfway between two faces.

I don't know if this is relevant to the issue I'm having during gameplay.

I will hopefully get a replacement switch soon in the mail. I am not optimistic that replacing it will help but I'm willing to try.

[sdtom]

I don't have a BOP (I'm just here waiting for TBL activity ) but is it possible the rotisserie or whatever the faces spin on has a set screw loose / something mechanical going on so it can slip? or bad gears? I don't know if it's possible but can you manually rotate the faces and see if it runs smooth or "crunchy" ?

[HelmutUK]

After seeing your video it sounds for me that the gear box or the motor is gone. Yours is very noisy. Can't test mine because my Bride is under a full overhaul. As far I remember it wasn't that loud. You may have to check that out. I swapped once a gear box from a CV that made same funny sound.

[TheKorn]

Yeah it definitely sounds like your gearbox is having issues. Honestly it sounds like it's trying to grind rocks. Here's what mine sounds like for reference: https://vimeo.com/152606944

Though that brings up a good point; maybe the motor on time should be tweakable in BoP2, similar to how the solenoid times are tweakable? That would probably get you more mileage out of your rock crusher in the meantime.

[floyd1977]

Thanks. Any hope in saving my gearbox or should I just drop $90 at Marco for a new gearbox/motor?

[HelmutUK]

Before you buy a new gear box take the old one out and have a look inside and check the gears. When they looking ok and having no cracks or missing teeth sometimes it helps to put some grease on it. If they a broken it is better to get a new one because it's a pain to fix it.