From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

Hello to all-

I think I may have a illumination lamp board issue. Maybe you can help?

I have some mystery lighting questions that mall all be related, unless Earthshaker simply doesn't have lights under some of the other plastics.

I am hoping maybe all 3 Jet bumper bulbs are simply burned out, but that seems highly unlikely. Not when all 3 of them are out. Is there a fuse location I can check? Is it fatal? Lamps location 41, 42, and 43 in my user manual.

Also- the left and right plastic "elevated roadway ramps" illumination lamps are out too. I see what looks to be lamp wires under these roadway ramps, but I don't see any actual bulbs to replace (??)

Another mystery is the colored hat plastics. Do the various "siren" colored hats, the red, white, blue and clear "siren top" plastics light up on Earthshaker? They don't seem to have bulbs? Are they just for decoration? That just seems weird.

The last thing are some cracked playfield plastics I'd like to replace. My manual doesn't show part numbers, but I am hunting for the left Zone 1 "Surfer Dude" plastics, as well as the Zone 5 "Running Girl" plastics.

Earthshaker is a great game. It's a keeper.

Thank you in advance for any help or direction you can provide.
Greg M.


--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

"Greg M." <musicman_97_1997@yahoo.com> wrote in news:06dc33e9-dfec-4ce5-b8a6-586159eb0a6do@googlegroups.com:

Hello to all-

I think I may have a illumination lamp board issue. Maybe you can
help?

I have some mystery lighting questions that mall all be related,
unless Earthshaker simply doesn't have lights under some of the other plastics.

I am hoping maybe all 3 Jet bumper bulbs are simply burned out, but
that seems highly unlikely. Not when all 3 of them are out. Is there
a fuse location I can check? Is it fatal? Lamps location 41, 42, and
43 in my user manual.

Also- the left and right plastic "elevated roadway ramps"
illumination lamps are out too. I see what looks to be lamp wires
under these roadway ramps, but I don't see any actual bulbs to replace
(??)

Another mystery is the colored hat plastics. Do the various "siren"
colored hats, the red, white, blue and clear "siren top" plastics
light up on Earthshaker? They don't seem to have bulbs? Are they just
for decoration? That just seems weird.

The last thing are some cracked playfield plastics I'd like to
replace. My manual doesn't show part numbers, but I am hunting for the
left Zone 1 "Surfer Dude" plastics, as well as the Zone 5 "Running
Girl" plastics.

Earthshaker is a great game. It's a keeper.

Thank you in advance for any help or direction you can provide.
Greg M.

The pop bumpers are controlled lamps and not General Illumination.
They only come on after completing playfield objectives.

The "siren tops" should have flashlamps in them and are controlled
with the solenoid circuitry.

Have you run the lamp and solenoid tests?
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On Monday, July 20, 2020 at 8:54:35 PM UTC-7, flippy wrote:

"Greg M." wrote in news:06dc33e9-dfec-4ce5-b8a6-586159eb0a6do@googlegroups.com:

Hello to all-

I think I may have a illumination lamp board issue. Maybe you can
help?

I have some mystery lighting questions that mall all be related,
unless Earthshaker simply doesn't have lights under some of the other plastics.

I am hoping maybe all 3 Jet bumper bulbs are simply burned out, but
that seems highly unlikely. Not when all 3 of them are out. Is there
a fuse location I can check? Is it fatal? Lamps location 41, 42, and
43 in my user manual.

Also- the left and right plastic "elevated roadway ramps"
illumination lamps are out too. I see what looks to be lamp wires
under these roadway ramps, but I don't see any actual bulbs to replace
(??)

Another mystery is the colored hat plastics. Do the various "siren"
colored hats, the red, white, blue and clear "siren top" plastics
light up on Earthshaker? They don't seem to have bulbs? Are they just
for decoration? That just seems weird.

The last thing are some cracked playfield plastics I'd like to
replace. My manual doesn't show part numbers, but I am hunting for the
left Zone 1 "Surfer Dude" plastics, as well as the Zone 5 "Running
Girl" plastics.

Earthshaker is a great game. It's a keeper.

Thank you in advance for any help or direction you can provide.
Greg M.

The pop bumpers are controlled lamps and not General Illumination.
They only come on after completing playfield objectives.

The "siren tops" should have flashlamps in them and are controlled
with the solenoid circuitry.

Have you run the lamp and solenoid tests?

Hi Flippy
Thanks for replying. Do you own a Earthshaker yourself?
The only reason I ask is because I've had this game for a long time but never needed to worry about the lighting up to now. The game plays fine, but I've come to a point where I want to make it perfect.
Are you positive about the jet bumpers being on the solenoid circuits? All the solenoids work fine. And there are three or 4 on Earthshaker. Other than the frustrating lighting issues I mentioned, the game plays flawlessly.
And sure, I'd run the diagnostics, but honestly (unless you can tell me something I ought to know) it wouldn't tell me anything other than what I already talked about, and I'd just be back to square one.
If you know the probable driver board location and/or edge connector number that controls the siren tops and elevated ramps, please let me know the board number, and it's location if possible. That's really all I really need to know. I can hopefully take it from there.
And again- thanks for your help! I hope i can get this fixed soon!
-Greg M.
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

Greg M. wrote:

I am hoping maybe all 3 Jet bumper bulbs are simply burned out,
but that seems highly unlikely.

Why is that unlikely? The game is 31 years old.... if they are original lamps, they might very well be burned out.

The last thing are some cracked playfield plastics I'd like to
replace. My manual doesn't show part numbers, but I am hunting
for the left Zone 1 "Surfer Dude" plastics, as well as the Zone 5
"Running Girl" plastics.

https://classicplayfields.com/shop/pinball-plastics/earthshaker-5/

Both those plastics are 'easy break' plastics - they're broken on almost
every Earthshaker in existence. You might find someone that bought the plastics from the link above that is willing to sell you the extras
since that set includes 2 of those plastics.

The only reason I ask is because I've had this game for a long time
but never needed to worry about the lighting up to now. The game
plays fine, but I've come to a point where I want to make it perfect.

Are you positive about the jet bumpers being on the solenoid
circuits? All the solenoids work fine. And there are three or 4 on Earthshaker. Other than the frustrating lighting issues I mentioned,
the game plays flawlessly.

He didn't say that. He said they were controlled lamps, not general illumination.

The 'siren' tops are controlled by solenoid drivers is what he said. 2 different circuits. See page 30 in your manual for the solenoid table -
you can see what solenoid # controls which flasher lamp.

And sure, I'd run the diagnostics, but honestly (unless you can tell
me something I ought to know) it wouldn't tell me anything other than
what I already talked about, and I'd just be back to square one.

Put it in lamp test and see if other lamps in the jet bumper column
light. (inside back cover of your manual) If they don't try changing
one or 2 to see if they do. If they do, try changing some of the jet lamps.

In fact, I'm not sure why you didn't just try and change a bulb or 2 on
the jets in the first place - it's the simplest step and anyone that's
helping you troubleshoot is going to point that out as well. Don't jump
to the conclusion that it must be something 'fatal' as you say - usually
it's something simple. There's no fuse for just the jet bumper lamps.
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 3:17:24 PM UTC-7, Greg M. wrote:

On Monday, July 20, 2020 at 8:54:35 PM UTC-7, flippy wrote:

"Greg M." wrote in news:06dc33e9-dfec-4ce5-b8a6-586159eb0a6do@googlegroups.com:

Hello to all-

I think I may have a illumination lamp board issue. Maybe you can
help?

I have some mystery lighting questions that mall all be related,
unless Earthshaker simply doesn't have lights under some of the other plastics.

I am hoping maybe all 3 Jet bumper bulbs are simply burned out, but
that seems highly unlikely. Not when all 3 of them are out. Is there
a fuse location I can check? Is it fatal? Lamps location 41, 42, and
43 in my user manual.

Also- the left and right plastic "elevated roadway ramps"
illumination lamps are out too. I see what looks to be lamp wires
under these roadway ramps, but I don't see any actual bulbs to replace (??)

Another mystery is the colored hat plastics. Do the various "siren" colored hats, the red, white, blue and clear "siren top" plastics
light up on Earthshaker? They don't seem to have bulbs? Are they just
for decoration? That just seems weird.

The last thing are some cracked playfield plastics I'd like to
replace. My manual doesn't show part numbers, but I am hunting for the left Zone 1 "Surfer Dude" plastics, as well as the Zone 5 "Running
Girl" plastics.

Earthshaker is a great game. It's a keeper.

Thank you in advance for any help or direction you can provide.
Greg M.

The pop bumpers are controlled lamps and not General Illumination.
They only come on after completing playfield objectives.

The "siren tops" should have flashlamps in them and are controlled
with the solenoid circuitry.

Have you run the lamp and solenoid tests?

Hi Flippy

Thanks for replying. Do you own a Earthshaker yourself?

The only reason I ask is because I've had this game for a long time but never needed to worry about the lighting up to now. The game plays fine, but I've come to a point where I want to make it perfect.

Are you positive about the jet bumpers being on the solenoid circuits? All the solenoids work fine. And there are three or 4 on Earthshaker. Other than the frustrating lighting issues I mentioned, the game plays flawlessly.

And sure, I'd run the diagnostics, but honestly (unless you can tell me something I ought to know) it wouldn't tell me anything other than what I already talked about, and I'd just be back to square one.

If you know the probable driver board location and/or edge connector number that controls the siren tops and elevated ramps, please let me know the board number, and it's location if possible. That's really all I really need to know. I can hopefully take it from there.

And again- thanks for your help! I hope i can get this fixed soon!

-Greg M.

Hi Greg,
On many/most pinball machines, you can test each lamp simply by using the service menu buttons inside the coin door (Ive never owned an Earthshaker, but Im assuming its similar to the video below). I also included a link to the manual (see p. 29).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAnBiVODymw https://www.ipdb.org/files/753/Williams_1989_Earthshaker_Manual.pdf
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

Flippy had it correct in the first response. I owe him an apology. I should have run individual lamp diagnostics. It's not in the startup, or general illumination diagnostics.
I didn't realize the pop bumper lights came on in the heat of playing a game. The blue one is just incredibly dim, and the yellow one was just a burned out bulb. The red one never was out.
On the ramps- Multiball and completion of the features sets off the Blue and Clear "siren tops" lights on the right ramp that I thought were out completely. I should have just run the diagnostics and checked the bulbs. 2 of the red ones were out. They all work now.
The left blue pop bumper is major work to service. You have to raise the left side ramp plastics to even get at it!
Whoever worked on it before I bought it bent the lamp socket sideways in the pop bumper body way to the far left, under the ramp. It's dimm that way, and you can just barely see the bulb working. I'm hoping LED's there will help me. But I'll still have to pull the ramp to get at it to upgrade it. Sigh. Bottom line: the machine works pretty well now. The lights are basically fixed.
3 code errors:
Diagnostics tells me I need to look at error: "Center Ramp Entry" -switch #44. In the switch test I can't manually trigger it to score. The solder connections look good. Many times I've found replacing the resistor fixes things, but I looked at it, and those legs look clean. Usually they show one leg burned up. So I think it's the switch now. I don't know if a replacement switch is easy to find. The ramp will have to come off to replace it. That is not going to be fun. And I don't know the specs to order on the replacement resistor. Maybe you can tell me what to buy so I can try that first?
(2) "Outhole" -10. Not sure what that might be, but maybe you do. I have to dig in my manual later tonight to see what it might be.
(3) "Trough 1" -11. Same as above. Not sure what or where it is.
Major apologies if I've wasted anyone's time.
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

On Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 7:43:23 AM UTC-7, Riles wrote:

On Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 3:17:24 PM UTC-7, Greg M. wrote:

On Monday, July 20, 2020 at 8:54:35 PM UTC-7, flippy wrote:

"Greg M." wrote in news:06dc33e9-dfec-4ce5-b8a6-586159eb0a6do@googlegroups.com:

Hello to all-

I think I may have a illumination lamp board issue. Maybe you can
help?

I have some mystery lighting questions that mall all be related,
unless Earthshaker simply doesn't have lights under some of the other plastics.

I am hoping maybe all 3 Jet bumper bulbs are simply burned out, but that seems highly unlikely. Not when all 3 of them are out. Is there
a fuse location I can check? Is it fatal? Lamps location 41, 42, and
43 in my user manual.

Also- the left and right plastic "elevated roadway ramps"
illumination lamps are out too. I see what looks to be lamp wires
under these roadway ramps, but I don't see any actual bulbs to replace (??)

Another mystery is the colored hat plastics. Do the various "siren" colored hats, the red, white, blue and clear "siren top" plastics
light up on Earthshaker? They don't seem to have bulbs? Are they just for decoration? That just seems weird.

The last thing are some cracked playfield plastics I'd like to
replace. My manual doesn't show part numbers, but I am hunting for the left Zone 1 "Surfer Dude" plastics, as well as the Zone 5 "Running Girl" plastics.

Earthshaker is a great game. It's a keeper.

Thank you in advance for any help or direction you can provide.
Greg M.

The pop bumpers are controlled lamps and not General Illumination.
They only come on after completing playfield objectives.

The "siren tops" should have flashlamps in them and are controlled
with the solenoid circuitry.

Have you run the lamp and solenoid tests?

Hi Flippy

Thanks for replying. Do you own a Earthshaker yourself?

The only reason I ask is because I've had this game for a long time but never needed to worry about the lighting up to now. The game plays fine, but I've come to a point where I want to make it perfect.

Are you positive about the jet bumpers being on the solenoid circuits? All the solenoids work fine. And there are three or 4 on Earthshaker. Other than the frustrating lighting issues I mentioned, the game plays flawlessly.

And sure, I'd run the diagnostics, but honestly (unless you can tell me something I ought to know) it wouldn't tell me anything other than what I already talked about, and I'd just be back to square one.

If you know the probable driver board location and/or edge connector number that controls the siren tops and elevated ramps, please let me know the board number, and it's location if possible. That's really all I really need to know. I can hopefully take it from there.

And again- thanks for your help! I hope i can get this fixed soon!

-Greg M.

Hi Greg,

On many/most pinball machines, you can test each lamp simply by using the service menu buttons inside the coin door (Ive never owned an Earthshaker, but Im assuming its similar to the video below). I also included a link to the manual (see p. 29).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAnBiVODymw

https://www.ipdb.org/files/753/Williams_1989_Earthshaker_Manual.pdf

Thanks Riles. I took your advice. I ran diagnostics. fixed the lamps, and found other issues. You can see the problems on this post if you can help. Thanks again.
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

Thanks Seymour. You were absolutely right. Diagnostics helped a lot. I fixed the lamps, 3 burned out bulbs. All the others were working but I had to complete features to activate them, and in the heat of a game, I didn't realize they flashed on. That was my stupidity. You can see I have 3 other diagnostics errors in my last response/post. If you can help me, let me know.. thanks for your help!
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113

From Newsgroup: rec.games.pinball

Hi Flippy. You were dead right. I was lost. You helped me a lot. I got all the lamps to work.

Thanks for your help.

I found three diagnostics errors. You'll see them in the body of this post. If you can help me with any of those, I'd sure appreciate it.

Thanks again- Greg M.
--- Synchronet 3.18a-Win32 NewsLink 1.113