The Park is Closed
Things were going so well … then they weren’t, then the COVID-19 virus hit, then (like many others) I was on my own for repair. First world problems I know. During these very difficult times, the LAST thing anyone is worrying about is broken pinball games. However, I had one. It was brand new a few weeks ago, it broke and then I fixed it – maybe this post helps someone else. Warning – this is a highly technical post (read boring) and unless you have a Stern node board issue or node board fetish, move on.
Jurassic Park is a super fun, super challenging game. I was just seeing some significant improvement in my gameplay on this title. My scores were increasing as was my enjoyment of the game. On March 15th I was playing when I noticed the top left side of the game was dark. The pops were not working as were a bunch of other switches non-functional. That following Monday I emailed my distributor who put me in touch with Stern. What follows is the (sometimes) complicated and challenging process to the solution.
FROM ME: Brand new JP Prem bought from Trent at Tilt. Serial #302557 9 “Node not found”. Tried unplugging all RJ45 cables starting at CN22 and back but no luck. Help!
I received a confirmation from Stern saying they understood and would ship the new board. A few days passed and during that time, the COVID-19 issue hit a fever pitch. My company exited the corporate office, my team was scattered to their homes (as was I) and I watched as state by state shut down with “stay a home” orders. I began to think that there was no chance the board ever left Illinois. That worry became real when IL issued their own stay at home order. I quickly shot an email to Stern …
FROM STERN: Unfortunately We had a mandatory Shut down on Friday and will be working from home for the next 2 weeks. I pushed your order thru ASAP but I have a feeling that parts might have not been able to ship it out. I will look thru UPS tracking and see if I can find a tracking number. I apologize for the delay and will try my best to see what I can do.
Stay Safe, Stern Pinball
I quickly got on the net to find an alternative supplier. As I suspected, there were not many BUT the Gameroom Guys had the part and I messaged them to see if they were able to ship given the circumstances, so I quickly ordered one from them
FROM GAMEROOM GUYS: Hey there, Yes we are still shipping today. – Gameroom Guys
A day or 2 went by and I got a message back from Stern stating that my replacement node board DID ship out and was on the way!
FROM STERN: Looks like your part shipped out yesterday. Please see attached tracking number for updates on your package. Scheduled for deliver 3/26/2020. – Stern
Stern was spot on – the Node board #9 showed up on my doorstep on March 26th and … so did the board that I ordered from Gameroom Guys. I was buried up to 15 hours a day working on COVID-19 opportunities within my company. The situation was unprecedented and each day brought new challenges, processes and policies. The arrival of the parts was a welcome diversion and that evening I dug in to begin the repair
I started with the obvious, pull the old board and re-install the new board. The Node board #8 and #9 are both the same exact board, to make them behave differently is easy, for Node #8 -all 4 dip-switches are “off” and for Node #9 dip-switch #3 is pushed up for “on”. I switched the #3 to “on”, popped the new board into the game and … nothing. No change. The error code on the LCD screen remained “Node 9 not found”. Now that it was clear to me that the node board was not the issue, it was time to begin the process of elimination to figure out what exactly the problem was. I tried a whole bunch of stuff (all without impact) and then shared that with the Stern tech team.
FROM ME: No luck guys – here is what is going on and what I’ve done/tried so far:
- Background info –
- Node board #9 is slow blinking yellow
- 48 volt is red
- 6 volt LED is green
- Node board #9a is not lit up at all
- Node board #8 is fast blinking
- (like it should)
- Board exchange I made
- Got the new board you sent today
- Set dip switch #3 to “on”
- Installed board
- Rebooted game
- Node 9 not found (same error as before)
- Cable swaps I tried
- Replaced cable (with one I had) from backbox source to Node #9 – gets same error
- Replaced cable (with one I had) from Node #8 to Node #9 – gets same error
- Board swaps I did
- Swapped the old (original in game) Node #9 board to the position of Node #8 – set dip switch #3 to “off”
- Left the new Node #9 board you sent me in the Node #9 position
- Booted game and based on the above, that new Node #9 board you sent me is now getting it’s RJ45 data from the old Node #9 board … gets me the same error (number 9 node not found)
Thoughts?
FROM STERN: Have you tried disconnecting CN3 on NODE 9 and see if the error goes away. You have basically tried all that I would have suggested. Something is causing NODE 9 to crash communication with CPU. Maybe try Disconnecting All connectors EXCEPT the RJ45 and see if it recognizes the NODE 9.
FROM ME: Ok. Pulled all except the large 48 volt power wires and the game booted to “updating runtime node boards” and then booted all the way. Node #9 is now flashing normally.
I’m adding back one connector at a time (power off) and booting as I go to see if I can isolate
FROM ME: CN12 is the offender. If plugged in I get the Node 9 comms error. I can boot machine with all other connectors installed to Node 9 except that one. Also … now the Node board 9A LED lights are back on (along with LEDs fed from node #9)
FROM STERN: The CN12 connector are switches – I am not sure if you can check the list I have attached and see if you can see if maybe a wire is causing the issue on these switches.
What follows are my emails to Stern as I spent the next 4 hours chasing this thing down. It was late at night and I was not expecting Stern to reply. That last bit of info got me looking to find exactly which switches were impacted from Node #9. I had the manual so it was pretty straightforward to check each one. Just going to take some time. I just stayed on it and worked my way logically to a conclusion
FROM ME: I Checked and disconnected all that could be unplugged. The 4×4 switches must be un-soldered so I took the molex connector and began removing pins right out of the housing – one at a time. Started at top. Left 1st red voltage wire in and started removing the switch wires. Then plug back then boot up. Every single one came back as node comm error until I pulled the black/ ground one. So bottom line I think I was removing the switch from the circuit by testing in this manner as the controller wire was removed entirely from the Molex. Maybe the ground (BLACK) wire is shorted?
FROM ME: I re-Inserted all the wires that I took out of that CN12 housing just to test that black wire
Then …
I unplugged a connector that feeds the black wire on CN12 (the black wire in position 10 on connector housing that was causing the node not to be found) and the node board comes on normally!
Progress!
Appears like CN12 is functioning without a ground BUT all of those switches connected to it work just fine. Picture attached is of the connector I disconnected – Looks like it goes into TRex head?
FROM ME: Solved!
I took the T-Rex head off and chased that connector to the bottom of the jaw opto board. Barely touched to red wire on that board and it came loose from the solder pad. Likely this was only part of the issue. Right next to where the positive wire was soldered on is a thru hole that is grounded within the board itself. When I tested the brown (ground) for continuity with that little hole you see in the image it showed short. Unfortunately that hole is almost touching the positive pad. The factory soldered that positive wire within a millimeter of that grounded thru hole. As the wire loosened and before it broke, it made contact with that pad and boom – node board senses a short and won’t boot.
I removed the old solder from the pad, stripped the red wire clean and resoldered it back on BUT away from that thru hole. I also covered the thru hole with a tiny strip of electrical tape.
Game works like new again!
FROM STERN: Well this will be a Quality report I will be sending out! I do apologize for all the issues you have been having with your NIB game and great job troubleshooting! This is the first time we have seen this issue where it causes NODE 9 problem and I will be forwarding this info over to our Quality Department.
Your troubleshooting was great and patience is greatly appreciated! This will be written down in my Tech notes for future reference.
Have a great day and stay SAFE!
Now I have TWO extra Node #9 boards … but hey, the Park is back open and JP is fully functional!
