Problem with Star Trek

[mark1120]

I'm having some difficulty with my Star Trek Next Generation pinball machine. There is a feature of the game that causes balls to become "locked". Whenever a second ball has become locked, the machine keeps trying to fire a new ball into the playing field even when one is already in the playing field. It just makes a loud thumping noise as its trying to kick a new ball out to be shot. When the ball in the playing field eventually gets lost at the bottom, this ball is then reshot into the playing field...so basically, the game never ends...it just keeps shooting balls out. I only have this problem after a second ball has been locked. Has anyone encountered this on their machine and is there a quick fix? Thanks for your suggestions!!

[MrGoodBurn]

It sounds like your machine is missing some balls to me, but I don't have that machine. If it is trying to add more balls to the playing field and you are missing balls it could do that I would think.

[MrGoodBurn]

I think your machine should have 6 balls. Can anyone confirm this?
______________________________________________________
Yes, it requires 6 balls. If your machine has less than 6 balls this might be your problem.

Internet Pinball Machine Database: Williams 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'

Parts List
http://www.ipdb.org/files/2357/Willi...Parts_List.txt

[mark1120]

I think your machine should have 6 balls. Can anyone confirm this?
______________________________________________________
Yes, it requires 6 balls. If your machine has less than 6 balls this might be your problem.

Internet Pinball Machine Database: Williams 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'

Parts List
http://www.ipdb.org/files/2357/Willi...Parts_List.txt

Thanks for the response. Yes, the machine has 6 balls in it. As a test, I cleared the balls out to make sure there wasn't one stuck somehow and all 6 were emptied from the machine.

When I first bought the machine, I didn't have this ball launching problem. I recently hired a repairman to come over and fix the left cannon that wasn't moving when I got it. He appears to have fixed the left cannon, but then this new problem surfaced after he left. It only happens after a second ball has been locked up...the Borg sequence is just a continuous stream of balls in play forever. I was hoping there might have been something specific to look for underneath the machine to potentially avoid having this guy return to my house.

[fast toys]

OK this is sort of a common problem with STTNG.

There are optos everywhere on the game and if a few get misaligned or broken all kinds of strange stuff starts to happen.

If the machine keeps on shooting balls out I would start with the 6-ball opto unit that is under where the balls are shot from the trigger.

Try this:

Clear all of the balls and then once you have them all in you hands turn the machine off. Load all six balls in the into the machine and then turn it on.

It should at this point shoot 3 balls out and they should stay under the playfield. If some other combination happens there is a good bet that that one or more optos there are having issues in the 6-ball unit.

There are also optos under that play field that let the machine know where the balls are.

Hope this helps a bit.

[fast toys]

A quick way to test the 6-ball unit is to take all of the balls out and then roll one ball down the unit while in switch test more.

You should see the different optos triggered in order. There are actually 7 optos in the unit but only six are used in STTNG.

[fast toys]

God my typing sucks today. It should be switch test mode...

[fast toys]

Mark,

So any luck getting STTNG up and running?

[mark1120]

Mark,

So any luck getting STTNG up and running?

I'm pleased to report that everything seems to be working properly...finally. It appears that I had some type of sensor problem in which the first sensor wasn't giving off some type of light beam to a second sensor. As a result, the second sensor would wrongly conclude that a pinball was in place (blocking the light beam) waiting to be shot into the playfield...and so the machine kept trying to hit this missing pinball into the playfield...at least that's what was explained to me. I do love this game and can see myself getting a few more pinball machines over time...I just hope they're not high maintenance. Thanks for asking!!

[fast toys]

I just hope they're not high maintenance. Thanks for asking!!

All pinballs need TLC from time to time and I am always finding something that needs done or fixed on mine.

That said, STTNG is said to be one of the hardest machines to keep running right. That sensor that you were referring to are called optos. They use inferred light, one transmitter and one receiver in each set. STTNG has a ton of them all over the place.