Popper King was fine except belly and top lights, now stop buttons don't work

[tipsy]

I have a Popper King Pachislo machine. The top and belly fluorescents went out but the rest of the machine was fine. Since the ballasts for those are pricey and hard to come by I replaced them with inexpensive ballasts from undercabinet lights. So now the lights work fine but once I had everything all buttoned up it now will accept tokens and I can push the joystick but the stop buttons do not function. I tested the buttons and they are functioning. I tried jumping the connection for each button at the circuit board and nothing happens. Eventually the system auto-stops itself. Am I missing something? I did not disconnect anything except the two 24-volt feeds to the old ballasts but those are separate from everything else. The only other thing I did was to try grounding the case to help out with a humming sound from the speaker (which did not help). Any ideas from anyone would be greatly appreciated!
Oh ya, I have tried to reset numerous times as well. Not sure I'm doing it right, followed instructions given inside the case but it doesn't seem to do it exactly as it describes the results.
Thanks!
Jeff

[luckydog]

is the joystick centering itself after you press it??

[tipsy]

Thanks! I will double check but I do believe so.
Jeff

[tipsy]

Yep, I double checked. It is an up and down only joystick and it operates fine. Although when I get a chance later I will put an ohm meter on it to make sure it functions right.

[Drunkenclam]

Your processor might have a row of leds on it that light up when the joystick and buttons are pressed. Its a good way to confirm tjings are working as they should

[tipsy]

I will look for that. I just don't understand what I did to make the stop buttons not work when all I did was change the lights. Wondering if I shorted out the resistors on the stop reel board when I was trying to stop the speaker humming with the ground wire.

[tipsy]

No flashing leds I can see anywhere. Only 2 resistors on the board that the stop buttons connect to. Also connected to this board is the cash out button and the credits button and the speaker. Is it possible I shorted out the resistors when I tried to put my ground wire on this board? Any way to test them?
I feel pretty bad now. I am a handyman and this belongs to a customer of mine. I was just supposed to replace the lights and see if I could stop the humming. I succeeded with the lights but now it appears as though I've damaged the rest of the machine.

[Drunkenclam]

Also worth checking the fuses on the PSU in the bottom left.

[tipsy]

Yep. Checked all three fuses with meter and they are fine

[tipsy]

NEW INFORMATION! In a moment of frustration I banged my fist on the front of the machine and it operated! I've been experimenting with it and it seems as though if I hit it, that makes the first stop button work and then button 2 and 3 work fine on their own. I also noticed the the coin return button seems to be sticking a bit so I'm going to clean that up and see if it might be triggering something. We'll see after work today.

[tipsy]

Maybe a bad solder connection too? I can check it that way and maybe jumper the button connections at the board.

[tipsy]

Well after some gentle tapping and jiggling of connections and boards it somehow has corrected itself. Not sure which one was at fault but oh well, it's fixed for now!
Thanks everyone!
Jeff