NBA FASTBREAK Defender issue---HELP!! TNT Amusements

Todd Tuckey

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NBA FASTBREAK Defender issue---HELP!! TNT Amusements

Apparently Ron Kral had a similar problem back in 2003 but no one responded to his post...I seem to have the exact same symptoms! I also exchanged the logic board, the actual optic board, and the motor control board (from a parts machine)...here is what Ron wrote back in 2003 which matches my issues word for word!! Todd from TNT Amusements

Machine boots and error reports "Defender is broken"

Ran the DEFENDER test and when the arm moves left-to-right,
it tests OK.


When the arm moves right-to-left, it stops after the 4th
opto and declares the test "failed".


If I put a credit card between each opto, they all test fine.


I swapped two of the optos, and the test fails in exactly
the same way(?!).


So, what's the problem here?? I originally thought it was
like a TZ clock problem, one of the optos was toast. But
after the swap, that doesn't seem to be the case.


There are no EOS-like switches to fail -- only the optos.
The motor seems to run OK both back and forth. The arm
isn't brushing any wires that could be shorting.


I'm stumped. Anyone who's seen this problem please enlighten
me. I'm at my wits end...


Ron Kral -- CARGPB #17
 
seems like i read a pinball ninja blog , where one opto was having an issue ,but only on the return direction, similiar seems, i think he moved the opto just enough to remedy the problem
 
A pinball collector--Kirk--responded with his suggestion of possibly a bad motor that was not reversing... (Thanks Kirk!!!)so here is my response!
I reread Ron's original issue...and realized our problem was slightly different---perhaps in my excitement, I skipped over the middle, and simply read Defender Mech Broken... \And now I am wondering if there actually is a true problem....here's what we observed...

The defender test seems to run though...the arm sweeps through each of the four optics and there is a slight pause and then sweeps back....and the machine does not identify any issues. I ran the test many times. It seems that when you play the game, and game is over, the machine comes up with Defender is Broken. But we never entered into the "Into the Paint" mode in which you control the defender. We also noticed that when the defender is stationary in the center and the ball goes through the basket, it occasionally just sits on that switch behind the defender...and it does not move out of the way to drop the ball through. I cleaned the switch and it seemed to be fine....the mode where you move the defender is ONLY when you get into the Into The Paint mode.

All seemed well and we delivered the game to a customer...he called 2 days later saying it was reporting a Defender error and that the ball had gotten stuck behind the player once or twice.

But he didn;t remember if he had gotten in the Into The Paint mode...he was not near the machine to retest yesterday and I told him to go home last night and try it again.....I wonder whether the machine reports an error if no one actually gets the Into The Paint mode---to actually test the defender moving back and forth---after 2-3 games, and simply says Defender mech is broken?? Its just so strange that the software would report an error, even when the machine can sweep through the test and NOT report an error. I guess I should check the Rom revisions to see if they changed the software to make that error message not appear unless that mode is actually played during a game?? Todd
 
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