So how much is too much for a NIB?

[robertlucas1970]

I now have 4 revised ones fitted to my Woz, got the castle board today from JJP $200 including shipping and then £42 customs before UPS would leave it.
So I now have a mix of boards, but at least its all lit up and working fine now, I just hope they last..........

 

[stoptap]

If we are already onto Spike 2.0 that doesn't look good for future spares for WWE, Kiss and Ghostbusters.
When I was dealing with Stern with my Transformers I learnt that Transformers and one other pin (X-Men or Avengers, I can't remember which) share a CPU board that was only used on those two games. Somebody is going to have a nasty shock a few years down the line if they ever need a new board.

 

[Deleted member 2463]

I dunno, I can't think of any recent pinball design that's suffered major failures once out in the field for a while. Even the total mess that is the AMH code seems to work without too many problems. Fingers crossed Spooky get someone more suitable for their newer releases.

Ghostbusters 1.10 code?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ducks]

I dunno, I can't think of any recent pinball design that's suffered major failures once out in the field for a while. Even the total mess that is the AMH code seems to work without too many problems. Fingers crossed Spooky get someone more suitable for their newer releases.

Permanently disabling game features in GoT via code due to engineering design errors that should have been caught in testing?

People NEEDING to make anti-airball plastics for GB?

Stern gutting playfield cost and changing manufacturers ... the results of which we are all too familiar with?

Spike node boards do seem to fail quite a lot, as I said.

Not sure if it would be classed as major failure, but JJP released a kit for existing Hobbits and added bits to new ones on the line to prevent balls constantly getting stuck in the trolls (and a couple of other things I forgot).

 

[stoptap]

Permanently disabling game features in GoT via code due to engineering design errors that should have been caught in testing?

People NEEDING to make anti-airball plastics for GB?

Stern gutting playfield cost and changing manufacturers ... the results of which we are all too familiar with?

Spike node boards do seem to fail quite a lot, as I said.

Not sure if it would be classed as major failure, but JJP released a kit for existing Hobbits and added bits to new ones on the line to prevent balls constantly getting stuck in the trolls (and a couple of other things I forgot).

JJP had pop bumper rings fouling on WOZ. CPU lock ups that required a jump start. Chunks of playfield art coming off that (I believe) they sent a sticker out to cover it up. Not to mention the catastrophic design of the LED boards.

Stern 'drop' targets still don't work properly without the owner messing with the springs.


I don't know what system they use for testing but it isn't very robust.

 

[ducks]

The pf problems at JJP, again, were quickly resolved. Those were the original US made pfs on early ECLEs ... the Mirco pfs have not had any widespread problems since. They changed suppliers within 2-3 months of the first games going out, I think.

Hadn't heard about CPU lock-ups.

 

[robertlucas1970]

Can you give me some info on the lockups Stoptap please ? I might have that problem, was going to ask about that after my light board problem was sorted, what I get every so often is the LCD Display will just lock up, the game will still play, sound is fine, just the display and only way to fix it is to reboot the game.
If the computer is used just for the display then I guess it has to be that, it cant be the LCD and the graphics are built into the mother board, but it is something I would like to get sorted at some point.

 

[stoptap]

Can you give me some info on the lockups Stoptap please ? I might have that problem, was going to ask about that after my light board problem was sorted, what I get every so often is the LCD Display will just lock up, the game will still play, sound is fine, just the display and only way to fix it is to reboot the game.
If the computer is used just for the display then I guess it has to be that, it cant be the LCD and the graphics are built into the mother board, but it is something I would like to get sorted at some point.

There are a fair few threads on it over on Pinside. It gets discussed on this one.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/wizard-of-oz-issues/page/2

 

[stoptap]

This one discusses re-booting it if no reset button is fitted.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/woz-technical-help-needed#post-1891177

 

[chris b]

JJP had pop bumper rings fouling on WOZ. CPU lock ups that required a jump start. Chunks of playfield art coming off that (I believe) they sent a sticker out to cover it up. Not to mention the catastrophic design of the LED boards.

Stern 'drop' targets still don't work properly without the owner messing with the springs.


I don't know what system they use for testing but it isn't very robust.

jjp woz pop bumper rings where sorted long ago
only ever seen 1 worn jjp playfield
seen 2 lock ups bios problems
stern beefs
x men le aux board blew up after 2 games all games had the same issue with stern swaping boards up to 3 times before offering a proper updated board
met le and premium also shipped with non working hammers and required a updated magnet board which came some time later
twd le and premium the crossbow is **** and has been from back in the ap days you would have thought after 10 years they would have improved it
ac dc first runs cannon motors failed out of the box again pile of rubbish
countless games with poor or unfinished code
stern has been doing this for many years now but we still keep buying it
jjp has only had 2 titles but has rectified all of the problems on woz and is still carrying on improving the code
after a few complaints jjp rectified a few issues on hobbit and sent out an update kit all hobbits that ship now have this as standard it shipped to the uk with a pretty good base code and has 3 updates since the first showing at 8 bit flip

 

[stoptap]

jjp woz pop bumper rings where sorted long ago
only ever seen 1 worn jjp playfield
seen 2 lock ups bios problems
stern beefs
x men le aux board blew up after 2 games all games had the same issue with stern swaping boards up to 3 times before offering a proper updated board
met le and premium also shipped with non working hammers and required a updated magnet board which came some time later
twd le and premium the crossbow is **** and has been from back in the ap days you would have thought after 10 years they would have improved it
ac dc first runs cannon motors failed out of the box again pile of rubbish
countless games with poor or unfinished code
stern has been doing this for many years now but we still keep buying it
jjp has only had 2 titles but has rectified all of the problems on woz and is still carrying on improving the code
after a few complaints jjp rectified a few issues on hobbit and sent out an update kit all hobbits that ship now have this as standard it shipped to the uk with a pretty good base code and has 3 updates since the first showing at 8 bit flip

The design and implementation of those LED boards is shambolic. I could forgive the under specced components at a push but to wire them in series is laughable.

Stern are no better but up until recently were much cheaper.


Both manufactures need to employ better design engineers and operate a better testing program.

 

[chris b]

i have also fixed sterns with the same led issues ac dc premium being the worst tnt board goes down nothing works
oh and what about sterns great led displays you are lucky if you get a year out of one without a line stuck on and you wont get a replacement if it does