FP Technical Tips

Unable to start a game… this does happen with a 40+ year old machine:

  1. If you are in Audits mode: 04 appears on display – try switching off & back on quickly. You should be in attract mode, but would then need to add credits from the coin door to start a game.
  2. Firepowerâ„¢ needs to “see” all 3 balls on the ball ramp (meaning the switches work and are closed) to be able to start a game. So the switch matrix needs to be working correctly. That means the CPU board Boots and has a goood connection to a working Driver board.
  3. You can use a “switch test” in diagnostics to prove they are registering and whether they are open or closed. Switch numbers for the ball ramp are in the documents on this site. See also the Instruction booklet, Flipper Manual and also visit PinWiki, you don’t know how to start a switch test. Best of luck.

Warning: Don’t ever file or sandpaper any small switch blades (other than large flipper button blades), just use a business card with gentle pressure to clean the carbon off the contacts. Once you file or sandpaper the plating, they will need to be replaced to be reliable.

Don’t just start replacing all the switches with new ones, if you haven’t filed them! I have seen several switches in my Firepowerâ„¢ games that were assembled incorrectly at the factory. They had the plating facing outwards on some of the blades, which makes them less reliable. If you detect this, take the switch blades apart carefully and reassemble them so the plated contacts face each other. You can do this without unsoldering the wires if you are patient.