Repair logs are quick summaries of workshop and on-site repairs. If your machine needs a service, 📬 Contact Us to discuss how we can help!
Let's fix this Elvira LE. This one wasn't booting up. Power switch was on but there were no lights on the playfield, no display, nothing! All fuses were OK and voltages were all present as well. To this end, the diagnostic LEDs on the CPU board are handy for determining whether it's a voltage problem or a CPU problem. LEDs were all lit except for VMA and VMB. A typical sign that the CPU just isn't booting up.
Spike system games are notorious for problems with the game code on the SD card so this should always be the first stop. The card slot breaks, the card unseats itself, or the data on it becomes corrupted. Quickest route for troubleshooting is to replace the SD card and flash it with new game code. Stern's website has instructions on how to do so. Once the new card was in the game, it booted right up. The old card now lives in the bin!
After some playtesting another issue revealed itself. The up-kicker in the cellar would often fire multiple times even when there was no ball in there. The opto switch appeared to work OK, but I know better than to trust a Stern opto board. The receiver side seemed OK and tested fine with an external light. So it was the transmitting side that was the issue. The transmitter board is under the mansion plastic, and can be adjusted without removing too much hardware as there's a hole in the metal bracket which you can use to loosen the board. Just remove the turret plastic (1 screw) and the main mansion plastic (2 screws). I did this and repositioned the transmitter board slightly so it would align better with the receiver opto. No more issues after that!
