Williams Solved Comet (Williams, 1985) start button problem

[pinfitness]

I am new to the pinball ownership world and seem to be far less competent than most on this site. I recently purchased a Comet and have been having a great time playing it. It is set to free play and would have problems starting a new game after a match. Now the start button doesn't work at all. It powers on and within about 2 seconds I hear a click and the audio stops. The playfield lights continue to work, however. Something is telling the machine not to respond to pressing the start button. Any ideas on a simple fix or at least enlightening me so I don't appear clueless to a repair guy. Thanks, in advance, for any help.

 

[madsci]

First place to check would be the start button switch itself. It could be dirty or bad altogether. If you power down the game, then pull up the playfield, you'll see the switch.
First, push the button in and visually verify that the switch leads make contact with each other when the button is pressed.

if it doesn't, gently bend the innermost lead (the one farthest from the actual button.) towards the other. Be sure they do not touch when the button is not being pressed. Close the game and try again.

If it does make good contact, take a stiff white credit card, fold it in half, and run it between the leafs of the switch while lightly pressing them together. Move the card around and it will scrape the inside of the leads and clean them. Once that's done, close up the game and try again.

If neither of these work, the switch itself could be bad. Get a new one and swap it out. If all that doesn't work, it might be a board issue.

 

[pinfitness]

First of all, thanks for your feedback. I did check the switch and it appears to be okay. When the machine is powered on there is a distinct click about 2 seconds later at which point the audio stops. That click is new. To add to the story, I left the machine on and came back an hour later and the start button worked fine.

 

[madsci]

When the start button worked, did the sound come back during gameplay, or does it remain off?

 

[pinfitness]

When it worked, everything was fine. Game played perfectly. It is as if it were not on free play and the machine was waiting for some quarters. At first it would happen only after a match. Now it is random. Unplugging the machine works sometimes. Is this a software issue? Could a factory reset help? I am clueless.

 

[madsci]

If the sound works fine when playing a game, but cuts out during the attract mode, then I'm not sure. Would sound like a software problem, but that's very rare on older machines. Usually they either work or don't work. Could be something odd like the speaker going, but I've not been involved in pins long enough to know for sure from experience. To me, it sounds like some sort of intermittent connectivity issue, but i'd have to see it in person to really have a clue. I'll ask around in my local group of pinheads and see if they have any other ideas for you. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

 

[pinfitness]

Actually, now I noticed the click that I noticed just after I power on the machine is there even when the start button works properly. All I can figure now is that the start button works randomly. I am baffled.

 

[spalmer]

Check the switched in the ball trough. You may be having an issue were on of them is not detecting the ball. I had this happen recently on my Rollergames. Slight vibration would make the switch move ever so slightly and all was good again.

 

[pinfitness]

Thanks. I will give it a try. When this first started to happen it seemed shaking the machine helped on occasion. It may have been coincidence and just a way to take out my frustrations! I will check it out.

 

[johnabe]

I know it is a little late to be adding to this post, but I just had the exact same problem with my White Water; start button would not work. Also plumb bob tilt and slam tilt not working. What these switches all have in common is that they go from the board in the bottom front of the cabinet to the backbox. I traced the problem to a poor connection at the backbox J212. Removed and reseated that connector a few times and the start button now works.

 

[pinfitness]

Actually, it is not too late because I am still having intermittent start button problems. It usually happens when I first turn the machine on. Were your problems "intermittent" as well? Thanks.

 

[johnabe]

It was an intermittent problem. I first checked the circuits by connecting a jumper wire from J207 pin 1 to J209 pin 3, to simulate the start button contact. It would start, so I knew the problem was somewhere on this side of the connection (including the connection itself). Re-seating the connector J212 corrected it, but I am sure it will eventually reoccur, but may take some time.

 

[anniebananie]

I had a similar problem. My Twilight Zone start button wasn't working. All else appeared to be in order, so my hub and I assumed the issue was near the start button. Thanks to Johnabe's post, we checked J212.

Yep, it wasnt connected at all. The repairman who had left just hours earlier (fixed some other issue) had the connector block reattached to J208 (2 spaces over). We moved the connector block to J212, and like magic, everything worked!

 

[Rocca]

Can someone tell me where the start button is on a 1960 Williams kingpin pinball machine

 

[pinballdaveh]

Can someone tell me where the start button is on a 1960 Williams kingpin pinball machine

The pinball database doesn’t show
A listing for williams kingpin.
Can you post a pic of the front of the machine.