Fixed LOTR Ring Ramp/Magnet Issues - Finally!
MRWEELR
ring shot. I don't even play the game much anymore because the ring
shot was only makeable about 2/10 times, at best. Tonight, I spent
about 3 hours adjusting the ramp, magnet assembly, and plastics around
the ramp. It turns out it was a combination of things that caused so
many missed ring shots on my game. First, the ramp itself was pointed
way over to the left of the ring entrance...was like this since day
one. I didn't think there was any way to adjust it, but there are two
nuts under the playfield that secure the ramp to the playfield and the
ramp allows for quite a bit of horizontal adjustment after loosening
these. Second problem was the gate switch assembly that is situated
just to the right of the ramp was secured in such a way that the ramp
could not move to the right where it needed to be without loosening the
two metal posts that secure this switch assembly and adjusting it by
moving it to the right.
Third, the clear plastic just below the ramp appeared to be interfering
with/catching the ball as it traveled up toward the ring entrance.
Again, adjusting things solved that problem. One other thing I noticed
was the translucent round ring entrance plastic was not perfectly
centered on the magnet. I think the ball may have been catching the
upper lip of the magnet entrance so I unscrewed this plastic and
tweaked it as well to get it centered. The last thing I found was my
damn ring magnet fuse was blown out (ugh). No wonder the magnet was
never holding the ball during DTR like it should. Replaced the 250v 4a
fuse with a 250v 5a SB and now the ring magnet works like a champ.
I put everything back together and played about 5 games in a row.
During on of the games, I reached DTR and got the first ball locked in
the magnet. The ball hovered in the magnet for a good minute while I
tried to knock it out, so it's working as it should :-) I can now make
ring shots consistently, even when the flippers become wet noodles
after 30 mins. of gameplay. I'd say at least 5/10 ring shots are now
successful, which is MUCH better than it was before. The game is fun to
play again now that I can actually make the ring shot during DTR and
Ring Frenzy modes. This game is still one clunky MF just like TSPP, but
if you get everything adjusted and dialed in, it makes gameplay much
more enjoyable. Too bad Stern can't get their assemblers to do this at
the factory before selling these for $4000+, but then we'd all bitch
about the dimples in the playfields on our NIB games.
BTW, I removed the spinner and plastics around the ramp while adjusting
it and put the game into the ring magnet test mode. I then continuously
rolled pinballs up the ramp from the flipper area to see how the
different ramp angles affected the ball behavior. This really helped to
get it dialed in.
On a separate note, I installed the 10.0 CPU and Display ROMs a few
days ago and did the sound board OS upgrade to 8.0 per service bulletin
157:
http://sternpinball.com/SB/ServiceBulletin_157.html
To my disappointment, the "A Fine Hit" quote during War of the Ents is
still cutting out...very annoying. Maybe I'll give Stern support a call
and ask them for a new sound board or something. It's done this since
day one out of the box.
-Jeremy
LOTR, TSPP, MM, SS, TS
Nwojedi
> To my disappointment, the "A Fine Hit" quote during War of the Ents is
> still cutting out...very annoying. Maybe I'll give Stern support a call
> and ask them for a new sound board or something. It's done this since
> day one out of the box.
>
> -Jeremy
> LOTR, TSPP, MM, SS, TS
Mine does the same thing. There is a flash rom you can get, that you
swap out. UPdate, and then put your originals back in, and is suppose
to clear up the issue. I havn't done it yet, but others I know have
and fixed the problem.
CraigC
> Mine does the same thing. There is a flash rom you can get, that you
> swap out. UPdate, and then put your originals back in, and is suppose
> to clear up the issue. I havn't done it yet, but others I know have
> and fixed the problem.
That's what OS8 should fix. make sure that you do the OS8 upgrade
correctly. That led should flash 8 times when done. I made the mistake
of thinking that flashing continuously meant that the LED was flashing
which happens pretty quickly. It will take a few minutes for the LED to
go from flashing to flashing quickly....that is when it has finaly
upgraded.
-c
MRWEELR
rebooting the machine. I also set the three jumpers back to their
original positions. I guess something is still not right. Maybe my
EPROM U7 is just bad or something. I will contact Stern support and go
from there. Will post a follow-up when I find a solution.
-Jeremy