Search Pinside for DIY Flipper Fans. You can built a set for less than $20. Super easy.

I went with these same fans from pinside.

Got my Smaug and I already have problems. The lightning sometimes froze. When I restart the pinball machine everything is ok again. But after some times it happens again. I already try to unplug and plug in the mini usb connector but that doesn’t help? Any idea ?

Thanks

Move around the big cable hoses a bit and see if it improves.

Might be a loose ground.

Could be a bag board issue? reseat the connections to it?

On my WOZ the lights always used to be intermittent.

I replaced the big bundles of wal-nuts for the lev-r-lock style and now its stable.

Custom topper.

IMG_8406 (resized).jpeg

Freezing lights is a sign of a fried BAG board from the servo for Smaug's mouth not being properly calibrated. He crushes his teeth and pulls a bunch of amps all the time when that happens creating a ton of heat on the BAG board that then cooks.

Go into his settings and make sure he isn't over driving the jaw in the closed or open position. After that I'm going to guess you are going to need a new BAG board.

Ok, I will check . What is a bag board ? Maybe you have a picture or a link ?

Thank you

Page D-56 in the manual has a line drawing. It's hanging under the playfield.

LTG : )

when i go to the dragon mouth test and i press the start button, should the mouth move ? i only here the voice.

Pull off the pile of gold (its only held on with 2 screws)

Examine the servo/linkage and little controller board as well as the tiny connector wires. Maybe the connector fell off or the servo arm came loose?

OFTEN the servo's are burnt up and the little board gets fried from trying to move a seized up servo if the game was routed.

Sometimes the connector also gets burned up.

In extreme cases the BAG board gets damaged (not good), its best to look at the servo parts now before something else happens.

Fortunately its easy to replace al the parts.

I think I found it, I had a loose contact on the Smaug board.

For the moment it works again

Thanks

Yes. Should move to “I think our little game ends here”.

Is a wired (cat cable) internet connection with the hobbit pinball machine possible ? I tried it but then it wouldn’t boot anymore.

Having an ethernet cable plugged into the factory ethernet port shouldn't stop it from booting. I've used both ethernet and wireless plugged into the USB dongle and mine boots fine either way. Both Beta and Production firmware releases work fine. I've always used a CAT 5E cable. I would power off your pin, and then power cycle your modem/router, then power the pin back on. If it still hangs, try fatcory resetting your modem (small hole in the back usually - use a tooth pick and hold it in until your lights start flashing). If that still fails then backup your machines settings to a thumb drive and reload the firmware to the latest version. I do recommend running Beta. Some nice enhancements were made.

Thanks. Will try it

I plug in the network cable after booting and then it works. I download new beta6 and after reboot it hangs again. If I unplug the network cable everything’s fine again. Any idea ?

CMOS on the mainboard is set to boot from network as the first device.

The SSD drive should be the first boot device in the CMOS

Where do you get the beta code? 3.12 looks like the last jjp has on the website?

I need a password to enter the bios

Anyone knows it ?

Thanks

Search Pinside for "bios password". It's all over the jjp threads.

LTG : )

Ok found it, that’s what it looks like. Network isn’t on first position, so any other ideas ?

IMG_8381 (resized).jpeg

How long have you waited for it to boot with the network cable plugged in?

Try disabling the network boot? Maybe?

Sometimes the computer just needs to give up on it and then go to the boot drive?

Is there more than one place to plug in the ethernet? There should only be one place in the back of the computer.

On a regular PC, plugging in a ethernet cable generally wont stop it from booting.

I havent tried to use ethernet on my game, I just added the wifi dongle, so Im just guessing at this point.

it won’t change , doesn’t matter how long I will wait

Here you can see it

The game is booting.

Its just not booting the hard disk.

It looks like its trying to boot from the network.

Maybe move the UEFI network down to the bottom with the other network setting or disable them if its possible.

The game should boot the dongle, then the hard disk but nothing else.

Its certainly an odd problem.

I guess its possible that the hard disk is taking a while to show up and is getting skipped?

Removing the network cable makes the computer poll the drives until the SSD is found.

Maybe a loose SSD cable or connection?

Maybe re-seat the SSD cables on the drive and/or on the mainboard, or replace the SATA data cable to the SSD? Might just need refreshing.

(just thinking aloud here)

i try different things, but didnt work:

disable network from the boot option
reinstall the software.

if i unplug cable or disable network in the bios everythings fine. Maybe others that have it running can take a look at the bios settings ?

Faulty SSD?

it is running when network is disabled, so how could the ssd have a problem ?

Fair enough. Very odd. I would check and reseat all connections in the backbox.

I have experienced this as well, but I believe it was on a different JJP. I didn't do any investigating, just unplugged the ethernet cable until after boot and all was good.

Is it possible to change the volume control for the headphone on the coin door to the main speakers ?

I bought the pinnovators external volume control.

Its super easy to install and I really like it.

I bought the coin door one, but they also sell a reject button version now.

https://pinnovators.myshopify.com/products/mech-mac-master-audio-control-for-american-jjp-stern-sam-spike-kit?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=0c65b9d63&pr_rec_pid=6706583634029&pr_ref_pid=4059478982765&pr_seq=uniform

This is the one I bought:

https://pinnovators.myshopify.com/products/jjp-mac-master-audio-control-panel?_pos=5&_sid=c459ebf97&_ss=r

I actually have one of these on all of my games as I use headphones.

If the game runs with network disabled, what problems does this cause?

None, except no internet connection. Which means no scorbit and no update Information

Ah, thanks for this info as well. The Hobbit I recently purchased has these and I didn’t know who the source was.

I think it has something to do with the PC not seeing the SSD fast enough.

If the PC cant see the drive then it goes onto trying to boot from the network.

It could be the length of the wires to it, or loose connectors.

If it were me, I would get shorter wires to the SSD and see if it works properly.

My SSD is all the way in the front of the game. The wires seem long to me.

Does your game have the original SSD in it?

If so, then it just might be getting slow to boot, if not, it might just be wire length.

You can install a Wifi dongle on Hobbit.

I would try a USB network dongle.

Get one that doesnt need windows drivers.

Just unplug the network cable... Scorebit has been gone for a long time now and is never coming back. You can install any updates via USB.

As long as you are running JJP code with Scorbit support, you can reach out to Scorbit and get put on one of their old servers where the connectivity still works.

But why? It adds nothing at this point. The horse is beyond dead.

Yup. Pretty cool.

Im actively trying to remove the Scorbit BS...

It was fun for a game or 2 then just silly...

I was just putting it out there as an option. Most people don't realize that Scorbit has continued to offer their service to JJP owners that specifically ask. Use it or don't, I have no skin in the game.

Put me down as happy with the capacitor upgrade did it myself with links in this thread and 3d files awesome community

After all these years of owning this machine I don't think I've ever heard, "I will have war". Granted, I shamefully admit I went through a phase when I didn't touch it for a couple years and I've only made BOTFA less than a couple handful of times and I've choked every single time (never beating the mode). Does this audio clip exist?

I understand why they likely don't offer a way to add/alter audio clips, but I wish JJP either provided an app or simply enabled SSH capability. Several dwarves had so few lines in the standard cut of the movie so I understand why the dwarve audio clips are few and repetitive. More material to pull from using the extended version of the movies. It's not like the hard drive doesn't have enough space to handle the additional stuff.

Has anyone added lube or dielectric grease to the beast mech rails? Certainly it would reduce noise and the drag of metal on metal. They really are noisy as is.

I am enjoying the Beta 9 though, giving thanks and kudos when and where due!

There’s a beta code for hobbit? What does it have that currently isn’t in the game?

I use silicone grease like sil-glyde or super lube, on all rubbing metal.

Its good stuff and doesnt dry out or get gummed up.

I also use Teflon oil on the spinner wires (just the tiniest drop here)
https://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-Viscosity-Teflon-Precision/dp/B009M3H4I2/ref=sr_1_1

Get to Erebor in one hit as the spinners will spin like crazy!

Thanks for the AI powered vocal remover tip!

Yep! Info found here:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-open-beta-program

You're welcome. Had I not been bankrupted by 2 bathroom remodels I'd have a pinsound making the best audio packages ever. Feel free to take the torch and run with it.
I do have a tube of lube (Dr. Suess right there). It's in a gray tube, think I got it from pinballlife ... I did add that to all my spinners. Hell yes Erebor more easily reached!

A lot

So I had to buy a replacement bracket for the ELF targets because that little black piece that holds one of the drop targets up broke and it’s riveted. Is swapping the components to the new bracket straight forward?