Maybe this is the long term fix for a bad design?

I've started some threads about bizarre behavior with my spike games. Spike may still be a work in progress. I'd install that board and see how it works.

Others have posted that they got similar "fixes" on returned boards. So yes it is fine.

Ah misunderstood you.

I think he means he just removed the original board. Not the hacks.

Good call. 3 hours of sleep will do that to you.
Anyway the node boards seem to be failing like crazy on the new sterns. They really need to figure it out.

Does the shooter lane switch opening kill the power to the kicker? Like maybe the shooter switch is flakey and thats where the limp action comes from? NO IDEAR.

Soldering components to a board isn't considered a hack. This is a perfectly acceptable method of improving a design before the next set is run. It happens all the time even on things like TV sets. There is nothing wrong with a soldered wire between two points vs a board trace between the same two points. In many cases, the board trace is thinner and more fragile than the wire. Do not focus on the fact that the board has had some rework done to it as an indicator of quality. That's a poor and incorrect metric.

Next, swapping node board 8 and 9 was great advice. Seeing if the problem moved after that would have been great data to help troubleshoot your game. Stern tech support isn't run by psychics so you have do some things go get proper data in order to properly diagnose the issue.

It sounds like you've jumped to the conclusion that node board 8 is defective and the new "hacked" one is also defective. I think you are also assuming something is damaging the boards in position 8. I disagree with all this. In fact, it sounds like node board 8 is working fine and you have two working node board 8's now (the original and the one stern sent). Had you originally swapped node 8 and node 9 and the problem didn't change, then I'd suspect it would have been very enlightening and Chaz would have moved onto someone other than node boards.

I think at this point, I would install one of your extra node boards into node 9 position and see if anything else in the game acts up. If not, you can conclude that the node board is fine. Perhaps one of the cables that connects the node boards is flaky. It's an odd situation if the auto launcher works perfectly the first time of every game then it indicates that the thing can work.

If the ball kicks into the shooter lane and is auto launched, it usually indicates that a game switch somewhere is being triggered. This can be detected by going into the switch test and seeing which switches are active. Perhaps one is machine gunning or stuck closed. I think I'd start with these two steps.

Of course all this assumes the symptoms are as you described. The auto launch works perfectly once the first time of every game. If you meant it worked once and never works again until the node board is swapped again, that may point to some thing entirely different.

It's frustrating getting a game that doesn't work. But working through the troubleshooting and you will learn a lot about how the game works and once it's fixed, it'll be like new and you'll be all the better for it.

Sorry about your problems with the GB. But Mark is right on the money here. Also, if you would have followed Chaz's advice, you wouldn't be out the $200 advance fee or the wasted time. He was offering solid troubleshooting advice and you chose to ignore it. A number of things go into making the kicker kick properly. Node boards, main board, mechanical bits in the mech itself, and of course all the wiring. You need to rule each item out systematically in order to find the problem. If you don't want to have to do the thinking, that is perfectly ok. Just shut up and be the techs eyes and ears. They don't need your input, they just need to hear the results of what they tell you to do after you follow their instructions exactly. Yes, I've been on both ends of this call many times. Best wishes to getting this figured out as quickly as possible. Take care,

-Jeff

I was pissed when the replacement board for my customer Kiss Pro had jumper wires. Thought Stern was sending out reworked boards instead of new ones. Of course the new in box failed instantly for VUK. I switched boards around to get him going, so it then had a sling not work until the board came in. *Remember the dip switch setting which change depending where the board is used*. Customer also has a bad SD card. I'm a dealer & I hate doing free warranty service. Seems like only 1 in 4 or 5 are good out of the box.

Markmon wrote "Soldering components to a board isn't considered a hack. This is a perfectly acceptable method of improving a design before the next set is run. It happens all the time even on things like TV set"

Here here! I think the OP might be surprised at how often this legit situation occurs.

You just don't typically work on boards for other devices.

Yup, just an engineering change. Happens all the time.

And I also agree with Mark 100%. Swapping the boards right away was the correct step towards diagnosing the real issue. It would allow quick diagnosis of it being the board or something else.