Quoted from TimO:Thanks for your post and pic! It’s reassuring to know someone else has successfully gone through this process. About how long did it take to get at the board and did you need anything other than screw and nut drivers to do it?
Removing it probably took an hour, but I stopped a couple of times. But, getting that board out was a process, no question. I first was able to remove the connectors with my fingers (starting with the connectors to the right and working my way to the two ethernet connections) and then used a long phillips screwdriver to get the four screws loose and carefully removed the board from the mess of wires. The four screws on the board should stay in place even when they are loose.
I originally started to remove the entire turntable, but that job seemed a little bit above my repair level and even after studying the schematic and turning a couple of screws, I decided to try to just remove the board without tearing the whole thing apart.
Did you talk to Stern? When I reached out to them, the tech said I needed to go through my distributor to get a new node board. He didn't seem surprised about the issue either, so I think this is a known problem.