Well two places to start. First would be connection. There are Ethernet cables (cat 5 cables with RJ45 connectors on them), going from node board to node board. Check all of them by unplugging, and plugging them back in.

If that doesn't help, call your distributor and let them know you think you have a bad node board. They may (depending on your level of expertise) walk you through some diagnostics. They may have you swap node boards with a different one in the game to see if the failure moves.

Finally, if the game is still under warranty, they will send you a new node board. Or if not, they still might depending how new the game is. And barring warranty replacement, they will be happy to sell you a new node board.

This happened to me because I forgot to change the dipswitch on the node board to match the pattern of the one you replaced. 10 second easy fix on something I simply forgot to do.

Hope that helps.

Does it have the Stern topper?

The topper gets daisy chained right off the MPU. If you removed the topper and did not plug it back in...none of your node boards will be recognized

Not to hijack the thread but can someone tell me where the node board gets its update from. My machine is not connected to the internet. Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question.

The CPU updates them - usually when new code is installed (via USB) or when a node board is replaced.

Check at the MPU and the 'T' for the topper. I bet your problem is there.

Could you post a picture of the failed node board?

Contact your distributor. You would need to go through them for a replacement and also they would offer some diagnosis.

Just bumping this thread because this exact same thing happened to me, and this suggestion hit the bullseye.

I plugged the two RJ45 cables from my dragon topper into the wrong inputs and it disabled the communication to the Node 1 board. Told Chas about it at Stern, and he had no idea why that would happen...but it happened.

Just in case anyone else moves their machine (like Toro1966 and I both did) and don't reassemble the topper EXACTLY as it was. It'll cause some headaches...

Same thing happened to us with the 1,8,9 error. It wasn't seeing the first node board (assuming 1) because the topper was unplugged and the cable that originally plugged into the topper 'T'...was installed in the wrong port on the MPU (there are at least 2).

I 'think' it needs to be installed in the left one on the MPU...but that was a a few months...and many beers ago

No...mine was in the right one. And while I was on the phone with Chas, he had me swap the line going from the cpu to node 1 between those two cpu jacks...to no effect. I think he said they were interchangable...or perhaps it was just to see if the cpu would read node 1 from the other jack. Who knows? But it works now, so thank you!

Contact your distributor again.

You need to call Stern directly. They are good at troubleshooting these over the phone. 1-800-KICKERS

Sorry you are having trouble...what you face is one of the main drawbacks to the spike system. "Call stern" is simply not acceptable and leaves a game down for much too long. We cannot diagnose these node boards without schematics. Big problem IMO. I'm sure stern will help you out and resolve it, but clearly you'd like to fix it yourself more quickly if possible. They may send you a new board, hopefully no charge, but this results in even more down time.

Did you check the dip switch settings on the new boards. They should match what you took out.

I am no expert, but I think just disconnecting the topper may not prevent the system from looking for it. Did you disable topper from the menu options?

This doesn't make sense to me. You're obviously knowledgeable with this stuff. You have tried to go through the basics, and it sounds like you got a replacement board for node 1 (that is my assumption from you saying "Replaced Node 1 board today.", but the way you say it, maybe my assumption is incorrect). After more than a month, why are you not on the phone with your distributor or Stern directly? What is the actual situation here?

What was the resolution on this?

I'm curious as I have a pro and all symptoms pointed to bad node board 9. I purchased said board for $200 plus shipping and this did not solve my issue (this was AFTER Stern sent me the wrong board and argued with me they did so...I had to physically send them photos to prove their error - not sure if it was on Stern or distributor for ordering wrong part. either way my pin has been down for nearly 2 months with no resolution. I'm a busy guy and don't have the availability to call Stern directly when I'm physically with my pin so that adds to the delay and headaches).