KISS (LE)
Stern, 2015
KISS (Premium)
Stern, 2015Started a game and noticed many LED's were out. Went into diagnostic mode and confirmed the lights were out. Power cycled the machine and it tried to update node boards and then failed (photos below).
Any idea how to fix this? I played the game earlier today and it was working fine.
Thanks for any pointers,
snaroff
IMG_9893 (resized).jpgIMG_9894 (resized).jpgIMG_9895 (resized).jpgquite simple, as lot of others guys, node board is/are dead... contact STERN
and welcome to "this" club :/
If I were you, I’d double check to make sure all Ethernet cables are plugged in securely on all boards. Just because they look plugged in, doesn’t mean they are. I had a similar issue on my GB when I installed the topper. Turned out one of the Ethernet cables in the new topper was not plugged in and seated fully.
Quoted from Tempest:Had the same happen to my LE last summer. Node board dead.... Contact your dealer or Stern for a replacement. It's a 10 minute fix.
Ended up being Node 9 in the center of the PF. Ordered a new one from my distributor yesterday. Considering the game was purchased NIB and has only 400 plays, it's a bummer. My LOTR has 6-7 thousand plays and has never had any board issues. They don't make 'um like the use to.
Thanks for the response!
snaroff
Quoted from snaroff:Ended up being Node 9 in the center of the PF. Ordered a new one from my distributor yesterday. Considering the game was purchased NIB and has only 400 plays, it's a bummer. My LOTR has 6-7 thousand plays and has never had any board issues. They don't make 'um like the use to.
Thanks for the response!
snaroff
Did Stern say they wouldn’t help you? I get you’ve had it a bit, but they’re usually really generous.
Marc
Quoted from pintechev:Did Stern say they wouldn’t help you? I get you’ve had it a bit, but they’re usually really generous.
Marc
Chas helped me diagnose the issue and suggested I order a node board through my distributor. The pin is from 2015, so I don't expect them to ship me one free of charge. I'm sure if I bitched and moaned to the right person, I could get a freebee, but I wasn't in the mood to grovel for one.
It's just one more reason to not be impressed with Spike...my older Stern's consistently out perform the newer games (in terms of error free behavior). To be honest, my B/W games are more reliable than the new Sterns (and if the B/W boards have a problem, low cost fixes are easy from many hobbyists).
snaroff
Quoted from Tempest:Had the same happen to my LE last summer. Node board dead.... Contact your dealer or Stern for a replacement. It's a 10 minute fix.
Received my "new" node board yesterday. Did your replacement have the following jumper hacks on the back?
I asked Chas about it and he claims this was a modification to all node boards of this type (which I guess were only in the first generation Spike machines).
Curious,
snaroff
IMG_9941 (resized).jpgLooks like they used a MIG welder on that center component.
I know when I had a bad DMD they sent me a replacement under warranty. It was clearly repaired previously and not a brand new replacement.
Quoted from snaroff:Received my "new" node board yesterday. Did your replacement have the following jumper hacks on the back?
I asked Chas about it and he claims this was a modification to all node boards of this type (which I guess were only in the first generation Spike machines).
Curious,
snaroff
[quoted image]
I can't tell from the orientation...did they jumper the base of three transistors together?? Wonder what the purpose of THAT is?
Quoted from PinMonk:I can't tell from the orientation...did they jumper the base of three transistors together?? Wonder what the purpose of THAT is?
More reliable connection, maybe the upper side traces aren't robust enough?
Rob
Quoted from Rob_G:More reliable connection, maybe the upper side traces aren't robust enough?
Rob
That's the "vibe" I got for speaking with Chas. He claims all the "new" Node 9 boards on the 1st generation Spike machines have these adhoc looking wires soldered on the back of the circuit board.
If this is true, and the original boards had a major bug that caused them to fail prematurely (in my case after 400 plays), it seems like the replacement board should be covered by Stern.
As you can see in this photo, my original board looks fresher/newer than the part I just paid $185 for (which I thought would be new/pristine).
I don't mind paying for a new board, but it doesn't feel good to expect new and get restored/hacked. Sometimes it feels like Stern is being less than totally upfront with us. Oh well...seems like the way of the world nowadays.
snaroff
IMG_9939 (resized).jpgQuoted from snaroff:That's the "vibe" I got for speaking with Chas. He claims all the "new" Node 9 boards on the 1st generation Spike machines have these adhoc looking wires soldered on the back of the circuit board.
If this is true, and the original boards had a major bug that caused them to fail prematurely (in my case after 400 plays), it seems like the replacement board should be covered by Stern.
As you can see in this photo, my original board looks fresher/newer than the part I just paid $185 for (which I thought would be new/pristine).
I don't mind paying for a new board, but it doesn't feel good to expect new and get restored/hacked. Sometimes it feels like Stern is being less than totally upfront with us. Oh well...seems like the way of the world nowadays.
snaroff
[quoted image]
You should run the same jumpers on your old board and see if that revives it...
Rob
Quoted from snaroff:That's the "vibe" I got for speaking with Chas. He claims all the "new" Node 9 boards on the 1st generation Spike machines have these adhoc looking wires soldered on the back of the circuit board.
If this is true, and the original boards had a major bug that caused them to fail prematurely (in my case after 400 plays), it seems like the replacement board should be covered by Stern.
As you can see in this photo, my original board looks fresher/newer than the part I just paid $185 for (which I thought would be new/pristine).
I don't mind paying for a new board, but it doesn't feel good to expect new and get restored/hacked. Sometimes it feels like Stern is being less than totally upfront with us. Oh well...seems like the way of the world nowadays.
snaroff
[quoted image]
That was why I thought you should have asked Stern to do something.
Quoted from pintechev:That was why I thought you should have asked Stern to do something.
In hindsight, you were obviously right!
When my board failed, I had no clue that Stern modified *all* boards of this ilk to include the jumpers (only shipped with GOT/KISS IIRC). Seems like they should have issued a bulletin about this?
In any event, Stern/Chas did "do the right thing" and are going to warranty the part (since this board is known to fail prematurely without the jumpers).
Thanks for your advice/follow-up,
snaroff
Quoted from mario_1_up:welcome to the club. I'm $500 deep into a node board failure.
Ouch. What game? How many plays?
snaroff
Quoted from snaroff:In hindsight, you were obviously right!
When my board failed, I had no clue that Stern modified *all* boards of this ilk to include the jumpers (only shipped with GOT/KISS IIRC). Seems like they should have issued a bulletin about this?
In any event, Stern/Chas did "do the right thing" and are going to warranty the part (since this board is known to fail prematurely without the jumpers).
Thanks for your advice/follow-up,
snaroff
Glad to hear this and glad your game is running again!
Quoted from snaroff:Ouch. What game? How many plays?
snaroff
Ghost busters. something went bad and it blew out 1 node 5 light boards. now that all of them work again I found that 7 of the single lamps board and 11 of the flashers and 1 rgb led board are blown. Which would be over well over $200 to fix I decided to order all the resistors and leds and see if I can fix them. The game only has 4700 plays on it.
Quoted from mario_1_up:Ghost busters. something went bad and it blew out 1 node 5 light boards. now that all of them work again I found that 7 of the single lamps board and 11 of the flashers and 1 rgb led board are blown. Which would be over well over $200 to fix I decided to order all the resistors and leds and see if I can fix them. The game only has 4700 plays on it.
Do report back. We need to get some spike repair info out in the world since Stern isn't in any hurry to share.
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