Quoted from DiabloRush:TMK, there's not been a single report of a blown node 10 on a game with the connector removed.
Quoted from SterlingRush:I believe there is one report, within the last 2-3 pages, but we asked to see pictures, which have not been provided of the fixes.
How it was done, and the experience behind it, might have been a factor, not sure without pics.
That was mine. Me, the first person to suggest removing the connector, the guy who came up with the term "connectorectomy."
To sum up, I removed the connector and everything seemed fine. Then my Node 10 smoked anyways, many plays later, after a few days.
Funny thing was, the game did not subsequently complain about my Node 10, it evidently went bad slowly enough as to not blow the card I/O, just the motor driver chip.
Turns out my motor lead zip ties were crazy tight, which had to have stretched the flimsy braided wires internally and compromised them. Pics were provided. I don't remember anyone asking to see my splice job, there's nothing to see but some shrink tubing, and anyway the circuit on each side of the motor is still 9 ohms, although the weakened wires evidently cause trouble under actual load conditions.
Thus the best fix would be to replace the motor with one that has leads that reach all the way to the node board.
And if you're doing a connectorectomy, if the zip ties are smooshing the extra rubbery insulation on your motor leads at all, I'd cut the wire ahead of them and splice in another set of wires to the other splice.
Crazy how two modes of failure arose on the same component!
Disclaimer: it could be that I just had a weak node board; one anecdote is probably not conclusive proof of anything...