Ok fellow Pinsider's got a question I have had Guardians for almost 2 months and love it and first NIB Stern that worked fine out of the box well now when machine boot's up get locating Node Boards, 9 not found, I have checked the cables and connections all seem fine so believe it is the board itself put ticket to Stern haven't heard anything back yet, so my questions is there anything else I can try and is this covered under warranty as looking online and see that they only cover for 60 days I am at 59 is there a tech support number I could call as obviously hoping to have ticket entered prior to warranty expiring if covered.

node 9 (resized).JPG

Ok will try distributor, have you heard others having node failures, was yours board 9 as well?

Well talked with Stern was surprised how easy it was to get the replacement node so this must be a bigger issue then they are letting on.

I understand full well that it is pinball and things will fail but don't agree that they should fail in less than 60 days and not being on location, this game has less than 200 plays. My concern is with these new Node boards, how long are they expected to last and when they fail are we all willing to fork out $219.00 for each one that does, yes could be multiple things but the more things each board does the better chance for something failing. Yes I am very glad it happened now and was covered by warranty, but if Stern knows there is an issue that these boards are not up to the task at hand is it fair for those that have machines out of warranty to have to pay this for each Spike 2 system they have to get them operational again. the older machines you could replace a $1.00 circuit and be on your way now with everything on this one board you have to replace 90% of what's working to fix the one thing that is not. I understand Sterns thought on this, and it does make (new) owners lives easier that they just have to replace a board, but those who have repaired these fun machines are seeing there is a cost to convenience. It is a throw away society and pinball is becoming in a way part of that. Sorry end of rant, but when you spend 8K on anything I think you would want it to work well for a period of time.

I was under the impression that this was more of an issue just talking to friends that have games on location they do seem to fail early, but since Spike II hasn't been out that many years was wondering if could be more of an issue down the road or if let's say when Stern goes to the next system will these boards still be produced. I am glad to hear Stern is being flexible with replacements and do hope this is a non-issue.