Fairlight-CMI

The machine is a 9.34 CMI : I bought the VGA card later from Peter Wielk, and installed it without issue when the machine was still working.

The fuse is a tiny surface mounted thing on the Main on the main ESP-CG3 card. I blew it because I kicked the VGA plug out by accident while it was running, causing a bit of a spark.

As far as I can tell, the missing pin on the CMI ribbon port is unused (from the series III service manual), so Im ignoring this for the moment.

"And you said it would "see" the channel cards, I'm assuming you mean the startup kmon screen where it does a check of what's installed in the system?" yes exactly.

In fact the mptask error still existed at the point the CMI32 was faulty : I assumed that the replacement of the CMI32 card might clear this, but it turns out this is an additional issue.

I have checked the cards location both against the notes I made as I was disassembling it, and the KMI site, and seems to be OK.

I will read the q777 in detail later.

If peter has some wfm32 cards left I will for sure buy one 

Again, much appreciated 


--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, Joe Sleator wrote:

OK, so when you say VGA video card, you must mean the little board that has

the VGA plug on it? The RGB01? Mine doesn't have a fuse. Strange.

So you have a colour system? An MFX1 or MFX2?

It's certainly at least rev 6 as you've got a wave super.

Then this pin on the CMI 28 got broke....but you could leave that alone and

the CMI would still boot up and go, it just wouldn't do midi or normal

keyboard notes. But you could play sequences and stuff.

So you fixed that and now the CMI28 apparently has some other problem.

And you said it would "see" the channel cards, I'm assuming you mean the

startup kmon screen where it does a check of what's installed in the system?

Maybe a silly question, but maybe its a good time to just audit what's in

which slot in the machine. Are you quite sure everything's back the way it

was supposed to be? If it boots, even part-way, I daresay _some_ of the

cards must be right. Also, if you're running a WFM32 I'd put it all the way

over to the far end of the WRAM sockets. If you're not running a WFM32, go

get one from Peter Wielk.

BTW, in future, cleaning an old computer system that isn't broken, may cause

it to start playing up, whether by static damage due to disassembly, or due

to incorrect reassembly, or just brittleness. I tend only to clean a CMI if

the dirt is so bad it's obstructing the airflow. Just flicking a

feather-duster or synthetic cloth across a board can be enough to statically

charge and damage it, especially in winter or desert conditions with dry

air. Sounds obsessive, but it's true.

Humidity is your friend, unless you're a chip that will be wave-soldered!

I will check the q777 is always the in : I suspect it is fine as the

system is booting from SCSI disk.

Erm, there's a bit more to it than that in the wave super system. You'll

want to make sure the SCSI cable is plugged into the wave super, rather than

the Q777, but that Q777 is in the right-most slot, to the right of the

floppy board. For a good primer on why the 777 still needs to be there, read

KMI's site, under CMI hardware, where it talks about DMA on a series III.

Anyway, I think you'll get there.

Best of luck,

Joe

On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 12:04 AM, arroncx wrote:

Hi Joe :

OK : so the history in summery is that the machine was working, and then it

was in storage for a couple of years while I was moving about and working

out of the country.

When I got it back out of storage, the VGA video card blew a fuse, which I

replaced, I was not detecting any voice cards installed, and one of the pins

had snapped off the CMI28 ribbon connector. I should none that the first

thing that I did when I got it out of storage was disassemble the whole

system, partly to check it, but also because I needed to carry the mainframe

up three flights of steep stairs, and wanted it to be lighter.

Since then, I have replaced the CMI 32 card, and I can now see all the

voice cards.

Yes I typed DI : I don't have any reference for the diagnostic commands so

I was just guessing in the dark that the process found in this thread on the

fairlight boards would be something worth trying :

http://www.fairlightau.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?p=451&sid=e7792b9128e6d693314edccf7cd362ea

I will check the q777 is always the in : I suspect it is fine as the system

is booting from SCSI disk.

I really appreciate the suggestions : tonight I will try the following :

1) Reseat all socketed chips on CMI 28

2) Repet diagnostics with escape D only

3) Check the Card keys are present and the pins are lined up correctly (I

have the top off the system and so can confirm visually)

4) Check the Q777 is seated OK.

Again : I really appreciate the suggestions 

Best wishes : Arron

--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, Joe Sleator wrote:

Hey Arron

So, that's Chris Alfred's "new" diagnostics screen for the Waveform

Super,

CMI41. The address error that occurred is happening in the other 68K

board,

the Wave Super, CMI41.

That screen has little to do with the CMI28, AFAIK

Are you saying you typed "DI" at the prompt? Are you sure it's not just

"D"?

I'm guessing the D command was diagnostics, and the I command told it to

do

something else, which caused the address error, unless my own memory's

faulty.

I think that since you said it booted from disk, up to getting mptask

running, that's a fair way in, and if CMI41 can do that, it's probably

working ok.

Another possible issue might be the DMA configuration of your machine. Is

the Q777 plugged in all the way at the right, or is there another card

there?

And can I ask, from when this machine did work, what all has changed? Did

it

work recently? Have you exchanged any cards already?

Without unpacking my Series III (still packed after recent move) I can't

remember what the various diag menu options are, but I'll need to set it

up

soon enough for other requirements.

But not long ago, we made some more WFM32s, and I seem to recall there

being

a memory test for CMI41. Maybe just "M".

If you do find the right key for the memory test, and I'm pretty sure

it's

just one letter for each thing, you may as well verify the memory for the

CMI41, even though I don't think that's your problem.

Where did you get your diagnostic key code info? Maybe double-check?

Another thing to look for whenever you have cards out, is there should be

a

key near the bottom of every backplane slot, that goes in the notches in

the

boards. When those are missing, all sorts of random things go wrong, as

the

pins don't line up!

What happens if you just type escape and D?

Good luck,

Joe

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 10:21 PM, arroncx wrote:

Hi there : Ive posted the error screen i get from the diagnostics in

the

group photos page if anyone can shed any light on what it means :)

Maybe one day there will be an upgrade where you can get a PC on a

fairlight sized card, and a Crystal Core board in the same format, and

then

just take all the old cards out of your fairlight, and wire up the old

music

keyboard via midi , and the outputs round the back as straight thru

sockets.

:)

Photo at :

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fairlight-CMI/photos/album/1576007894/pic/66577237/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

Cheers,

Arron

--- In Fairlight-CMI@yahoogroups.com, James Thomson

wrote:

Hi Joe,

I would think that CMI-3 board repair could be a fairly lucrative

sideline to compliment someone's main job. There are many of us who

would

pay a good price to have a board repaired as it is imperative to

keeping the

system running. I would pay £ 100.00 - £ 150.00 to have a faulty CMI-28

board repaired. This board seems to fail a lot and I think I have about

3

faulty CMI-28 boards ( rev 5.1 I believe ). The CMI 2X's will last

forever I

am sure but the CMI series 3 is a different matter. There is a market

there.

Jo Britt recently produced a run of CMI-2X USB boxes so that you can

use a

USB mouse and TFT screen instead of the lightpen and old green screen

monitor. They sold out immediately and there is demand for more. The

speed

improvement using a USB mouse as compared with the lightpen is

brilliant.

Using the whole CMI 2X is so much fluid now. The lightpen looks great

and

this can still be used as well as the USB mouse. Perhaps the recently

established Fairlight Instruments could provide a CMI-3 board repair

service

alongside their i-Pad and CMI-30A products ?

Cheers,

James

Magic Audio Co

Any Sound in Theory and in Practice

Studio 26

The Coach House

2 Upper York Street

Bristol BS2 8QN

U.K.

studio direct line: +44 (0)117 370 5810

mobile: +44 (0)7711 031 615

email: jamesthomson@

On 17 Feb 2011, at 09:45, Joe Sleator wrote:

I haven't found anyone who can repair the series 3 cards.

It's really a shame that these amazing instruments are not

supported.

OK, let's assume they were supported, and very well, better than

even a

2 year old Nokia phone, or a 69 MG Midget, or that old Russian space

suit I

can't get parts for any longer. :-D

Lets say you could fedex the card to a company, and they would

either

repair or replace the card, to good as new, with 90 day warranty, or

return

it to you and refund your shipping if it could not be repaired or

replaced

for whatever reason. Zero risk to you. And that company would even pay

you

for your broken boards if you decided not to get them shipped back.

What would that be worth, lets say, for a CMI28? Go on and quote me

a

price in any currency you'd care to. And how many paid Series III board

repairs do you reckon would come in per year? Not the sum-total of

broken

CMI boards, mind you, but just the ones people wanted repaired enough

to

pay.

Joe

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 7:52 AM, Gmail wrote:

Hi Arron,

This error message that you are getting is caused by a faulty

CMI-28

card. I had the exact same error but was fortunate to have a spare

card. It

would be great if there was someone with the series 3 knowledge to

repair

these cards. There are people who can repair the CMI-2X cards but I

haven't

found anyone who can repair the series 3 cards. It's really a shame

that

these amazing instruments are not supported.

Cheers,

James

On 16 Feb 2011, at 20:12, Joe Sleator wrote:

Hi, Arron

First guess is it's falling over where it asks if the Midi

Processor

(CMI28) is present, by poking and reading from its peripheral address,

and

the midi processor either does not reply, or says something stoopid.

Whilst the IIx would boot happily in this configuration, i.e with

no

CMI28, all the III software releases I'm aware of are fairly tightly

bound

to the CMI28, as it does most of the work triggering the sounds via the

channel cards. See if you can get your hands on a spare CMI28 would be

my

next goal. You might just be able to re-seat the ROMS and RAMS and the

68K

in their sockets, being careful of the pins. Usually it's enough to pop

a

tiny screwdriver under one end, lift the chip slightly, and then squish

it

back down. There must be someone else in your neck of the woods with

either

a IIx or a series III.

IF YOU TAKE CMI28 OUT BE SURE YOU ARE EARTHED ESPECIALLY IF IT's

WINTERTIME AND THE HEAT IS ON IN YOUR PLACE BEFORE TOUCHING THE CHIPS

DIRECTLY. I can't stress this enough, many times boards are degraded or

die

outright from miniscule ~5KV or less, static discharges and it's

totally

avoidable.

If the ROMS have suffered bit-rot (you can tell by reading them

out

and comparing to known good roms) they can fairly easily be replaced,

or

erased and re-programmed.

The other way to tell is to slot roms from a working CMI28 into

the

suss board and re-try.

The roms, rams, and 68K chip are all socketed. A resourceful soul

can

find replacements for all these chips by poking around. Virtually all

the

other chips on the CMI28 are common TTL or early motorola LSI, so also

should be obtainable, however finding what's gone bad is the challenge.

Since the Series III diagnostics do virtually the same thing as

mptask, I don't think they'd shed much more light, but probably worth a

try.

Good luck.

Joe

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 5:14 AM, arroncx wrote:

Hi all,

Thanks for all you assistance so far. Just thought Id report back

:)

So : I got a replacement CMI32 card from the ever helpful Peter

Wielk

and great now when I boot, i can see all my channel cards, memory etc.

The system runs right the way though its boot-up sequence, but

just as

its about to start, the system exits to the command prompt with

mptask handshake timeout : aborting process.

does anyone know where I could start looking next to get a bit

further

?

I looked on the KMI website, and it says that mptask controls all

the

realtime events in the CMI. (if Im understanding it right)

Also : when I boot up : the status display says that no sync card

is

present : what does this refer to, and is this part of my my problem ?

Any hints or clues appreciated as normal :)

Best wishes : Arron

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