>
> >
> >
> > 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 it9;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
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>