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Help ... Faulty EII

Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-28 by Heiko Mehring

Hello emulators,

a guy in another german "keyboards-forum" has bought an damaged EII. 
After he switch the maschine on, just a few lights (from both drives, 
Tune, Transpose, Define, VCA/LFO & Special) went on till he switch it 
of again and nothing is seen on the display. He said, that he has 
checked all connectors inside and has changed the drives on the bus 
(also just trying to boot with one drive). Has someone of you an idea, 
what should be the problem with his maschine? It would be cool, if we 
can get this nice EII back to life, or?

Thanx in advance
Heiko

Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-28 by esynthesist

Do the lights stay "on" after power up the EII and does the machine 
freeze without even trying to boot from disk ?
If so, this means that the machine's validation routine fails. Every 
EII performs a system check at boot time, during which all lights go on 
for a very short time. If the lights don't dim immediately, this means 
that the machine's system check fails. This is most probably caused by 
bad connections. 
I had the same problem with one of my EII's.
What you should do is:
1/ Press slightly on ALL chips on both boards to make sure that all 
chips are sitting well in the chipholders. The chips of the EII tend to 
come loose after transportation.
2/ Check the connection between the two main boards (they're directly 
connected, there's no cable). Push the two connectors towards each 
other to make sure they make contact.
3/ Check the power connectors on the main boards and on the switch & 
display board (3 connectors in total) These molex connectors are known 
to be very weak points of the EII. Disconnect all 3 molex connectors, 
clean the contact pins, and reconnect them.

You might have to repeat these procedures a few times. A year ago, I 
had to perform these actions for almost a quarter of an hour before the 
EII was willing to boot again :-)

Hope this helps.

///E-Synthesist


--- In emulatorII-list@...m, "Heiko Mehring" <Mehrings@...> 
wrote:
>
> Hello emulators,
> 
> a guy in another german "keyboards-forum" has bought an damaged EII. 
> After he switch the maschine on, just a few lights (from both drives, 
> Tune, Transpose, Define, VCA/LFO & Special) went on till he switch it 
> of again and nothing is seen on the display. He said, that he has 
> checked all connectors inside and has changed the drives on the bus 
> (also just trying to boot with one drive). Has someone of you an 
idea, 
> what should be the problem with his maschine? It would be cool, if we 
> can get this nice EII back to life, or?
> 
> Thanx in advance
> Heiko
>

Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-28 by mborish_2000

It could be a bunch of different problems, maybe even some that your 
buddy has created.  Based on his troubleshooting step selection and 
lack of preventive measures when turning the thing on for the first 
time, my advice is for him to take it to someone that understands 
how it works and how to fix it before he breaks it for good.  Don't 
turn it on again because you could really really damage it.

Sorry if the first paragraph sounds harsh, but it's the honest to 
god truth.

Here's my solution and don't attempt this if you don't understand 
what you're doing please! This isn't exactly a great toy to learn 
about electricity on. 

If I just got a fresh EII from ebay or wherever: 

1.)I would make sure that the previous owner did not turn it on or 
test it for me.  This is important becuase if the electrolytics fail 
upon power up, you could blow the whole thing up.

2.)Upon the arrival of the EII I would take it apart and check it 
for damage internally and that all connections are properly seated.  

3.)I would remove all of the jumpers from the power supply and test 
the rails for noise and tolerance.  Then, if everything passed, I 
would test it with a load.  Well, actually, I would probably rebuild 
the entire supply first regardless with New lytics and F.R.E.D's.  
The whole thing is pretty old and fragile.

4.)I would also make sure that none of the chips wiggled their way 
out of the sockets. Basically, every chip would get a strong push 
from my thumb to make sure it was properly seated.

5.)Look for spots on the tantalum or signs of failure and replace.  
Actually, you should probably replace all of it.  There aren't that 
many in there if I remember correctly.

6.)Make sure all connections are properly seated and there aren't 
any broken solder joints on the pcb connectors.

7.)If you get to step 7 and the thing doesn't work, you need all 
sorts of test equipment and you should probably take it to a tech. 

-Mike 

--- In emulatorII-list@yahoogroups.com, "Heiko Mehring" 
<Mehrings@...> wrote:
>
> Hello emulators,
> 
> a guy in another german "keyboards-forum" has bought an damaged 
EII. 
> After he switch the maschine on, just a few lights (from both 
drives, 
> Tune, Transpose, Define, VCA/LFO & Special) went on till he switch 
it 
> of again and nothing is seen on the display. He said, that he has 
> checked all connectors inside and has changed the drives on the 
bus 
> (also just trying to boot with one drive). Has someone of you an 
idea, 
> what should be the problem with his maschine? It would be cool, if 
we 
> can get this nice EII back to life, or?
> 
> Thanx in advance
> Heiko
>

SV: [emulatorII-list] Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-29 by Brian Ronn

Hi Heiko
   
  Sometimes this sort of problem is because of incorrect PSU output. Therefore i would say that the PSU needs adjustment on the output.
   
  As Mike said I would take it to service and have them look at the PSU.
   
  Best regards and good luck with the EII
   
  Brian

mborish_2000 <mborish_2000@...> skrev:
          It could be a bunch of different problems, maybe even some that your 
buddy has created. Based on his troubleshooting step selection and 
lack of preventive measures when turning the thing on for the first 
time, my advice is for him to take it to someone that understands 
how it works and how to fix it before he breaks it for good. Don't 
turn it on again because you could really really damage it.

Sorry if the first paragraph sounds harsh, but it's the honest to 
god truth.

Here's my solution and don't attempt this if you don't understand 
what you're doing please! This isn't exactly a great toy to learn 
about electricity on. 

If I just got a fresh EII from ebay or wherever: 

1.)I would make sure that the previous owner did not turn it on or 
test it for me. This is important becuase if the electrolytics fail 
upon power up, you could blow the whole thing up.

2.)Upon the arrival of the EII I would take it apart and check it 
for damage internally and that all connections are properly seated. 

3.)I would remove all of the jumpers from the power supply and test 
the rails for noise and tolerance. Then, if everything passed, I 
would test it with a load. Well, actually, I would probably rebuild 
the entire supply first regardless with New lytics and F.R.E.D's. 
The whole thing is pretty old and fragile.

4.)I would also make sure that none of the chips wiggled their way 
out of the sockets. Basically, every chip would get a strong push 
from my thumb to make sure it was properly seated.

5.)Look for spots on the tantalum or signs of failure and replace. 
Actually, you should probably replace all of it. There aren't that 
many in there if I remember correctly.

6.)Make sure all connections are properly seated and there aren't 
any broken solder joints on the pcb connectors.

7.)If you get to step 7 and the thing doesn't work, you need all 
sorts of test equipment and you should probably take it to a tech. 

-Mike 

--- In emulatorII-list@yahoogroups.com, "Heiko Mehring" 
<Mehrings@...> wrote:
>
> Hello emulators,
> 
> a guy in another german "keyboards-forum" has bought an damaged 
EII. 
> After he switch the maschine on, just a few lights (from both 
drives, 
> Tune, Transpose, Define, VCA/LFO & Special) went on till he switch 
it 
> of again and nothing is seen on the display. He said, that he has 
> checked all connectors inside and has changed the drives on the 
bus 
> (also just trying to boot with one drive). Has someone of you an 
idea, 
> what should be the problem with his maschine? It would be cool, if 
we 
> can get this nice EII back to life, or?
> 
> Thanx in advance
> Heiko
>



                         

       

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

SV: [emulatorII-list] Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-29 by hexafuzz

--- In emulatorII-list@yahoogroups.com, Brian Ronn <brian_ronn@...> wrote:
>
> Sometimes this sort of problem is because of incorrect PSU output.

I agree. This has been my experience as well.

SV: [emulatorII-list] Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-29 by tnb09061974

Hello, I´m Dan (the guy with the faulty EII from the german keyboard
forum).
Thanks for your comments and especially thank to Heiko for posting my
problem here.
Well, when I switch on the EII just the few lamps lights (from both
drives, Tune, Transpose, Define, VCA/LFO & Special) and the display is
blank. The strange it´s, that the EII has still worked very well a day
before. As the EII was switched on the next day, all lamps shone like
in the quick test. But the lamps didn't go out any more and the
display was blank.I have opened the EII and pushed all hardware
connections easily.
After this all lamps didn't shine (only the lamps look above).
I will try to carry out your advice step by step. 

Thanks for your help.
Dan

Hope that my English is okay for understanding.;-)

Re: SV: [emulatorII-list] Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-29 by Mike Borish

Dan,

Electrolytics are strange.  Quite often, I run into a
keyboard that has been in storage and powers up fine
for the first couple of weeks and then doesn't work
after a few weeks.  I'm not quite sure why that
happens, but it does and it is very common with
vintage gear.  I strongly recommend rebuilding the
power supply, replacing all caps and re-soldering all
connections if you know what you are doing.  

Your english is fine.

-Mike

--- tnb09061974 <2nd.star@...> wrote:

> Hello, I\ufffdm Dan (the guy with the faulty EII from the
> german keyboard
> forum).
> Thanks for your comments and especially thank to
> Heiko for posting my
> problem here.
> Well, when I switch on the EII just the few lamps
> lights (from both
> drives, Tune, Transpose, Define, VCA/LFO & Special)
> and the display is
> blank. The strange it\ufffds, that the EII has still
> worked very well a day
> before. As the EII was switched on the next day, all
> lamps shone like
> in the quick test. But the lamps didn't go out any
> more and the
> display was blank.I have opened the EII and pushed
> all hardware
> connections easily.
> After this all lamps didn't shine (only the lamps
> look above).
> I will try to carry out your advice step by step. 
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> Dan
> 
> Hope that my English is okay for understanding.;-)
> 
> 



       
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SV: [emulatorII-list] Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-29 by Marko Laukka

SYMPTOM:
    
   No display.  
   Random LED's lit.  
   The disk drive clicks 3 times and stops.
  BACKGROUND:
   
  Since the disk drive clicked, the Main CPU is working. The blank display and the LED failure indicate a Scanner CPU problem.
   
  DIAGNOSIS:
    
   Check for a clock signal to the Scanner Z-80 CPU.  
   Check for M1 ( a signal irregulary altering between 0V. and +5V.) from the Scanner Z-80.  
   Check for a READ signal to the Scanner CPU EROM.  
   Check the data and address busses.
  To be able to perform the diagnosis you may need a special debug ROM.
  If your EII suffer from the above symptoms this may be the problem - the Scanner Z-80 CPU have problems with communication. If your disk drives can't read and load any sounds from a disk I strongly believe this is the problem.
  The Scanner CPU takes care of the interface communications (lights, knobs, drives, display, etc., someone please correct me if I'm wrong).
If this is the case I think it's better to send it to a repair center. What ever you do: DON'T THROW IT AWAY! Please? =)
  The above procedure was taken from a service hint manual.
  I don't know if this is of any help to you but I hope it might give some ideas about what's the problem is. As already pointed out, it may be a problem with the PSU.
   
  regards,
   
  Marko
  
tnb09061974 <2nd.star@...> skrev:
        Hello, I´m Dan (the guy with the faulty EII from the german keyboard
forum).
Thanks for your comments and especially thank to Heiko for posting my
problem here.
Well, when I switch on the EII just the few lamps lights (from both
drives, Tune, Transpose, Define, VCA/LFO & Special) and the display is
blank. The strange it´s, that the EII has still worked very well a day
before. As the EII was switched on the next day, all lamps shone like
in the quick test. But the lamps didn't go out any more and the
display was blank.I have opened the EII and pushed all hardware
connections easily.
After this all lamps didn't shine (only the lamps look above).
I will try to carry out your advice step by step. 

Thanks for your help.
Dan

Hope that my English is okay for understanding.;-)


                         

       
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RE: [emulatorII-list] Re: Help ... Faulty EII

2007-08-29 by rob

Hi
Check the power rails....especially 5V
 
Regards
Rob
www.emulatorarchive.com
 
 

 
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