emusonacid! legacy

Hi,
i did not use my emu4xt for a few years now. now every time when i switch it on the display is black; when i switch it off and on again most of the time it starts up as it should and the display and everything works... what´s the Problem ? will my emu die slowly ? did anybody experience something similar ?

thanks ...


Jona

If you read the articles in this forum that also include information about the final solution, you come to conclusion that most of the technical issues are related to the power supply.

There might be some defective electrolytic capacitors that have to be replaced.

thanks for the info.. i´ll check that..

i had this recently with an E4xt Ultra + RFX and ADAT, it had been hanging on first boot for a few weeks, but if i re-started it it was fine.. Then it locked up during a session..

All Lights on, dark display the usual crap. I tested everything i could, took it apart and so on, but it kept going mad.

So, after finding Mouser had none of the power supply board in stock, and back-orders in the hundreds not due for shipping until MAY of this year, i spoke to a tech i know who specializes in military and medical scientific - he confirmed the PSU boards 12/-12/5 switchmode i was after are REGULAR fails, and not the best unless you go for the "M" grade part. This is the MEDICAL GRADE version of the same product. Typically expect to pay 5-10% more for an "M" part, but, because it is for Medical use, it's ALWAYS in stock. So, off i went, looking for the same part in Mouser, but M-grade, and YOU KNOW WHAT it was in stock, and took 48 hours from ordering to being on the bench.

HAH!

so for all on backorder for a new PSU - go M..

Meanwhile, i disconnected the extra fan i put inside the case to cool the RFX - i use the harddrive power cable to run a small case fan as i use and external IDE drive enclosure now to stop the display dimming on big jobs - and indeed the machine became more stable. so off i went for a week with no trouble, and a brighter display.

THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN. But, it was nothing to do with the power load.

Gentlemen, brace Yourselves, the random booting and hanging was being caused by a perfect storm of: ropey PSU, 3g Internet Handset RFI and WiFi RFI! When wifi is running UNDER the machine - in the space below where i sit my E4, i get rare issues. Like 1 in 10 uses. When i run a HTC Handset as a 3g modem, tethered by USB to the machine, and i sit the handset under the E4 - BINGO - freezy freeze and the freezetime trio perform their new tune LETS ALL FREEZE - like EVERY time i connect to 3g.

So, given all the crap inside my E4 sapping power (it's the 5v line thats nearest it's limit BTW - i checked), powersave WiFi jacking up & down it's Output power in incremental waves, and the cloudburning HTC bombing through the E4 to bring me delicious internets in the studio - it's no surprise that a machine designed before the advent of such microwave portable crap has issues..

Go ahead and try Yourselves - in fact, try it with anything relying heavily on software to operate - WATCH IT GO MENTAL.

So, i have a brand new M-grade PSU here, and it's on standby for the day the current one _really_ dies. And AFAIK, our stock PSU had 3 revisions - 35,45 and 65w. Now _all_ models are 65w. They are VERY common BTW. And in fact, the loom terminates internally at a plug - it is easy to re-connect this to a DIFFERENT psu. People rightly point out a 100w would be better. So, i'll be trying the TRACO POWER TXL100-0522TI - it's just great, 100w, meaty, 12/-12/5v, and about the same price in a case with screw terminals as the bare board to fix out 20 year old piles of crap, oh, and it's in stock at RS, Mouser, Digikey (etc.)

Anyway, long live the E4.

(etc.)

Well, after reading this here above,

i have the same thing goin on......

dark display all the leds are red hanging

and now flashing back , where i always put my phone next to the E4....

Got to get this problem solved, i'm in the middle of a project...