Samplers on ACiD

synthswede

Member

E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

Hi!

New to the forum, but glad to be here!

I have a E6400 Ultra that I purchased recently, but does not boot at all.
Have read the Service Manual, and the LEDs "Master and "Preset Manage" goes out, then it just sits there doing nothing.

Thought it might be the PSU, so I have replaced it, but no change in boot behaviour.
Have disconnected all peripherals and reseated all connectors, no change.

Am I looking at a corrupt Flash SIMM stick, bad EEPROM or something else here?
Does the machine store its early boot sequence on Flash SIMM or EEPROM?

What could have happened here? A flash upgrade gone bad?

I should add that the machine is in really good condition, and looks like new inside. No burnt component afaik.

Best Regards
Simon

Last edited by synthswede (2016-03-10 12:05:49)

mrscsi

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

sorry to hear about your the boot issue, I am having a similar issue. with my e6400 ultra , Machine starts its boot sequence (the backlight doesn't go on) and when it checks the Flash memory it hangs. I have a new power supply and an old one and it does the same thing with both.  I suspect the issue is power related maybee one of those red connectors doesn't have a great connection, but I would have to check that with a voltage meter, or maybbee the flash is gone but purchasing new flash is too riskyfor me. (odd thing is is says floppy found even if its disconected.)  (I can also unplug the HD FAN headphone and also no change. 

In the past I have been able to get the machine working-ish by wiggling the red power supply connectors, but this time around no dice. This does seem to be a common problem with these samplers but I haven't found a solution as of yet.

Last edited by mrscsi (2016-03-20 22:14:05)

synthswede

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

Since you say that it shows "Floppy found", I assume that it shows that on the screen, yes?
Also, does all of your LEDs go out a second later after turning it on ?

If that is the case, then it seems to have passed the diagnostics tests and have initialized the screen.
To me it then sounds like it fails to complete the boot sequence, when loading the OS from Flash SIMM, which sounds like the Flash has gone corrupt.

What happens if you connect a floppy drive and insert a OS boot floppy in the drive?
It should then boot from the floppy instead of Flash SIMM.

I have personally gone all in on getting my E6400 Ultra working, which includes bying a complete E5000 Ultra and the trying to swap parts.
Still no boot on the E6400, so my last idea here is that the EEPROM needs a reflash.

So I am currently waiting for a EEPROM Reader/Writer to arrive in the mail...
My idea with that, is to read out the working E5000's EEPROM, and write that into the E6400 EEPROM.

We'll see how that turns out.

alien_brain

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

ooh ooh post that file here when you are able to extract it please? 

mrscsi

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

"does all of your LEDs go out a second later after turning it on ?"

All led's light up but the screen does not light up. (The screen works but no backlight)

If that is the case, then it seems to have passed the diagnostics tests and have initialized the screen.
To me it then sounds like it fails to complete the boot sequence, when loading the OS from Flash SIMM, which sounds like the Flash has gone corrupt.

Here's where it gets wierd (before it did the same thing) hanging on flash sometimes it would work and sometimes not, sometimes I'd wiggle the cables and it would work for a couple weeks or a few minutes.

"What happens if you connect a floppy drive and insert a OS boot floppy in the drive?
It should then boot from the floppy instead of Flash SIMM."

Good Idea I'll give that a try

I tried to put in the flash prep disk. It says reading floppy, the floppy drive works lights up and makes some noise  but then it goes to check the flash and then crash so there is no way to flashprep from the floppy..

"I have personally gone all in on getting my E6400 Ultra working, which includes bying a complete E5000 Ultra and the trying to swap parts.
Still no boot on the E6400, so my last idea here is that the EEPROM needs a reflash."

I hope that's the ticket. I am not 100% convinced that its the flash on my unit,  since when the operation was intermitent if the flash was corrupted it would never work I would assume, maybee my flash is now corrupted since it doesn't work at all or there may be two problems... I saw something about someone hardwiring (something about voltage variances being sensitive...)their power supply to the main board, I also saw something that jahfunk posted on the old board about power jumpers to prevent a crash. I also wonder if any of the parts on the main board since these samplers are pretty old might need to be recapped.

"So I am currently waiting for a EEPROM Reader/Writer to arrive in the mail...
My idea with that, is to read out the working E5000's EEPROM, and write that into the E6400 EEPROM.
We'll see how that turns out."

Hopefully that works,  keep us posted!!!!

synthswede

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

Follow this gyus excellent guide on using flashprep on our Ultra machines:
http://www.swansynths.com/?p=39

mrscsi

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

Follow this gyus excellent guide on using flashprep on our Ultra machines:
http://www.swansynths.com/?p=39

14 – Now to update the sampler. Make sure the sampler is turned off, insert the FLASHPRP disk, and turn on the sampler. You will get a screen that says “Software found on floppy Ultra FLASH Prep v1.0”. Press Enter to install.

I have a flashprep disk unfortunatly mine hangs before I can get to that "Software found on floppy Ultra FLASH Prep v1.0”. I also reversed the ribbon cable and when I do that the sampler sees the flashprep disk and ask is I want to install when I do it says "error downloading" floppy unrecoverable"

Last edited by mrscsi (2016-03-24 21:22:56)

alien_brain

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

try different floppy...  try a new drive...  i have an old one i can sell...

mrscsi

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

try different floppy...  try a new drive...  i have an old one i can sell...

Worth a try on the disk (the flashprep floppy worked 6 months ish ago.) I think I'll get a parts car before I start replacing individual parts, since there are so many variables, i.e the backlight is not getting engaged.

mrscsi

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

Update!!!!  I was able to get the machine working again, by gently pressing down to reseat all the wires on the  top main red pin connector. Emu is functional again. Thanks for all the troubleshooting help.. glad its back up.

211

Member

Re: E6400 Ultra does not boot at all

Hello, I have the same problem since few days on my e5000.
reading service notes, it seem to be a FGPA test who don't pass.

I added an 8 analogue output expansion card few weeks ago, and didn't power up the emu more than 5 times since I got it.
I was thinking about the PSU didn't have enough current to power the expansion,
But unplug the card didn't solve the problem, even if I can notice a voltage drop on main power connector (the red one), when the expansion is connected.

Did someone ever purchased a new bootrom and repair its emu that way ?
@mrscsi did EEPROM Reader/Writer had been a success, even if it was a faulty connector problem ?

Last edited by 211 (2018-06-14 19:45:17)