Samplers on ACiD

bob0172

Member

e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

My recently purchased e4xt has significant issues unfortunately. I'm very worried at the moment.

My sampler displays "GEN TRAP ERROR" multiple times a day. On top of that i get total screen freezes leading me to reboot the emu entirely.
I've done some searching online, and i've seen more people with these exact issues, but there were no solutions mentioned in any of the posts.

Tings i've tried;
-eprom reset
-hardware test (ram) which turned out ok!

Specs:
128ram
no rfx card
stock harddrive installed
no further scsi hooked up
os 4.01

I hope anyone can help me

philtipping

Administrator

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

If RAM is ok, could be a faulty EPROM card so try re-seating it. Do the lights/screen flicker a lot while it's running? If so, could be a power issue. In fact, while the lid's off, I'd check/clean/re-seat anything which plugs in - cards, connectors etc. Also check screws holding motherboard are tight (have heard of bad earthing causing intermittent problems). Look for anything burnt on the motherboard - I had a couple of surface mount capacitors fry themselves. If you suspect power problems, could remove PSU cover and check for bulging capacitors and/or anything burnt.
***N.B. Watch out for high voltages which remain some time after power-off, and take the usual static precautions.
I'd only try upgrading to latest EOS as a last resort as I can't see how this would fix gentrap errors. 4.01 must have been a working release and if the upgrade fails you could end up in a worse state. Hope you get it sorted.

Last edited by philtipping (2015-01-29 15:40:39)

bob0172

Member

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

Auch that does really sound like a hardware issue.
Where can i find the eprom card? I don't have any flickering lights on the screen so i can rule out power issues for the moment.
BTW is that eprom universal over all emu ultra models in case of replacement?

philtipping

Administrator

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

It's a similar card to the sample RAM SIMM cards. Don't know the physical layout of the XT (or if the EEPROM is universal) but the Ultra has two blocks of sockets. One is for sample RAM & ROM and is a set of 4 marked RAM-B, RAM-A, ROM-0, ROM-1. If you've got 128MB RAM you should see 2 x 64MB cards in the RAM sockets (page 42 in the Getting Started manual). The EEPROM card is in the other block of sockets (can't remember how many) - but just visually check & re-seat any cards you see as a first attempt. You did the right thing by re-initialising eeprom as this 'cleans the slate' (page 27 step 6 and page 362 step 5 in EOS 4 manual). Also on page 362 is a way of saving your current EOS to floppy so might be advisable to do this before trying to re-install it or a later version, assuming the h/w checks don't work.
N.B. I'm assuming you're ok with handling static sensitive gear. If not, you could do more damage so please be careful or get someone local to look at it. If you're anywhere near Wales, UK, bring it over!

Last edited by philtipping (2015-01-30 08:13:26)

bob0172

Member

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

Thanks Phil
Will i able to replace the eeprom card if it's of a household pc ram type?

philtipping

Administrator

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

Not interchangeable, just physically similar in that it's an oblong card with pins along one edge. Btw I don't know for sure if the card is faulty. Afaik eeprom is used for a few global settings and the OS code initially loaded from floppy, so if there's an bad/tarnished connection or it really is faulty, it could cause your intermittent crashes. I'm guessing that initialising the eeprom resets the settings but leaves the OS intact so there's a chance the OS code could be corrupted, in which case a reload should fix this... but then I'd expect the crash to always occur at the same point. Presume there's no pattern to the crashes? If it was mine, step 1 would be all the h/w checks listed earlier, step 2 reload the OS, step 3 try another eeprom, but a 2nd opinion would be useful just in case I'm talking b**x!

bob0172

Member

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

I'm a little reluctant to open it and touch the inner workings of the unit. But i'll give it a try. thanks
If i need another eprom, do you have any idea where i can find those and the costs involved?

philtipping

Administrator

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

Sorry Bob, don't know a source for eeproms but hopefully it won't come to that. The 'Getting Started' manual describes the safety precautions for changing RAM cards (page 47 in the E5000 version, more manuals here). The important bits are to disconnect from the mains and to keep yourself 'earthed' to prevent static damage. If you follow these guidelines you should be able to re-seat all the cards safely, i.e. take them out, check the contacts look shiny, remove any dust build-up etc. then re-insert. Also check for other dust & crud - the motherboard & fan may be caked in it!
Just found this old review to spur you on - what a machine... at £2800!
Best of luck and keep us posted.

Last edited by philtipping (2015-02-01 10:38:02)

Orson

Member

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

Sorry to go slightly off topic but you mentioned you fried two capacitors . I have fried two capacitors that sit next the the Vr3 part of the mother board on my Emu Ultra 5000. I would like to replace them but don't know what type of surface mount caps I should get??
Regards

philtipping

Administrator

Re: e4xt "GEN TRAP ERROR" & screen freezes ;(

@Orson - it was still under warranty when the first one blew and I was surprised they just replaced it with an ordinary (i.e. with wire legs!) 1uF 50v electrolytic. When the second one went some years later, I just did the same. Bought a batch of caps from ebay as reserves. There's no need to get at the underside of the mother board - just carefully remove the remnants of the surface mount capacitor (solder sucker is useful) and solder in the wired version. They need to be round the right way of course, so buzz out the circuit with a test meter. Not sure what the Vr3 part is - if it's a voltage regulator then it sounds like mine - it was near one corner of the board if memory serves but it was a long time ago. Am away till next week but can get more details then if you want.