E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP

General Category => EII Technical Issues / Tips => Topic started by: who on September 10, 2011, 12:20:31 PM



Title: EII Problems: No sample input, top 5 1/4 drive motor not working, bad key range
Post by: who on September 10, 2011, 12:20:31 PM
I've been tinkering with the EII I bought a year ago and it seems like I take one step forward then two steps back.  I first had distortion in samples which I fixed by re-seating and replacing memory chips.  The top octave of keys has never worked.  The two 5 1/4 drives worked intermittently, so I replaced one with a 3.5 drive.  The 3.5 drive works, but i can't get either 5 1/4 to work.  The 3.5 came with the latest OS, which I understand is incompatible with the older scanner rom, so I replaced both roms, but now I can't sample.  so to sum it all up, I have an EII that will not sample, will not load 5 1/4 floppys and the top octave doesn't work.  It looks pretty, but doesn't make a peep.  I suspect the following:

1. The cable I made for the 3.5 drive is bad which is why the 5 1/4 doesn't work (the light on the 5 1/4 comes on, but the motor never starts.  The same happens if I swap in the other 5 1/4 drive after changing the jumpers)

2. Sampling doesn't work because something is wrong with the scanner rom?

3. Top octave doesn't work because?????

Any help would be appreciated.


Title: Re: EII Problems: No sample input, top 5 1/4 drive motor not working, bad key range
Post by: who on September 12, 2011, 07:12:53 PM
I fixed the drive by re-seating one or more of the chips in the last two rows of the output board.


Title: Re: EII Problems: No sample input, top 5 1/4 drive motor not working, bad key range
Post by: minphase on September 12, 2011, 10:57:06 PM
You do realize that the purpose of posting on this list is to obtain magic powers, right?   No one will necessarily reply, but the act of putting it out in public causes your own unsuspected Jedi powers of EII repair to manifest, usually immediately after posting ... good show!  :D


Title: Re: EII Problems: No sample input, top 5 1/4 drive motor not working, bad key range
Post by: who on February 16, 2013, 10:41:25 AM
I finally got my EII issues resolved, including:

1.  No sample input, no output, drives not working - This was all due to bad voltages from the power supply and/or cold solder joints on the power supply board.  My tech also made a small modification to help dissipate heat.

2. HXC Rev F!

3. Dead key range - This was due to the keyboard chassis being bent.  he also had to replace the top-most key contact.

4. New LCD - I purchased a kit from a guy in Russia and it works very well.  (He sells stuff on Ebay and I've bought from him a few times.)  One thing it did not come with was a contrast control, so I had my tech add one.

It is great to have a fully functioning EII again!