Boot Fail

[pecci92]

Hi there!

I'm having some trouble with my recently acquired Emax II Keyboard.

When powered up, LED's for Transpose, Drive Select and Dynamic Processing remain on. After a few seconds, Transpose turns off, but the two other LED's are still on and the unit doesn't completely boot. Furthermore, the LCD show no letters at all, just a black stripe on the first line.

What can I do to get the unit working again?

P.S. Here are some pictures of the Emax when powering up.

[FmK@77]

Hi there,

There seems to be a problem addressing the LSI#2 chip because the Drive Select stays lit on. Dynamic Processing should be lit on until a full boot was possible, than it will be turned of.

You'll have to open the Emax II. Disconnect power supply and cables and discharge yourself by touching bare metal!

There are 3 visuable boards installed. On the most left you will see the powersupply. In the middle the Outputboard and next to it you'll find the mainboard. This one you'll need. In the most corner down on the left you'll notice a square chip. This is the LSI#2 chip. If its still operationale this might help. Try to prise out the chip. You can do this by using a tiny flat screwdrive. In the corner you can prise the chip out. Remember how the chip is located because you'll need to put it in back again later. With the LSI chip in your hand (make sure you do have discharged yourself all times) notice if the metal parts are clean and not discoloured. Try cleaning the metal plates by using pure alchohol if needed. Make sure everything is cleaned and dryed before you reseat the chip in its socket. Press full down in orde that the chip is fully relocated.

Close the Emax and reconnect everything. If your LSI chip is in working order your Emax II will try to boot.

Kind regards,
Frank

[pecci92]

Hello there Frank!

Thanks for your reply and very precise information. I'll work on it tonight.
Just to be sure before I remove anything, is this the LSI#2 chip?




Greetings,

Steve

[FmK@77]

Hi Steve,

Yeah that is the LSI#2 chip. I don't know if you have a memoryboard installed aswell but make sure it is tight connected if you reseat it (press firmly to reseat). There is a clear click sound. There must also be a ribbon cable on the left from the mainboard to the outputboard. Since your picture doesn't show it I'll presume you have disconnected it already.

Kind regards,
Frank

[pecci92]

Hey Frank!

Finally, the Emax II boots again sucessfully, LED's all lit off after the boot.
Thank you very much for your help!

One last thing though, after booting, I get the following message: "Warning, Sound MemorySize Error". G-RAM Test shows the following after first writing try :
is:9EDB  sb:5678
ic:#??addr:400000

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UPDATE:

After reseating some of the concerned IC's, I got rid of the Memory Error Message mentioned before. Soundbanks load and play perfectly again!
When doing the G-RAM Test now, it sucessfully Writes once, then fails halfway after Reading test start. It doesn't seem to affect the Emax's regular functions though.

Should I look into it again or just leave it as it is?

[FmK@77]

Hi Steve,

That's good news to hear! Glad your Emax II is bootable again. The memory size is an problem that sometimes accure. You handled well. The bios is loaded into the G-ram and that might give some operating problems if there is an memory chip error.

If you don't encountered any problems with the operating software yet I won't change anything. The G-RAM is located on the mainboard. There are four stacked chips on top of each other. IC38 through IC41 on the mainboard if you do want to search for faulty chips. Clean the metal connectors of these chips with pure alcohol I would suggest as mentioned to the steps for the LSI#2 chip.

Kind regards,
Frank