New (almost) EII Owner hello

[80sboy]

Want to say hi and as of tonight I will have an EII back in my life. I had one in the 90's and sold it to a buyer in Japan for 400$! Happy to have one again, albeit in non-working condition.

   Is there a good checklist for troubleshooting besides the normal routine? I figure I'll pop it open, reseat all IC's and look for anything out of the ordinary, but is there a way to test the power supply without it being hooked up to the internals?

 Plan is to get it up and running and install the floppy emulator into one of the bays.

  More info when I have the machine in front of me.

 Also, does anyone have the specs for the volume pot?

thanks and looking forward to contributing!


  Update 7-19-2011

  Got eh II home! Came in a monster anvil case....

So the good -

 Physically it looks almost MINT. one scuff on top of the drive bay that almost looks like it can be buffed out, besides that it's almost flawless.
 Rev 1 board. Memory option board piggy backed on the motherboard, does this mean it's been upgraded memory wise?
 Keybed feels great. Level etc...
 Original volume pedal and a case full of 4 extra chips unopened from E-mu. Including a spare ssm 2047.
 Motherboard looks clean top and bottom.

 The Bad:

 The bottom case, and basically anything steel is rusty. The drive supports, and the volume pots also. Not widespread or huge, but it apparently was in the anvil case in a basement for at least 15 years, and moisture has gotten to some of the steel. Not solid rust, but enough there to want to remove it.
 Both pots also need to be replaced, does anyone have a part number for these? Mouser?

 I've stripped it down to the chassis all ready, and will clean off the affected rust with some vinegar. All of the screws need to be replaced, did anyone discover the sizes, I would imagine they are pretty standard sizes?

  So the plan is to re-flow some of the power supply connections, clean up the rust, replace the volumes pots and fire her up and see what happens. Right now it's at 2.1 OS.  Any recommendations for people in the Bay Area, CA who can burn the latest OS chips?

 Looking forward to getting this beast back up and running! Once it's working again the plan is to install the floppy emulator and the EmuSer.

 Thanks for any and all help and advice!

tom

[80sboy]

Well, not sure why I'm posting as I've gotten no responses here or a simple hello and welcome to the group, but here's an update on the EII I recently purchased...

  Discovered it's not a Rev 1, but a Rev 0 - bummer.

  Tore it down to the bones, cleaned up the chassis etc..

  All back together this afternoon and fired her up. Excited at first to see Emulator II Boot in progress...

  Then the screen starts freaking out, the lights start dancing and the power supply is making a crazy buzzing vibration noise...never boots...

 Have re-seated all chips etc....

  Working the power supply is beyond my time and expertise right now, so I've got an email to my Moog tech here in the Bay Area to see if he can take this one on. And while he's at it make and install the RS422 board...

  Or I should sell it and just quit while I'm behind...

tom

[JMP]

Hi Tom, another 80's teen here too...  Shame you didn't get any responses earlier, I've just read both your posts after returning from holiday.

Congrats on getting another EII and good luck getting her fixed up. Sounds like you're largely on the ball with this. I'm no tech sorry but a PSU overhaul is a must on these for future use... hopefully this will sort your initial booting problem too. Sounds like exactly the same crazy booting problem I had with mine until the PSU was sorted. BTW I think 3.1 is the latest OS (on floppy) but someone else may correct me.

Stick with it IMO, it's a great sounding machine with a massive library available.

Good luck !

[Elmbeatz]

Hi and welcome!

...
And while he's at it make and install the RS422 board...
...

If you plan to install the HxC Floppy Emulator, I think you don't need the RS422. It sems to be quite a hassle to upgrade the rev 0 board eIIs. I would focus on getting the thing up running, concentrate on the psu I'd say..

Geetz,
Elm.

[80sboy]

     Thanks for the greeting and info! I just came from the Rhodes Chroma list, which was fantastic, people developed new power supplies, entirely new CPU's with full CC control over every parameter, and a poly pressure kit, all developed by individuals on the mailing list! So I guess I'm a little spoiled

     So, regarding the power supply, would it be worth just replacing all the caps on it myself first? I'm good at soldering, but so-so on using a meter, can rad voltages and continuity, but thats about it. Has anyone compiled a list of all the caps that are needed for a power supply rebuild? It appears that no one has discovered a suitable modern replacement yet, correct? Once the power supply has been recapped does it need to re-calibrated? Are there any other problem areas on the EII that should be addressed right away as far as cap replacement etc?

     Regarding the HxC, my main reason for wanting the EmuSer was to transfer all the sample libraries that people have compiled for use with Sound Designer.  The OMI sounds etc, can they be transfered onto an SD card for use with the HxC?

  But yes, first things first, and it appears the power supply is the first thing to get sorted out. All corrosion has been removed, all corroded screws have been replaced and it's a very clean machine right now.

   I'm not sure if I have a boot disk, I have some sample disks saved from when I had an EII years ago, do they have the boot image on them, or just sample data? If I don't have a correct boot disk, what is the best way to get one for testing? I know the ROMs inside are 2.1

   Thanks for any and all help and advice, my plan is to create alot of my own samples using a K2000RS and sampling them into the Emulator.

 Best,
 80sboy (Tom)

   

[Elmbeatz]

  ....
all developed by individuals on the mailing list! So I guess I'm a little spoiled
...

This forum is THE resource of vintage E-Mu knowledge. Don't expect it to be as large as what you described from that chroma list, but...
Plus - some of this lists members are real geniouses - E-synthesist (for example) is the author of EMXP, a windows-program, that made sound swapping and all kinds of export possibilities concerning the old e-mu machines possible at all (he also invented the E-muser, and without his work, the HxCs wouldn't work with the Emus neither...)!
Or - Dr.C!  He knows these machines as nobody else on this planet.

...
It appears that no one has discovered a suitable modern replacement yet, correct?
...

correct

...
Regarding the HxC, my main reason for wanting the EmuSer was to transfer all the sample libraries that people have compiled for use with Sound Designer.  The OMI sounds etc, can they be transfered onto an SD card for use with the HxC?
...

Absolutely. That's why you don't really need the RS422 or the E-Muser.

If the disks you still have are PERFORMANCE disks (not LIBRARY disks), they also contain the OS as well as the boot routine.

Greetz,Elm.