EII can´t boot from the disk

[Jim Stout]

I cleaned all of the Z80 CTCs now just the bottom drives LED is green but the drive is not spinning.

[Jim Stout]

I found one problem now the drives are spinning but nothing else is happening.

It still says "Boot in Progress" and the Green LED stays on.

[dr.c]

Can you take a picture of the processor board, around the connector concerned by the cable wich goes to the floppy ?

[Jim Stout]

like these?

[dr.c]

First of all, congratulations for the pictures.

Second thing : I see that the led colours are different. Are these floppy drives coming from the same batch ?

Do something : take away the flat cable from the bottom floppy and try. If it doesn't work, put it back and take the cable away from the other.

Are you sure these floppy drives don't have the same ID ? They are a bit like SCSI devices, they have an ID, and if they are on the same one, we have a data collision.

I also had a few problems with the CD40HCT11, IC2, the one near C4, and, as well.

Let me know.

[Jim Stout]

Nothing, still the same.

I ordered the 3.5 in drive and all of the update ROMs from route 66. we'll see then.

[dr.c]

Sorry about that....

[roisto]

Sometimes, I banged under the machine with my flat hand and it restarted. A nightmare....

banging feels so wrong, hate to do that.. but it works.

[dr.c]

THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE POWER SUPPLY, AGAIN !!!!!

Tale it away, resoldre the soldereings from the output pints, clean the connector wich goes there, see if the cointacts at the yellow wires are not burned (brown), and it will work !!!!

[Jim Stout]

OK, I am getting at the end of my rope.

I put the new Scanner ROM 3.1 ,Main ROM 2.1, New 3.5 Drive, new back light and a rebuilt power supply.

Cleaned the all the ICs too!

Still the same problem.... Everything lights up, the drive is spinning, the LCD say "Boot in Progress"  and that's the end of the show!

Any ideas?

I know you hate my black emulator Dr.C, but any ideas?

[rokuez]

OK, I am getting at the end of my rope.

I put the new Scanner ROM 3.1 ,Main ROM 2.1, New 3.5 Drive, new back light and a rebuilt power supply.

Cleaned the all the ICs too!

Still the same problem.... Everything lights up, the drive is spinning, the LCD say "Boot in Progress"  and that's the end of the show!

Any ideas?

I know you hate my black emulator Dr.C, but any ideas?

maybe there is a bad via, like a bad solder spot on one of the pads...?  

like one components pad/electrical pathway has some old solder in there, that needs to be heated up etc to pass current?






just a quick question, Scanner Rom 3.1 is the chip you put inside the EII to help you diagnose problems correct?

If not then there is this one chip, you can pop into the EII and it helps you diagnose problems... anyone recall the name of this chip..? some sort of diagnostic eprom...  I saw it sold on ebay a couple of times should've picked one up

[dr.c]

Forget it, the Eprom is Okay, there is a Service Eprom but it requires the documentation, its a hell, I tried it once and never retried it.

I must have done about 800-1000 E2 repairs in 13 years time (I was the service manager for France) and it ALWAY have been a power supply problem, or a scratchpad memory problem.

Does this machine have a memory piggyback board ?

[Jim Stout]

[dr.c]

Geee... this is a model I didn't know.... Well, there is no piggyback board. I have highlighted a zone and there are two fields, "A" and "B". "A" is the scratchpad memory, used to manage the machine. Swap the "A" circuits with the "B" circuits. Beware not to bend pins and to put the chips back the right orientation. This may be the problem. Otherways, its a pain, at such a distance, without equipment, etc ...
Let us know

[Elmbeatz]

Dr. C -

you did't know that there are EII's without a piggyback board ?!