Questions regarding Politics on Schematic release.

This isn't to go against the empeg community or any of it's designers, etc. Mainly a question to satisfy my own curiosity as well as others. I've had a broken empeg for a while now, one of which I've sent to Eutronix and went as far as they could go w/out a schematic (very appreciated Stu). My concern is, we've spent all this money on these devices, only to pray that they don't break (yes I have a spare for this purpose), but this leaves the other one useless. Repair is beyond me or anyone else that doesn't have any sort of schematic. We are limited to one guy in the community that is obviously overwhelmed with such things and I don't feel that it is fair to not release (or sell) a schematic to fix this device. This device has been long out of production. I do realize that if one was released that other companies could look at it and maybe do some sort of cloning of the device, but is this really the issue at hand here? Since the Empeg isn't in production anymore, then why even care? I'm sorry if i've offended anyone, but I really don't think it's fair to have this $800 doorstop sitting here on my desk that I cannot repair w/out the schematics. I can go buy a $1000 TV and if something blows out on it then the repair shop will have access to a schematic to easilly fix it, or I can even buy it to fix it. I have the service manual to my $40,000 car too... Anyway, i'm done ranting, tell me what you guys think..

tell me what you guys think.

I think it's a good idea. However, unless you can cite somewhere where it was stated that the schematic wouldn't be made available, I'd avoid ranting.

Thanks.

I don't have a URL... but I had asked Patrick (PCA) for it and he stated that I needed permission from Hugo before he could give it to me. I then e-mailed Hugo and he stated that he wouldn't release it. I threw all that stuff away though (e-mails).

If you feel especially strong about the issue, you can cook the board down and follow the traces, or donate it to someone that knows how. It's a slow process but can be done layer by layer.

I'm not trying to make a rocket here, i'm trying to repair an existing problem.

I'd think it's not up to the people we have access to, but some high-level exec at whoever bought the part of SonicBlue's remains that included the Empeg guys (I've always thought that SB deal was a bad thing, although I don't know the conditions @ camp Empeg prior to the buyout).

In this day and age of IP patenting and all that closed crud, I think the chances of getting a schematic into the open is very slim.

Just my $0.02

Much of the stuff that can go wrong is already known, and thus far I haven't had too much trouble tracing signals. What's the problem/symptoms with your unit?

EDIT: Oh, is this the infamous display cable experiment unit?

Perhaps it just needs the whole display cable assembly replaced -- have you been recrimping onto the existing header on the displayboard, or did you already replace (desolder, remove, resolder new one) on the displayboard end of the cable?

Cheers

AFAIK it's not the display nor the cable. It's something with the circuitry on the display board. I'd be more than happy to let you have a whack at it Mark if you want me to ship it to you.

Have you been just recrimping onto the existing header on the displayboard, or did you already replace (desolder, remove, resolder new one) on the displayboard end of the cable?

I will PM you Mark with the story to keep this on topic.

I have to agree with you...rather than becoming a captive audience and paying too high a price for service I would rather offer the unit for what i could get on e-bay and (heaven forbid) jump to a portable unit with equal storage capacity

I'm hoping PCA or Hugo could chime in on this one. They probably don't frequent the board too often however...

From what I recall about this unit, the fault is somewhere in the display itself. He damaged the display cable and tried to do point to point wiring from where the header was (the header on the mainboard appeared to have been rather crudely removed). Some of the wiring was improperly done and I suspect induced some faults. This player was a nightmare to work on with a sphaghetti of wire and half a dozen trashed traces. There is a short present somewhere. I suppose we could have traced it out better than we did, so if Mark wants to take it where we left off that's fine. It could even be something internal to one of the chips.

Stu

Actually now I recall what happened to the header. I was very carefully trying to slide the black piece that goes over the pins on the board (to seperate the board from the cable connector) with a small screwdriver, and the force from that pulled a few pads off of the board.

If no one else wishes to work on your Empeg, I would be willing to try to fix the traces/ribbon if you cover shipping and parts. I have a great deal of experience with those kinds of repair. Schematics would be nice but I am always amazed how far one can get by just basic troubleshooting and good test equipment.

Nick

Schematics would be nice but I am always amazed how far one can get by just basic troubleshooting and good test equipment.

I concur. But there seems to be a certain knack required as well. I've had good luck lately with tougher repairs, but I'm going to pass on this one -- things are getting very busy here again.

Cheers

Good luck to you. It was a bear to work on and we like Mark are busy with other things.

Stu

I appreciated the effort Stu...