I just recieved my 2ond Empeg. I got it knowing that it did not 'work right'. When I plugged it in (AC Power) it does nada, zippo, no lights, no noise of spin up or anything. Would anyone have any suggestions of the first steps in troubleshooting, so that I don't damage it any further?
Many thanks!
Ladmo

Have you opened up the player yet? I purchased a player off of someone and the display cable was unplugged.

Ok, I got power to it. Now the machine says the usb is not working right. I get the 'standby' light on the unit and nothing else...no menus no anything else?

Try connecting it through emplode with the serial cable and playing some music. If so it's a problem with the display.

While you've got the serial cable connected...get a boot log and post it here.

at least once a bad kernel flash resulted in something which I recall was like that: do you know that it has good software on it? it may be that simple.

the boot log should tell us for sure.

Did the person who sold it to you give any clues?

I don't know how to get a boot log? Emplode with the USB doesnt recognize or see the player? I do have the upper right hand corner flashing indicator...nothing else...

You need serial (not USB) to get a boot log. Attach a serial cable, and run a terminal program.

I've been reading that FAQ but the settings it says to use for hyperterm...well it doesn't ...it references a couple of settings but does not tell which ones or what to set them to. Please forgive me but I only remember trying hypterm a couple of years or so ago...

The required settings are right there in the images - 115200, 8, None, 1, None.

Ok. Got Hyperterm working with my 'known good' player. Works as advertised. However...nothing on the 'known bad' player...Any ideas as to next step? Pop the lid?

Well, if you got nothing from the serial port, I guess it's not just a bad kernel flashed, and you have an actual hardware problem. You can open it, and see what you see, but it may need some quality time with a soldering iron and a logic probe.

Are there any schematics or drawings anywhere? Or is that all propriaity type stuff? I don't mind soldering, if I know what to solder. Any recommendations on repair sites? I don't think anyone in Colorado works on them.

It's all proprietary. Really, if you're skilled enough to solder it, you're probably skilled enough to figure out what might be fried, loose, blown or whatever. I know I'm not. You might check the FAQ for information about fuses, since if that's your problem maybe you're lucky (but not overly so). The people who are most likely to be able to guess at your problem probably aren't awake just yet.

Here are good instructions on how to open up the player. (It contains instructions on how to upgrade the player's hard drive, but is a good walk-through on opening up the case without damaging anything.

If you poke around and tell us what you see, we can probably help. There are also a few routes if you want to send the player to someone for repair.

I doubt that it's a fuse. Front LED blinking but no serial...

You were right...the fuses (If I located all three correctly) are all good....next step? Anyone? help?

Well, making the assumption that the serial port itself is fine, then it looks like the CPU is unable to load the bootloader from flash. As I see it, there are three major reasons why this wouldn't happen;

1) CPU not working.
2) Flash not working,
3) Something else that shares the data/address busses not working.

The first thing that you should probably do is verify Vdd on the CPU and flash. Given that the fuses are fine I'd expect this to be a formality, but do it anyway.

Beyond that, you'd really need a scope to test further. There isn't much on the CPU address/data lines - Flash, RAM and line transceiver. Everything else lives behind the line transceiver (Which I believe should prevent a problem with downstream components causing this particular symptom). It would be useful to check the CPU clock circuitry too.

One other test that you can try is to leave it powered up for a couple of minutes and see if any of the chips get hot. This will often indicate a bad chip (_but not necessarily the root cause_,)

Remember to take anti-static precautions when touching anything internally.

Thanks! Very helpful! Now, once I exhaust all of my limited abilities in the matter, if anyone has any recommendations for good, reliable repair people, please pm (or email) me with details?
I'm still open to try and/or look at other suggestions, if within my limited scope! As I mentioned before, I got this unit knowing it was a non working unit. For the price (almost free) I figured I couldn't go wrong, even if I just used some of the parts! (Plus it came with the remote!)

By the way, does anyone know what the reset contacts that are right above (when you are facing the front of the unit) the hard drive connector are for?
Thanks

Presumably when you short them, the CPU will have it's Reset line asserted. If they are held shorted then the CPU won't be able to run, which would produce your exact symptom...

How do I check to see if they are held shorted? I have a small little Radio Crap multimeter...
Also, the little blue light on the back underneath the word printed LINK is steady blue and the front panel power light slowly blinks...

Have you tried to install HiJack or 2.00final on the player? At least to see what error message you'd get. Maybe check the display to make sure it's plugged in properly.. not off by one pin?

The drives ARE spinning up now?

The drives are not spinning up. I can't install anything if I cant get to it, can I? Recap; Cant get to it with Hyperterminal, can't access it with emplode or jEmplode using serial, ethernet, or USB. In fact Emplode/jEmplode just sit there searching for it?

If the problem is with the disk drives, there is still a remote chance that you can at least flash a kernel onto the thing.

Here is what you do:

- Open the player, and, CAREFULLY, USING THE DRIVE UPGRADE GUIDE AS YOUR BIBLE, remove the disk drives and IDE cable.

- Make absolutely sure that the display board is plugged in correctly, not off-by-one-pin.

- Inspect the cable connecting the display board to the player mainboard to make sure it has no breaks or damage.

- With the player still open and the disk drives removed, plug in the serial cable. Start Hyperterminal, make absolutely sure its settings are exactly correct according to the hyperterminal section of the FAQ.

- With hyperterminal running, apply power to the player.

- Did you see ANY TEXT AT ALL appear in hyperterminal? Did it say "If anyone wants to upgrade the flash let them speak now or forever hold their peace"?

- If so, exit hyperterminal and apply the latest Hijack kernel using my logoeditor as described in the Hijack section of the FAQ.


If you can get that far, then it means at least the flash and CPU are OK and you're simply down to disk drive problems. See if you can get that far...

And just to make sure that all the bases are covered:

Are you sure that the proper COM port is free when you try to connect? Is it still tied to your other empeg? Is another program grabbing the serial port? Hyperterminal won't see anything if another program has control of the COM port. Programs that can hog your COM port can include emplode, jemplode, the logoeditor or any program that works with your cell phone or Palm pilot.

Are you using the same power supply for the "good" empeg and the one giving your problems?

Like Tony said, I would try to apply a HiJack to the thing, it can't hurt.

Ok...when you say display board not off by one pin, do you mean on the main board side or the display side.
Also there was a note in the box with the player that is hard to make out, but I think it says 'IDE Calbe Header' ... does that have any meaning?

Could the dimmer be at 0%? IDE header might explain the hard drive issue and the serial connection could be something else?

I'll try to attach a scan of the note that was in the box. Maybe someone with more expertise and better eyes than me can figure it out?
Thanks