Need some help with a d8b

[Greg609]

Hi, first off I want to thank the admin for letting me join the group. Secondly, I want to commend everyone for their input on the forum. I have been reading it for over a month now and finally decided to ask the pro's for help. I have visited threads on each of the issues and am looking to confirm my final diagnosis...so here goes.


I bought a used d8b a few months back for a decent price, I always wanted one and took the gamble. When the unit arrived it had the official "error 43" message. Also during startup all LED's light up and stay lit on console. Fader 1-8 do not move during start up automation BUT 9-16 DO. So i starred from the beginning and started testing out possible issues.

Computer rack (old motherboard):

*one thing I noticed inside computer was that the CPU fan was not connected via the molex connectors

1. tested the BIOS battery with a multimeter to confirm it was good.
2. set all the BIOS settings to the appropriate settings (the old mother board BIOS setting guide on this page)
3. cleaned (deoxit d5) and reseated all connections and cards in computer.

d8b console unit:

1. took out all the I/O cards and word clock card
2. opened the bottom to see if all connections were secure (grounded and ESD wristband)


My diagnostic is thus far from all my homework:

1. There is an obvious sync issue, the console acts the same if the word clock is installed or not.
-replace the word clock?
2. possible bad OS.
-reinstall OS with new HD?


I was hoping to hear from any user's that had similar issues to at least gain some knowledge as if I'm on the right path in understanding the issue. I am not looking to have my "hand held" through a repair just some shared knowledge. I do know how forums can be especially with dedicated users, so please refrain from a snarky comment about if it has been already been covered. If I messed it please send me to the correct thread.

I greatly appreciate and respect what everyone has contributed to the forum/site. Thank you in advance if you took the time to read my post, any help/knowledge or information is greatly, greatly appreciated.

[FrankH]

I don't know if I can help you or not, but your post raises a few questions that may give others better clues.

1. After you did all that stuff, how does the console boot now?
2. What OS version is in there?
3. What kind of WordClock card did it come with? Stock or Apogee? The Apogee has WC I/O connectors.
4. When you say: there is an obvious sync issue, what exactly do you mean.

And BTW, the board won't run correctly at all if the WC card is not present. Apogee WC cards are as scarce as hens teeth and when they do occasionally show up on eBay, they are almost always selling at an inflated price.

Oh....and welcome to the forum.

[Greg609]

Hi, Frank thanks for the response and taking the time to read my question. Sorry for missing some important key points, my description is a little vague.

1. The console does the same thing every time its powered on, all the LED's light up, and only faders 9-16 move from the start up automation.

2. The OS version is 3.0

3. It has the Apogee WC

4. From what I have read it seems there is a miscommunication between the computer and the WC causing a weird issue start up.

The board behaves the same way with or without the WC installed. So if the WC id bad, the unit would act the same either way. From what I have read up on the last few weeks, the LED's indicate there can be a possible WC issue. Just trying to rule everything out. I will go back in the forum and investigate the LED issue and see if I missed anything, I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the computer unit/power supply?

I greatly appreciate your response and thanks for the help, hopefully something will get me on track.

[doktor1360]

d8b console unit:
2. opened the bottom to see if all connections were secure (grounded and ESD wristband)

Uhhh... I'd highly recommend doing more than just opening that desk to 'see if all the connections were secure'; based on the part where you're saying the desk looks like broadway at twilight when it boots up, you'd be well served carefully pulling every molex power cable and ribbon cable (that's generally easily accessible) and cleaning them with DeOxit, then reseating them just as carefully. Then when you screw, rack n jack everything back together, clean and DeOxit the BFC (Big Fucking Cable) and carefully refit it and the data cable on the rear of the console. The BFC can be a real PITA (sic), sometimes you gotta gently jiggle that around when you insert it to get it to 'play nice' and work when the system boots up. Those cables are heavy, and notorious for putting a good bit of strain on the cable around the connector ends of that particular cable...

If/when you get this far, post back... I'm pretty sure you'll get some good input here on this forum...

Of course, you knew it was coming so here it is :
[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your Actual Mileage May Vary..."

Peace

[Greg609]

Thank you, I looked back on a thread Frank replied to in June, and it's almost the same exact issue I'm having (except the fader issue on start up is not mentioned.. Is the BFC connected on the card cage board, I only opened the bottom panel once just to view all the connections and to make sure there wasn't any obvious loose connectors. I read in numerous posts about what the reseating of the BFC can resolve (miracles it performs), just was not 100% on its location.

[Greg609]

Just wanted to give everyone an update, I was away for a few weeks and did not have any time to mess with the d8b. I had a stoke of good luck though a few days ago, thanks to forum members who responded to this thread. The first thing I did was bought a fresh battery for the CPU. Next, I removed ALL the cards, cleaned them with Deoxit and reseated them (again). After that, I cleaned and reseated all the ribbon connectors that were visible (ones that were not easily reached did not clean, especially the ones sandwiched between the PCB's). In addition I realized what the "BFC" was/is and felt dumb once I realized...I also cleaned that

With all that being said I finally got the unit to boot up without the "error 43" on the console display and not show "could not find card..." error message in the Mackie software start screen. YES!!!!! I feel like this case is almost cracked...but still have a few issues/weird behavior.

1.
I am still getting the LED's 1-16 all turning on at boot up (I did get it to go away twice by taking some weight off the BFC, but since have not found that sweet spot again).

2.
I am now getting NO start up automation,and after the unit decides to finish booting it moves several faders in the same exact position each time.

*note
Channel 1/2 L&R go up in addition to channels 13/14 17/18 23//24 (all the same behavior...each time same exact settings for the faders, almost like it was a preset)

*note
I did check that "load last session at power up" was unticked and to delete any start up session but all that shows up in the hard drive icon on the desktop was the "session 3 file".


3.
When I go to control anything with the mouse on the screen everything works accordingly, faders will all move in sync EXCEPT channel 1.

Where do I look now, I feel like this is close to being solved.

I really appreciate everyone help thus far! Thanks everyone!