Computer won't load or connect

[Ginridge]

Hi Folks,

Several years ago I had the fan on the computer for my D8B replaced. When I got the computer back and hooked everything back up, the computer would not connect with the board. It simply put up a message "Couldn't Load OS" or something to that effect (the computer guys I working with are going to set it up again and get me the exact message soon). We thought it was a hard drive issue but the hard drive seems to be functional, and they even tried another HD in it's place... same message. They tried re-loading the old software. No results. For what it's worth, we get the same message whether it's connected to the board or not.

Does anyone have an idea of what I can do to get the working again? Any ideas about troubleshooting on this? Is there anyone in the midwest that even works on these? The folks that are working on it now are local computer guys, but not audio computer guys but they have no ideas either. Hopefully someone who knows these boards might have some insights.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks!

[Y-my-R]

Here are a few things that can cause issues like that:

1. BIOS not set correctly:
https://www.sonido-7.com/d8b/maintenance.html#Post1

2. It really depends on when the error message appears, and what exactly it says. If it happens while the background of the screen is still black, with only white text on it, it could be BIOS/Computer settings or hardware issues.
If the bootup process stops when it shows something like "Starting Mackie OS..." in green letters, then it hangs when trying to switch to a graphical user interface.
If it stops loading after the graphical user interface already shows in the background, then the harddrive is formatted correctly - but it could still be an issue with the installation that necessitates a re-install.

3. If you ruled out the BIOS settings as the issue (is your harddrive detected in the BIOS? What's the size? I think there's a fairly low maximum disc size limit - especially with the old motherboard type), and the D8B stops booting BEFORE graphics appear in the background, then the harddrive may not be formatted correctly.
This needs to be done via the first (of 3) D8B installation floppy disks and from the D8B rack computer - formatting from PC/Mac will NOT work. So, whatever new drive your PC guys put in there, is likely not formatted right - even if the file-system is the same (FAT of FAT32). There's a custom boot sector being written by the D8B, I think - and without that, it will not boot right).

In the last post in this thread, I'm describing how to format the internal harddrive on the D8B via the first installation floppy.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2644&p=20354&hilit=format%3Aon#p20354

You can also restore the OS instead of formatting and re-installing, by restoring an "image" of the harddrive, that I think exists somewhere on the database on this page. But if you haven't done this sort of thing before, it can be a bit of a challenge. Formatting via floppy is likely easier.

Anyway... without more info (e.g. a picture of the error message), it's difficult to pinpoint where the problem comes from. So, more information, please.

[Ginridge]

Thanks very much! I will drop by the shop tomorrow and try to have them start it up. I'll get exact wording and, if possible, pics. FWIW, it is not currently connected to the board, it's in the shop and the board is in my studio. Do I need them to be together at this point in order to get the correct messages?

To the best of my recollection, no Mackie Logo appears (is that the graphic interface?). It never gets beyond the initial screen. It seems to not be able to load the Mackie software.

[Y-my-R]

Without the mixer connected, the D8B rack unit should still get past the green "Loading Mackie OS..." text, followed by a graphical D8B splash screen while it's booting.

It will boot to the point where it shows the graphical user interface, but will then give a "DSP Error" of sorts, because the mixer is not connected.

If it doesn't get that far, then there's a problem with either settings, the OS installation, or a hardware problem.

Oh, and btw... having the mixer connected to the rack via that big round connector (we call it the BFC around here) is not enough. The 25 pin Data cable also needs to be connected for the D8B to work. But if you don't get as far as the graphical user interface with the DSP error I mentioned, then there's still other things to fix in the rack, that you won't need the console for.

[Ginridge]

Yes. It does not get D8B Logo at all. I'll head to the store in an hr or so and try to get the exact message.

[Ginridge]

IMG_9614 3.JPG (Array MiB) Viewed 4908 times

Hi, Here's a shot of what the screen comes up with when it's booted. I printed out our conversation brought it to my tech guy and he mentioned the bios and disc formatting all made sense and gave him a couple ideas.

Hopefully this screen shot might give you an idea of wha's going on.

Thanks!

[csp]

I maybe completely wrong here, but from what I am reading it seems to me as if you are trying to boot the computer (ie Rack Unit) from a floppy.

If I am correcf in what I am seeing (and as everyone knows --- I am definitely no computer expert), exactly why are you trying to boot from a floppy rather than from the hard drive and exactly what is on the floppy ?

If I am wrong (quite a possibility !!!) I am sure that Y-my-R will correct me.

David

[Y-my-R]

It does look a bit like booting from the floppy, but I think the Mackie OS Loader v.3.0 (...that's something that is shown when booting from an installation floppy - this is not the same as Mackie OS 3, btw.) also starts up when starting the OS from the harddrive (although then it doesn't usually show this type of message, if things work as they should).

Could you clarify, please, if this happens when booting from the floppy (e.g. with the intention to re-install the harddrive), or is this happening when booting from the harddrive?

To me, it looks like either the medium this is running from got corrupted (i.e. what's on the floppy or harddrive), or possibly some hardware got replaced, that is not compatible with the Mackie OS, or the floppy drive no longer works as it should (not uncommon... old floppy drives often can only read floppies that were written on the same drive... tolerance issues, I guess).

So, IF this is when trying to boot from the floppy, create new floppy disks first, via the downloads available here:

https://www.sonido-7.com/d8b/index.html#Post6

Forget about the Mac downloads, unless your Mac is still running OS9 or older.

Use the windows downloads, extract them, and then use the app that got extracted, to write 3 new Mackie OS 5.1 (I'd go with this now, and apply the hack... no reason to still deal with Mackie OS 3, unless you have very little RAM). Then modify the first floppy as described in an earlier post.
Then put the floppy in the D8B rack unit and try again.

If this happened while booting from the harddrive, then either the drive got corrupted, or possibly some hardware may have gotten replaced, that is incompatible with the drivers the Mackie OS tries to load... but IMO, that's unlikely, because pc_dskopen doesn't sound like something that needs a special driver.

You didn't replace any hardware, other than memory or the harddrive, right? (Most other things will need to work with the built-in drivers in the Mackie OS, so the list of devices that will work, is extremely short... and not available as a list, haha).

Anyway... more info, please. Ideally a step-by-step description of how you got to that point.

[Ginridge]

OK. I do not know precisely where they are at this point. The machine would not connect after replacing the fan which was going bad. Originally, that was all that was replaced. Since then they have tried replacing the HD, tried using thumb drives (I think) and another hard drive with no results. I think they are back to using the original drive, but I have no real idea. I have asked the tech guy to join in here since he can answer all these questions better than I can.

[HometownSupport]

Hi this is Matt who has the computer at his shop. Basically at the beginning we were getting that message trying to boot the system at the owner's house. We had no floppy disk in the machine and I had made sure the BIOS was set to boot the HDD. I tried a bunch of things and eventually decided all I could think was the HDD had gone bad more or less. I took the computer back to my shop and ordered a replacement HDD after looking at what should be compatible and we found this forum for links to downloading updated software and doing all that. The goal was we need to get this computer booting again and upgrade it if possible but not lose any of the tracks on the original drive. Long story short we've never been able to get any version installed on the machine and seem to always end up with the boot error telling us to remove the disk, etc. even though there's no disk in the floppy and it's not set to boot from it initially anyway.