Console Data cable and sockets

[Paul Chivers]

Hello,

I am setting up a d8b for the first time. It came with everything except the Console Data connector so I cannot boot the desk yet.

I did buy a cable today I thought would do the trick but it was a male connector at both ends. I suspect the female socket on the remote unit is the incorrect socket, being that I still get the Error 43 message. So I presume I will need to track down a correct cable. This leaves me with the question; what is the female socket for?

Perhaps more importantly, is my assessment correct and would you expect the d8b to boot when I change the cable for a male to female connector, or should it have worked when I plugged into the female socket on the remote unit?

[synthjoe]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations to your new 'toy'!

You need to use a cable with F/M connectors (or get a 'gender bender' if you have identical connectors on both ends). However, my guess is that the cable might be the wrong one. It must be wired straight through, meaning that pin1 on one end goes to pin1 on the other, pin2 to pin2, etc. All 25 pins have to be wired. Printer extension cables should be working, but not a given - make sure you test it! You can check this with a continuity tester or multimeter - also ensure that no pins out of the 25 are connected together (e.g. ground connections - several in the shorter row - on a printer extender cable tend to be wired together). You need to use the male connector on the CPU, the other one is a printer port connected to the PC motherboard inside, if memory serves me well.

There're already a couple of posts about this cable on here, you might want to run a search to find more information.

[High C Double G]

Hi Paul,

I just got one of these because I needed one a little longer - I got a 25 foot just to mention it. This company is really great. They are in the US and I do not know where you live but before I turned around once it was already here. I was a little nervous because I did not get any E-mail confirmation or any tracking number, but by the time I was writing the E-mail to them the cable showed up. Super fast.

https://www.cablewholesale.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?text=DB25+male+to+DB25+female

In the search window I put DB25 male to DB25 female and then scrolled down to... Found in: RS232 Serial Cables

The part number I ordered is 10D3-01225 (the last two numbers is the feet) so a 10D3-01210 is a 10 foot cable. I am pretty certain the d8b originally shipped with a 15 foot cable and it was the color black.

This company calls these cables white, it is what they have; they really are an off white more like beige. The cable works fine.

Hope this helps,

Michael

[High C Double G]

... This leaves me with the question; what is the female socket for?

Perhaps more importantly, is my assessment correct and would you expect the d8b to boot when I change the cable for a male to female connector, or should it have worked when I plugged into the female socket on the remote unit?

The female socket serves no function on the d8b. I have never tried it but I do not think these ports are interchangeable. Use the correct cable and the correct ports and it should boot up. I personally have never heard of damaging the system by plugging in an incorrect cable or using the incorrect port. It is possible to damage something by doing this, I just have never seen it or heard about it.

Hope this helps,

Michael