Boot Error: Surface Not Responding

[doktor1360]

Hey Y'all,

Per the subject - booting my HDR24/96 and that's the message I receive...

"Boot Error: Surface Not Responding. Contact Tech Support."

This just started the other day when I booted it up, very odd. I have 2 known good disks to boot, and neither get's past this message. It boots normally, starts to load the Mackie OS and kinda hangs for a bit - this is all displayed via a VGA monitor as well. The LED display on the deck after a brief period displays the dreaded Error #43 Call Tech Support message, and then after a short period the OS mixer desktop loads up but isn't reading the mouse or keyboard peripherals - frozen up. This is where the message in the subject appears in a dialog on screen. Fully understanding this is essentially a piece of computer equipment, it's starting to concern me that something on the motherboard may be acting up. Anyone experience anything similar?!? Suggestions? Buy another HDR24/96?

Any/all input is greatly appreciated...

Thanx in advance!

--
Dok

"Too many guitars is just about right..." - [Anonymous Player]

[Crash]

Have you verified bios settings? It may be as simple as a motherboard battery replacement and then getting the bios settings saved correctly. That is where I would start.

[doktor1360]

Hey Crash... thanx for joining the fray...

I changed the battery, BIOS & CMOS are without issue... the machine essentially performs the POST routine without issue, and the BIOS settings have all been verified; I have both the standard BIOS and the upgraded BIOS for larger hard drive recognition. Still won't boot properly to a known good 20GB drive (already has the OS installed and working) - so for shitz n grinz I cabled up a raw disk and attempted to reinstall OS 1.4 build 420... no Joy... didn't even 'see' the disk, so the image never loaded from floppy #1 to even get to the process of formatting the hard drive...

So Spidey Sense thinks there's something going on with the mobo... or maybe even the power supply. Bottom line, in the short term, I'm looking at another machine - one I'm gonna immediately upgrade to use the larger drives, and I've got some ideas for getting a nice solution for using SSD hard drive(s) - no sticky tape involved or anything 'hacked' like that... this current unit, I reckon I'll keep it around and use for parts... or eventually get around to actually fixing it...

I'll post about all this and more soon, as I've had this one and other units opened up and they're really quite simple in terms of design and troubleshooting. The bitch is parts and availability, as if this forum's crowd doesn't already know that...

Thanx for the input and advice!!!

[Old School]

I 've been a machinist for 25 years and can easily fabricate a custom mounting bracket for any drive, just because I choose
not to waste time doing so in order to bolt something down in a piece of equipment that never moves doesn't make it a
"hack job".

Have a Blessed Day,
Mike W.

[doktor1360]

I 've been a machinist for 25 years and can easily fabricate a custom mounting bracket for any drive, just because I choose not to waste time doing so in order to bolt something down in a piece of equipment that never moves doesn't make it a "hack job".

Fill it out... allow 5-10 Business Days for processing... {SMFH}

[Old School]

Its such a shame that some people have to tear down others in order to make themselves look smarter, but just to
show you what kind of guy I am, send me your HDR and I'll repair it for you, free of charge. Then maybe your butt won't
be hurting.

Have a Blessed Day,
Mike W.

[doktor1360]

Yeah Mike... it's even more shameful when individuals, who were never mentioned at ALL in a post, pretentiously comment and then get all Butt Hurt when somebody calls them on it... this was never personal, until you made it so... for yourself... I got nothing to do with that non-sense...

Oh, I really had know idea this was your personal Board, either... I'll try to keep that in mind when when posting in the future...

Enjoy yourself...

To everyone else, my humblest apologies for this waste of bandwidth...

[Old School]

Your derogatory remarks about SSD's and sticky tape being a hack job was directed at me as I am the only one who
has mentioned this in a post. You made it personal with your butthurt post. If I have offended you in any way,
then I apologize. I wish you luck with your HDR.

Have a Blessed Day,
Mike W.

[doktor1360]

Post Mortem:

Cockpit Error(s) - BIOS Tweak(s), complicated by a NON-powered KVM...

Actually, the ground pin on the BIOS chip was crippled and providing a 'shady' ground for the EPROM itself. I discovered that AFTER checking the BIOS settings and actually LOOKING to see which version of the BIOS was loaded up on the board. D'uh... standard BIOS settings for the upgraded, larger disk capacity BIOS that was actually installed on-board. OK... so then I still had the 'Surface Not Responding..." yatta-yatta-yatta... well, after doing some more digging, and I'll post here the Readers Digest version of events and I found a blurb about KVM switches, which was in play here... JUST the keyboard and mouse direct to their respective ports... and it booted right back up... use a POWERED KVM if ya wanna use one, save yourself the issues...

Thanx Crash & Old School (Mike)... the input was invaluable... appreciate it greatly...

Peace