EMERGENCY: Light Board Issue

[gafftapegreenia]

The summer camp I work at is running an approximantly 20-25 year old Colortran Encore light board. The manual says the software is Version 3.05. My issue is that when I turn on the board, the screen is black except for the words "Boot Code Ver. 1.6". I have no idea what this means and while it might be in the manual, there is no reference section and the troubleshooting section that the manual does have offers no help.

[Bob]

When was the last time you changed the tiny back-up battery inside?? Have you tried holding down (I believe) it's the clear key, while booting up the console?? This does a hard reset. Make sure the power cord is pushed tightly into the back of the console, these boards were very sensitive to the output level of the power supply. If you don't have any luck with Leviton tech support (and being on hold for hours), try calling Chicago Spotlight 312-455-1171 ask for Marty or Kurt. They might be able to walk you thru something else I forgot?? Sorry I can't help more, I'm out the door to a gig!! Good luck
-Bob

[gafftapegreenia]

Well, I went ahead and did a hard wipe of the board...that worked. Everything is back at 1 to 1, and all the presets are gone...luckily I hadn't started programming. Now I get to soft patch everything, which would bne easy except this house has no light plot- oh joy.

[JD]

Oh man, that reminds me of a "hop" tour I was on. (Where you are in one city doing a show, while a second crew is setting up your show in the next town for the following night.) Anyway, I walk in the next day with very little sleep, and the board is blank! All the presets are wiped and the patch bay had all the pins removed. (Back in those days, analog systems were patched using a diode pin matrix panel.) It was a DPC show and none of the channels were where they were suppose to be! If I had been more awake, I would have freaked out. Instead, I just sat there feeling each channel out and patching pins.

[gafftapegreenia]

Thats a nightmare for sure. I spend today drawing up a light plot, tracing channels and assigning new presets, soft patches and grouping. Another reason to convince the Admin's we should get a new board.

[ship]

asked at work, notta so far. Will E-Mail if any ideas come up. Did you try to contact Colortran?

[Van]

If it remains a problem, I can talk to Gordon Pearlman, I think he designed that board. I'm fairly certain I have the original prototype of that board sitting upstairs. One thing I do remember about replacing the battery on several boards of that era is, you have to drain the charge off the cmos chip. there is a very specific procedure of short two pins on the chips using a resistor. I'll see if I can't dig up more info.

[gafftapegreenia]

I think the board needs it. I found out about 2 hours after I wiped the board that this has been an ongoing problem.

[JD]

If the battery voltage is low, the ram data can corrupt, this can cause lockups. (True in almost any bat backup system.) As an overview, the battery feeds into a capacitor which then feeds the ram backup circuit. The purpose of the cap is to keep memory alive while the battery is changed. If the system is working correctly, you can change the battery. The cap should do its job and keep the memory alive. (Unless the cap is too old.) You can reset the ram by discharging the cap, or by letting it run down. (1 to 24 hours without battery.) or, as mentioned, discharge it with a resistor. The only problem would be if the battery is soldered in. (use to run into this with keyboards all the time.) If not, no problem. While you are in there, look around and make sure the battery has not leaked and damaged things. Sometimes, the big old caps leak as well and that can be big trouble. If you find leakage, or are uncomfortable changing the battery, please take it to a service center. Good luck!

[gafftapegreenia]

Thanks for all the advice.