POORLY STRAND300 :(

[adude23]

Hi Guys,

Bit frustrated with this one,
Had a Strand300 Shipped too me today,

Opened it up and plugged it in and it ceased to work,


It's got 3x Fader Wings and 1x Control wing,

At the moment i've got all the wings 'daisy chained' with RJ11 and then one piece of RJ11 goes into one of the sub inputs on the back of the processor,

When you initially boot up the processor with the desk connected the processor ligths up and all fans start agoing!

The desk and all LED's flash for a moment but then that's it,

The LCD on the control wing doesn't light up and shows faintly the wingID number and then a date i assume of manufacture,

The VGA monitor connected to the processor shows nothing,


Can anyone help on this???

Do the fader wings have to be connected in a special way considering 3 are used? other than the method stated above,
If it helps at all the desk may have gotten cold,
Would this have caused anything like this to happen?

Help would be appreciated!
Adude23

 

[adude23]

Maybe ICEWOLF could help on this one??

 

[Studio]

Check your monitor connection and reboot a few times, strand 300's are sometimes weird. Also look if there is two monitor outputs and try the other one.

 

[gcpsoundlight]

from memory, there are seperate connections on the back of the rack for the panels...

 

[icewolf08]

You can daisy chain the panels, but you should be using Cat5 cable terminated with RJ45s. If you are using RJ11 (telephone connectors) that could be your problem. Also, make sure that they are connected to the S-Bus jack and not the network card.

You might try booting with only the input tile connected just to make sure that there is nothing wrong with the other panels. You could even boot with only a keyboard and non of the panels as long as you know how to use it. On the other hand, the 300 series has been know to dump it's brains from time to tame, and this could be your issue, which would be a lot harder to deal with.

How did you get the console? Who shipped it to you? Was it out for repair or did you buy it?

 

[adude23]

There arn't 2 monitor outputs, I've tried 2 separate monitors so it's not the monitor! The panels do indeed daisey chain and you shouldn't need to use all four sbus outputs! Only the top left one If I'm right?

The desk has got the official strand RJ45's i havnt tried just running the control wing, can you do that if the desk is programmed to accept 3 fader wings?
I have got the keyboard cheat sheet to show me what the keyboard does,
am I right in thinking it could be a bit of faulty RJ45??

Really am at a loss here to be honest, but the desk does boot up and the fans kick in, the desk flashes but then it doesn't boot into strand OS

adude,

 

[adude23]

Oh and i purchased the console, it was shipped with DHL and left outside for an hour in a porch, barring in mind it's reaching temperetures of like -7c this week this wasn't the ideal place to leave it! It was also declared as signed for which it wasn't!
They will be getting a very irate phone call from me first thing Monday!!!

 

[Footer]

Ebay purchase?

Very well could be a DOA product. Might want to contact your seller....

 

[adude23]

No the product was fine u have pictures and dated video footage to proove it, the seller is a very genuine bloke who is complaining to DHL with me, he has tried everything to help, and has offered a full refund if I want and also he will cover repair if needed!
But to be quite honest I would rather keep the desk!
I just need to fix it!

 

[icewolf08]

Does it boot to DOS? I suppose not since you said nothing shows on the monitors at all, not even the motherboard splash screen? You might open up the CPU and make sure that all the boards and belt connectors are seated properly (RAM, PCI, HD belt cables, etc.) Sometimes something as simple as that can cause a computer not to boot at all.

 

[adude23]

Nope no splash screen and doesn't even attempt to boot to DOS,

I opened the CPU and went round and unplugged every plug dusted the conectors off with air duster and re connected and made sure all were in securly!

 

[photoatdv]

Verify the power supply is good? If one rail is bad it could be causing that...

Otherwise call Strand tech support in the morning.

 

[J0rdster]

Does it boot to DOS? I suppose not since you said nothing shows on the monitors at all, not even the motherboard splash screen? You might open up the CPU and make sure that all the boards and belt connectors are seated properly (RAM, PCI, HD belt cables, etc.) Sometimes something as simple as that can cause a computer not to boot at all.

Definitely open it up and check on the components inside of the CPU. If DHL got throw-happy with it, that console is fragile enough as is. The University owns one, and it's really touchy. I also think that your problem lies in the RJ-11. If you change to RJ-45 cable and your console lights up but your screen doesn't, the graphics card could be the issue with the display(s) not working.

 

[adude23]

The console flashes momentaralt it does not light up!

 

[adude23]

And as already stated! I have opened the CPU!

 

[FMEng]

Does this thing have a BIOS or memory battery? I have encountered equipment that checks the battery state during initialization, and stops if the battery is dead.

Severe cold can kill a battery very quickly.

 

[adude23]

I suppose it would have a battery yes, but bugger me if I know where it is or how to get hold of another one with out having to replace the whole CPU

 

[SHARYNF]

I am not a 300 expert but have some OLD Strand units an did some checking for you and here are some suggestions

Since the Former owner seems to be pretty honest I would bet it is the Battery so I'd try (3) first

There are a few things that I have seen cause this behavior in 300
series consoles.

1) Make sure that the facepanel SBus cable is plugged into the top
left of the four RJ45 SBus connectors on the CPU.

2) If your console has the network card, sometimes these go bad. If
the card is bad, this sometimes prevents the console BIOS from getting
through its POST functions and will not boot.

3) Occassionally, the BIOS will get scrambled. This is usually due
to the battery on the motherboard failing. (IIRC, it is a 3.6v
battery). The battery is soldered on, so it should only be replaced
by an experienced technician. If you have the cover off the CPU,
there is a small square card attached to the motherboard towards the
front. (This is on the side opposite of the floppy drive.) There is
a microswitch that says 'reset' next to it. With the console
unplugged, press this switch down for a few seconds. This interrupts
power to the BIOS, forcing it to its defaults. Plug the console back
in and see if it boots.

4) The Disk-On-Chip may be failing or has failed. The 300 series
uses these chips instead of a hard drive. If the chip has failed, it
will need to be replaced. The factory is probably the best place to
have this done. That way, they can reinstall MS-DOS 6.22 and the
Strand console OS.

Back in 2005 or so Strand sent out this message

"In the recent past, 300 Series consoles have exhibited memory and
processing problems that have shown to be related to the size of the on
board M-Systems Disk On Chip. We are recommending replacing any units that have symptoms such as regular processor crashing or slow processing with the new 64M Disk On Chip. We also request that all units that are brought to Authorized Service Centre's for any service reason be upgraded to 64M Disk On Chips if they contain any unit smaller than 64M regardless of symptoms.
Units in the field that have smaller Disk On Chips installed but show no
symptoms will remain until symptoms are present or the processor is brought
in for other service.


Hope this helps

Sharyn