d8b Forum

Hi all! First post but DB8 owner since 2002. I guess I’ve “had a good run” since I never really needed help until now.

Yesterday I booted her up and got my first “you need to authorize the os” message. I naturally didn’t have the code so wound up running it in demo mode a few times in order to ftp some things over to my Mac. I then read on this board how to find your auth code. I think I found it and entered it in as it gave me a message to reboot in order to have the board be officially authorized. But, after rebooting I would get the same “needs auth” message. That lead me to replacing the battery in the cpu. The old battery was reading at less than 1 volt and I double checked the new battery was good. Ever since then I’ve been getting the system error 43 message. While it’s trying to boot the monitor never turns on. From reading this forum I’ve tried many different trouble shooting things (reseating and cleaning cards and cables, etc.). I even managed to hook up the hard drive to my Mac and made a disc image of it so I think the hard drive is ok.

This leads me to my main question. When trying to access the cpu I had to pull on the big power cable so I could get a tiny amount of slack in order to open it up. I have the cpu in a separate computer closet and there’s not much slack. I’m wondering if I didn’t somehow damage that big cable. I’ve opened the psu cover and nothing has pulled through the beefy strain relief. Currently when I turn it on no faders move. All I get is the booting up text in the red led display. Anyway , I’m pulling my hair out as I’m “dead” right now and am looking at getting a used d8b so I can be up and running again. Thanks for any help!

Hi,
I would think that any damage you might cause by pulling on the big cable would occur at the big connector that attaches to the board and not at the CPU. Maybe you could examine that connector? Just a thought.

Have a blessed day,
Mike W.

Another thought, I had to end up making a support for the cable as it comes out the back of the D8B console as sometimes just wiggling this connector will cause a problem.

Old School wrote:Another thought, I had to end up making a support for the cable as it comes out the back of the D8B console as sometimes just wiggling this connector will cause a problem.

Thanks for your input. The connector to the board wasn't affected or at the CPU. The CPU strain relief is super beefy. But, I've cleaned and unplugged/plugged the board connector several times anyway. I was worried I might have "injured" it somewhere mid way when I had to use some force to tug it through my computer closet wall a few inches. That's all I did that I can think of that made this thing not work anymore. Yes, I'm going nuts over here! I will still continue to try different things in the event I stumble upon a fix.Was entertaining taking out the mother board and having a local computer shop take a look at it too.

Check the serial cable between the cpu and the desk.
Try to reseat it in both ends, and see if that does anything.

If your video monitor does not turn on it could be the RAM. Try to remove the RAM sticks and reseat them and see if that works.

Dave - I just responded to the other thread, where you're asking for a repair shop.

As mentioned, while I'm not a repair shop, we're practically neighbors, and I could take a look at your d8b computer. Also, if the big cable got damaged, I got two spare ones. Even one that is about double the length than normal (but I kinda wanted to keep that one, if I ever decide to move the CPU to an adjacent room).

Anyway... just PM me, and we can work something out.

I just got some new ram but still no luck with this booting. What cables/cards are necessary for the D8B to boot? Maybe I can unplug or take out some things as part of my trouble shooting “fun”. I have a new data cable waiting for me at Frys that I was going to try but maybe that doesn’t need to be plugged in in order for it to boot up.

ok - I didn't read your original post well enough.
I've had experiences with my d8b not giving any video output either.
Try to clear the CMOS:

Disconnect all power.
Remove the bios battery.
Between the bios battery and the bios chip there's three pins with a jumper across two of them.
The jumper should normally be on the two pins closest to the chip.
Pull it up/off gently, and put it down on the two pins closest to the battery socket.
Leave it there for a couple of minutes.
Then put it back on the two pins closest to the chip.
Try to boot now - get ready to spam the delete button, to enter the bios, and set things up from scratch.

arjepsen wrote:ok - I didn't read your original post well enough.
I've had experiences with my d8b not giving any video output either.
Try to clear the CMOS:

Disconnect all power.
Remove the bios battery.
Between the bios battery and the bios chip there's three pins with a jumper across two of them.
The jumper should normally be on the two pins closest to the chip.
Pull it up/off gently, and put it down on the two pins closest to the battery socket.
Leave it there for a couple of minutes.
Then put it back on the two pins closest to the chip.
Try to boot now - get ready to spam the delete button, to enter the bios, and set things up from scratch.

Thanks for the idea. I'm not seeing any thing with a jumper on it between the battery and the bios chip (I have the old motherboard). I see a red thing with a jumper closer to the cpu.