d8b Forum

Hello everyone. I am not sure what’s happening here, but I need some help! The Mackie D8B would work for about two minutes, without problems. Then, the meters would freeze and the sound stops. I would restart it, and each time it will work successfully for about two minutes. I rebooted it and selected the “delete” key to enter the settings. I tried to load the “fail safe” option and now it won’t boot up at all. I get the system 43 error on the Mackie, and the computer monitor says it’s still booting “please wait”.. Please help, is this fixable?

Don't load the "Fail Safe", check the settings from the database here and load only what's shown, if you haven't put a new battery in for a few years now's the time to do it.

Get back to us when all of this is done as there might be other issues going on, but most problems are fixable

Phil

Thanksa, I will do this! But, where and what do you mean by check the database "here"? Where is "here"?

the database (also here, https://www.sonido-7.com/d8b/maintenance.html) is right next to the FAQ icon called "d8b database"

Apologies for jumping in here so late in game...

The D8B's host cpu is a 'computer', no matter how ya slice n dice things. That being said, it's specialized and not a generic consumer workhorse device such as a laptop or workstation by any means. But for this discussion, both would generally follow the same process for booting up and presenting the user a graphical interface ready for 'work'.

Firstly, the caveat is I'm gonna assume the BIOS (Basic In/Out System) is configured correctly for discussions purposes. When power is applied to things, the first thing that happens in either case is the hardware goes thru it's POC (Power On Confidence) test... on your monitor (crt, whatever you're using), this is where you'll see the BIOS executing - sensing, reporting and configuring any drives, peripheral hardware, etc. The monitors screen will blank momentarily and the 'rude solo light' LED on the console will light up solid (RED) and the fluorescent display on the console will display 'Mackie D8B 5.1'... you can be fairly certain the DB25 communicates and BFC voltage(s) are present and basically functioning.

At this point, the 'computer' hardware has passed things to the firmware... the job now is to ensure a proper hand-off from the hardware BIOS happens with the software layer - i.e. the MackieOS. That's the firmwares task in the overall procedure. So now the MackieOS, which we all know is a graphical shell based on licensed version of Win95, begins to load up - still no display yet (be patient). The 'rude solo light' LED will now begin blinking, and the status of the consoles backplane is then displayed on the fluorescent display in order as their read - I/O cards, clock card (this one happens FAST - blink and you'll miss it) and finally the MFX/UFX configuration... you'll get three (3) more blinks of the solo light and TADA... the display should now have the console gui displayed. But wait... the OS is not done, it's doing it's thing loading the gui support for the reported hardware and any remaining initialization (startup file, etc) - should be 13-14 blinks on the solo light. The 'startup' project configuration file is the last thing in the execution chain and once completed the gui is active. You should see a coupla random faders 'dance' briefly... and you're ready for starting your recording/mixing session, or loading another one, whatever...

That all being said, back to what I think I'm seeing here and the point of my input above is that it's a computer. So, it's safe to say that if you wanna 'reset' things to square one with regards to the cpu host, just enter the BIOS utility when it's booted and select 'load defaults'. Yeah, yeah... documents always bark about this causing problems... yada yada yada. If the defaults are loaded, just hit <f10> to save and re-enter the BIOS on the subsequent reboot. That's where the Mackie specific BIOS settings get applied and saved (<f10> - reboot). The next reboot should load, setup and configure everything properly... and any subsequent issue(s) could be mitigated in a pragmatic fashion...

Forgive in advance if I'm off-base, any of this is incorrect or I'm completely in left-field. The boot cycle stuff I'm going off of memory as my desk is booted up and in use at the moment. Free shin kicks are in order if I've completely fumbled the ball anywhere. And of course, you knew it was coming so here it is:

[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your actual mileage may vary..."

It gets me when, people are desperate to get answers on how to fix things, then don't even bother to follow it up

Phil,

That is something that I have witnessed a number of times over the years on this forum and have never understood the logic.

If a poster has a problem and asks for help but in the meantime solves the problem, I would think that out of courtesy the poster would place a posting to that effect, not simply disappear.

I know that with my own current problem (on hold until my son arrives in about three weeks with the boards), I have thanked the forum members for their help and recommendations a number of times --- it doesn't take much effort to be thankfull !!!!!

David

Not all people are like you David and can't be bothered to make the effort

Phil

Phil,

Must be a 2000's thing, as I am sure that it was not like that in the 1900's !!!!!!!!

David