Driving Me CRAZY!!!!!

[micha]

hello all.............
I am going d8b Crazy!!!! I have finally gotten my d8b out of storage as I previously did not have any space for it. I installed a new floppy drive, battery, bios update, hard drive with 5.1 upgrade. I made all my connections checked them over a million times it seems, hooked up all my outboard gear, keyboards, FX's, all my line ins, etc...... The problems I am having is that I cannot get any signal on any channel, followed everything to a T as far as I can see. I followed the assignment selection making sure to assign a channel to tape output......still no signal on any given channel, tried various synths on different channels......still nothing. Even just trying to see if I can get any type of signal has me boggled.
Another area of concern is the transport controls. I have my midi output from the CPU connected to my HDR and all the required set up from both the d8b and HDR to reflect MIDI MMC as stated in the owners manual...........whether I use the transport controls on the d8b or the locator controls on the screen it still will not initiate the start function. The lights work and flash (both on the console and the screen on my monitor) but will not do anything more than that.

I am hoping that it is something that I may have overlooked but I am becoming so frustrated at lost time trying to figure this out. My analog Mackie mixing desk that I still use with my MDR setup is a no brainer and I am getting so frustrated with the d8b. HEEEELLLLLLPPPPP !!!!!!!

I am not a techie genius by an stretch of the imagination, but normally can figure my way around a set up. Don't know why this has me stumped, maybe I have entered into OPERATION OVERTHINK. I welcome any info you guys can give me and at this point, any criticisms.......lol. I am close to admitting defeat.

I truly appreciate your help in this matter,
Micha

[Old School]

Hi,
Please provide a little more info. Do your meters light up on the inputs showing that the D8B is receiving signal? Do you have the channel assigned to Master L&R? Do you have the original midi breakout cable or did you buy one online?
When you say the lights flash on your transport controls, do you mean that the numbers are changing as if the transport is moving when it's not? With a little more info maybe me or one of the other guys can help you get it straightened out.

Have a blessed day in Christ,
Mike W.

[micha]

hi Mike,
tnx for answering my post. well to update, i don't know what i did but i now have the meters working and input sources can be heard. i went back through the console and rechecked my hookups must have had some faulty cables not too sure but working now.

now on to the transport...still having trouble with it. to clarify, when i arm the channels/tracks the lights flash, no solid record light illuminated just blinking as though tracks havent been armed. the numerical counter stays at all zeros both on the console and when i try to manually do it on my keyboard. the vga monitor flashes the same as the console record/play function. i have the mackie breakout midi cable. i am running the midi out from the d8b CPU to midi in of the HDR breakout cable. all the MMC for both d8b and hdr have been set. the d8b as master the HDR as slave.

again TNX for any insight........Micha

[Bruce Graham]

Hi Micha and Mike:

Good to hear from you Mike! Hope you had a good Christmas!

Micha, as Mike has mentioned detailed description regarding set-up and your issues would help us. be specific with your detail.

When you installed 5.1, (I assume you had a authorization code), did you also install service pack 3?

Does your Play, Fast Forward, etc work, first on the HDR then from the d8b?

Re check your BIOS in the d8b. Make sure you have the correct BIOS for the mother board you have (Old or New).

In either the d8b or the HDR (I forget right now which) the Printer Parallel Port must be disabled.

Check your set-up (yes I know again) on the d8b set-up in the OS software. Make sure everything is correct.

Post back. These things can be difficult but at least you don't have ERROR 43.

Cheers
Bruce

[goonkalonkyn]

sounds like a clock setting issue on the hdr.

[anyhorizon]

i am running the midi out from the d8b CPU to midi in of the HDR breakout cable. all the MMC for both d8b and hdr have been set. the d8b as master the HDR as slave.

Are you running MIDI both ways? d8b out > HDR in, HDR out > 8b in? Only way it'll work.

Peter

[micha]

hi again and tnx for the replies....

still having trouble with the record function on the d8b console. i took the info i have received and went back to the drawing board.

i went through my midi connections...OUT from the cpu to the hdr IN of break out cable then OUT from the breakout cable of the hdr to the IN of the cpu, still no change(it is the b/o cable that came with my hdr). i went back thru and checked the bios of both the d8b and hdr, everything checked out. running the correct bios for d8b and hdr. i had replaced the hard drive as previously stated in my original post. that drive was purchased from Eric Russ. i had floppy drive issues so we decided to have him send me a replacement hard drive with the 5.1 OS loaded onto it. i went back thru the setup menu and rechecked the settings. the midi setup is as shown in the first pic. In the next two pics you will see the transport buttons and then the screen locator. both the console transport functions record(lit) and play(blinking). the tracks that are armed are solid color 4th pic. the rew/fwd buttons when pressed are lit but no action from them, both console and screen. in the pic of the transport on the console the record/play looks as though they are both solid but it was the way the pic was taken. record is (solid) play is (blinking).

I tried using my hdr to control my mdr and it worked perfectly. the hdr sent MMC to the mdr and it responded flawlessly. i am wondering if the midi card in the cpu is to blame? even so, the transport controls should work on the board on its own, even if it is not connected to the hdr? am i correct in that assumption?

i hope i was detailed enough with this post

again......thank you all!!!

[Bruce Graham]

Hi Micha;

If I recall correctly in the MIDI set-up on the d8b, all devices ID's should be set to "O". In this way you are controlling 1 device (device ID 1 being a 2nd device, and device ID 2 being a 3rd device). When I set up my d8b with 5.1, I had as you have Device ID 0, Device ID 1 and Device ID 2. I could only get channels 1 thru 8 to work. I had machine control, so there may something else going on. I would check those settings on my d8b but it is having regular maintenance at this point.

You mentioned that you installed a new hard drive with 5.1 on it. Did Eric give you the authorization code that will work with your d8b ESN (Electronic Serial Number)? You would have had to enter it in the "Licence Screen" of the set-up window. Without it, the console will not have full features and will only run in a limited capacity and then reverts demo mode after about 10 minuets. I do not recall if Machine control works in Demo Mode. You can read about this in other threads in this forum. Type "version 5.1 upgrade" or other combinations of that.

If you do not have the Authorization Code, consider installing version 3.0 (& service pack 3) and seeing if you have machine control.

If you do have the Authorization Code, consider installing version 3.0 (& service pack 3) and seeing if you have machine control then re-install 5.1 (& service pack 3), and continue trying to sort it all out.

Version 5.1 is a far superior OS to version 3.0, but without the Code you can not run it and new code are not being issued.

Don't let these setbacks get to you! Once you get it up and running you will have a great time with it. It is a computer that is old and fussy.

Hope this helps. Post back.

Cheers
Bruce

[micha]

hi Bruce,
to answer your question about the hard drive and authorization codes i received everything and am running the 5.1 with all codes installed and unlocked. i will try changing the device controls as you have suggest i try. i figured that at the same time i will check to see if the midi card is seated correctly possibly ordering a new one to replace and see if the problem is with the midi card itself. not sure if others have had this issue with having to replace the midi card.

i will reply with my results asap

tnx.......Micha

[Bruce Graham]

Glad to hear you have the Codes!

There have been posts regarding replacing the MIDI Card. There are generally some on E-Bay but they specific.

If you are at all handy with a Soldering Iron you can make the cable very easily, if not Eric sells them and the MIDI cards.

Cheers
Bruce