Imminent SSD and CPU Fan Upgrade

[doktor1360]

OK. I did press down pretty good on that sucker but I didn't open and reclose the CPU bracket...

You pulled the old fan off the heat assembly, tho... it probably didn't do anything, but I've personally had it happen to me. It's just one more thing you can check off the Troubleshooting Mitigation list. It's unusual for something to just up n die like this without some sort of warning... however:

You knew it was coming :
[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your actual mileage may vary."

Peace

Well, I took the fan off the top and was intending to open then close the CPU carriage but I only got as far as lifting the lever up; I didn't see how to remove the heat sink and fan tray without using more force than I wanted to use. I pressed the lever back down and pressed on the top of the CPU heat sink with my thumb, again. Nothing got worse - no sparks, smoke or flames - but it still won't boot. I'm waiting on my spare VGA cards but I'm starting to suspect the hard disk; it just does a single click when it starts, a classic sign of a failed hard disk drive. I have to abandon this d8b fan/SSD project momentarily because the disk drive for my studio file server and intranet HTTP server has now failed. Never a dull moment...

Unfortunately it'll POST without a hard disk, so you'll see the BIOS info well before the CPU seeks a boot disk ... you're on a Snipe Hunt there. You've got issues with the video card or (*gulps*) the motherboard. Difficult for me to say, because I'm not physically sitting there with you. If/when you get things looking for a disk to load, I'd highly recommend upgrading the CPU to boot to a 4GB CF (compact flash) card. Inexpensive upgrade and HIGHLY reliable, and you can also load either/or versions of the OS. I have CF cards with both 3.0 & 5.1...

Keep in mind, if you're planning to run OS 3.0, a Radeon 7000 chipset-based video card ain't gonna do you a damn bit of good (no driver support!) - you'll see the same thing you were seeing before, it'll go thru the boot process so far and then hang on the last initialization screen before the OS splash form displays... an older, OS 3.0 compatible card is what you'll require at that point...

As you well know :
[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your actual mileage may vary."

Peace

[bitSync]

OK. I did press down pretty good on that sucker but I didn't open and reclose the CPU bracket...

You pulled the old fan off the heat assembly, tho... it probably didn't do anything, but I've personally had it happen to me. It's just one more thing you can check off the Troubleshooting Mitigation list. It's unusual for something to just up n die like this without some sort of warning... however:

You knew it was coming :
[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your actual mileage may vary."

Peace

Well, I took the fan off the top and was intending to open then close the CPU carriage but I only got as far as lifting the lever up; I didn't see how to remove the heat sink and fan tray without using more force than I wanted to use. I pressed the lever back down and pressed on the top of the CPU heat sink with my thumb, again. Nothing got worse - no sparks, smoke or flames - but it still won't boot. I'm waiting on my spare VGA cards but I'm starting to suspect the hard disk; it just does a single click when it starts, a classic sign of a failed hard disk drive. I have to abandon this d8b fan/SSD project momentarily because the disk drive for my studio file server and intranet HTTP server has now failed. Never a dull moment...

Unfortunately it'll POST without a hard disk, so you'll see the BIOS info well before the CPU seeks a boot disk ... you're on a Snipe Hunt there. You've got issues with the video card or (*gulps*) the motherboard. Difficult for me to say, because I'm not physically sitting there with you. If/when you get things looking for a disk to load, I'd highly recommend upgrading the CPU to boot to a 4GB CF (compact flash) card. Inexpensive upgrade and HIGHLY reliable, and you can also load either/or versions of the OS. I have CF cards with both 3.0 & 5.1...

Keep in mind, if you're planning to run OS 3.0, a Radeon 7000 chipset-based video card ain't gonna do you a damn bit of good (no driver support!) - you'll see the same thing you were seeing before, it'll go thru the boot process so far and then hang on the last initialization screen before the OS splash form displays... an older, OS 3.0 compatible card is what you'll require at that point...

As you well know :
[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your actual mileage may vary."

Peace

Thanks, Dok. You answered a question I was wondering about, whether or not I should see the BIOS before disk access. Well it appears I should and I'm definitely not seeing anything from the BIOS (well, I'm not seeing anything at all), so yeah, perhaps something's not going on there ahead of the hard disk.

I've already purchased some Transcend 32 Gbyte IDE SSDs which I'm planning to migrate to once/if I get the thing to boot.

I bought the d8b used with OS 5.0 on it but Mackie told me in an email the other day that I could legitimately run 5.1 (which I have the floppies for) using the same ESN and 5.0 unlock code, which I thanfully also have. I decided I maybe should jot down that ESN just before it refused to boot again; I'm totally serious...

[doktor1360]

{deleted for brevity}
Thanks, Dok. You answered a question I was wondering about, whether or not I should see the BIOS before disk access. Well it appears I should and I'm definitely not seeing anything from the BIOS (well, I'm not seeing anything at all), so yeah, perhaps something's not going on there ahead of the hard disk.
{deleted for brevity}

Power supply?!? I'm stabbing in the dark here, but when you hit the switch on the CPU does it do anything?!? Can you post back w/ EXACTLY what takes place the moment you toggle the 'On/Off' switch to the 'On' position. This has a shitty stank about it...

Peace

[bitSync]

{deleted for brevity}
Thanks, Dok. You answered a question I was wondering about, whether or not I should see the BIOS before disk access. Well it appears I should and I'm definitely not seeing anything from the BIOS (well, I'm not seeing anything at all), so yeah, perhaps something's not going on there ahead of the hard disk.
{deleted for brevity}

Power supply?!? I'm stabbing in the dark here, but when you hit the switch on the CPU does it do anything?!? Can you post back w/ EXACTLY what takes place the moment you toggle the 'On/Off' switch to the 'On' position. This has a shitty stank about it...

Peace

Hey Dok, thanks for hanging with me on this. When I hit the power switch on the CPU...

• I have an immediate capacitive charge up of anxiety
• My heart fills with hope and expectation
• I look longingly at the gaping chasm of electronics that is my disemboweled CPU
• The power switch LED illuminates
• The power supply fan and the CPU fan spin up
• The disk sounds like it spins up but offers up only a single click
• Nada from the video monitor, no signal detected
• Meanwhile the console VFD reports that it is booting Mackie OS
• Eventually, after a couple minutes or so, the VFD changes its mind and reports System Error 43
• Then profound sadness and despair set in

Thanks again.

[Crash]

• I have an immediate capacitive charge up of anxiety
• My heart fills with hope and expectation
• I look longingly at the gaping chasm of electronics that is my disemboweled CPU
• The power switch LED illuminates
• The power supply fan and the CPU fan spin up
• The disk sounds like it spins up but offers up only a single click
• Nada from the video monitor, no signal detected
• Meanwhile the console VFD reports that it is booting Mackie OS
• Eventually, after a couple minutes or so, the VFD changes its mind and reports System Error 43
• Then profound sadness and despair set in

Now that is how you write a detailed chain of events. I am sitting on the sidelines watching with interest.

[doktor1360]

• I have an immediate capacitive charge up of anxiety
• My heart fills with hope and expectation
• I look longingly at the gaping chasm of electronics that is my disemboweled CPU
• The power switch LED illuminates
• The power supply fan and the CPU fan spin up
• The disk sounds like it spins up but offers up only a single click
• Nada from the video monitor, no signal detected
• Meanwhile the console VFD reports that it is booting Mackie OS
• Eventually, after a couple minutes or so, the VFD changes its mind and reports System Error 43
• Then profound sadness and despair set in

Thanks again.

IMHO, that's the video card; even if you disconnect the hard disk, you'd still have the same results. In lieu of the fact you don't see BIOS data being displayed, the BIOS ROM supplies as BASIC a VGA video driver support as it gets. I'd establish displaying video before I gave up the ship - I'd be pretty shocked if it was actually the mobo being defective.

LOVE that itemized Rota of activity... seems I've run the gamut with all of that meselfs at one point...

Stay with it, this'll get worked out...

Of course, you knew it was coming so here it is:
[Standard Mgmt Disclaimer] - "Your actual mileage may vary."

Peace

[anyhorizon]

Just musing. You don't have a floppy in the drive do you? If so, remove it prior to booting. Just stabbing in the dark.

Peter

[bitSync]

Just musing. You don't have a floppy in the drive do you? If so, remove it prior to booting. Just stabbing in the dark.

Peter

Peter,

It was definitely worth asking, but I've checked multiple times. Thanks.

[bitSync]

IMHO, that's the video card...

That's what I'm hoping. My 2 replacement eBay VGA boards ($10 a piece!) are due tomorrow afternoon, according to the UPS tracker.

[bitSync]

One of two replacement VGA cards I have on order from eBay arrived today. Swapped out the old video board and put in the new one. No change. Same behavior. I either have 2 bad video cards now or that's not the problem. Another VGA card is on the way.

Just for grins I took out the hard drive and tried to mount it on a Win7 x64 machine using a USB2-PATA adapter. No problem. I can see the volume name MKIED8B3 and the top-level directories. I can also navigate into the directories and see the contents. So the hard drive appears to be fine.

Double checked all the connectors, keyboard, mouse, video monitor, serial db25 to the console, the power cable to the console, the RAM stick, the ribbon cables inside the CPU, reseated all of the boards in the backplane slots

Maybe revisit the CPU and make sure it is properly seated? Is it possible the BIOS chip is fried? No obvious issues on the motherboard, no gooey caps, burnt resistors, etc. Maybe one of the voltages in the power supply is shot? I've got a spare power supply I can swap in to test. Running out of ideas.