RE: EDP and a BIG burst of static/hiss

["Andy Ewen" <andy.ewen@btinternet.com>]

Thanks Bret, it's probably not the stout. Could however, be the Jack
Daniels/Tequila/Single
Malt/Absinth............................................etc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Bret [mailto:echoplex@yahoo.com]
Sent: 10 September 2002 19:40
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: EDP and a BIG burst of static/hiss

Mark,
Glad things are starting to look better, hope the proper function
continues.
Hopefully the memory contact cleaning did the trick.  Time and testing
will tell.  If the problem repeats, it can be diagnosed and fixed.

I have 3 echoplex and have never had a boot issue with them.  1 of
these was made in 1995, another in 1996, the third I don't know.  I
installed most of the memory, as the edp used to come with only 4mb of
ram.  The ram I installed was used from old computers, so I cleaned
them before first installing.  Maybe that is a clue.

I have done electronic repair and modifications for over 35 years.  I
have been an engineer supporting high volume manufacturing of disk
drives for the past 16 years.  We build tens of millions of drives each
year, so I've seen many varities of ways that they can be built wrong,
or component problems, or handling problems that introduce malfunction.

Connectivity issues are probably the most common malfunctions I have
seen in electronics.  Poor connections happen, whether it be
contamination, oxidation, bad alignment, or wear to contacts.  I have
seen computers malfunction due to memory connectivity issues.

The stout is not the problem.
Have a pint, relax and test :-)

Keep us posted.

bret

--- sine@zerocrossing.net wrote:
> Hey kids.
>
> Again, I want to say thanks for all the info and help.  I didn't know
> enough
> about the EPROM burning process to realize that it was probably not
> software.
>
> So, what I did last night was take the whole thing apart (again) and
> clean
> that baby up.  I took each EPROM and memory chip (which I had not
> previously
> touched, upon finding the bent EPROM pin... yes Kim, it was in fact
> in there
> after I fixed it) and scrubbed it all down with contact cleaner.  The
> EPROMs
> seemed fine, but I did notice a fair amount of black on the cuetip
> after
> cleaning off the memory chips.  I then put it all back together and,
> of
> course, it worked fine.  Played with it for a few hours with no
> problem and
> went to bed with a loop running and woke up with it still there.
>
> I wouldn't call this a good test, but it was barely staying booted up
> for 5
> minutes before I did the big clean.  I'm going to try and repeat this
> every
> night to make sure everything's good.
>
> I still feel this is kind of weird though.  I've got a Mac SE30 that
> still
> runs with no problems.  I also had a Mac IIX that ran for years and
> years and
> years.  In the hot humid summers and bitter cold winters of upstate
> NY.  I've
> never had to clean a contact or reseat anything, yet this seems
> common with
> the EDP.  Someone said it was because of the fact we take the EDP out
> and bang
> it around a lot more than computer gear, but I used to take the SE30
> around
> with me to gigs as a MIDI sequencer, so it often went to gigs in sub
> 0
> conditions, only to find itself in a heated enviornment moments
> later.  The
> thing still boots up.  I still use it to run the "Fish" screensaver
> in leu of
> a real fishtank.
>
> Could it be the type/brand of ram Gibson uses?  Why not clean it with
> a
> cleaner that protects it from oxididation before installing it?  My
> unit was a
> newer Gibson unit that's probably been a San Rafael CA storeage room
> most of
> it's life.  That can't be a bad climate for electronics gear.
> Moderate and
> dry all year.  I know shit happens, but something tells me that other
> forces
> are at work in this case.  We need to tell those Brits to stay away
> from the
> stout and start QC'n their gear before they ship it.
>
> Mark Sottilaro
>
> Kim Flint wrote:
>
> > At 03:09 PM 9/9/2002, sine@zerocrossing.net wrote:
> > >First, I want to thank you all for your excellent role as "Gibson
> customer
> > >support" and for all the good information.  Tonight I shall (once
> again)
> > >open up my EDP and this time attempt to clean all the contacts.  I
> only
> > >reseated the eproms, and upon finding the bent pin, I figured that
> was
> > >obviously my problem.  When it worked after that, I thought I was
> done.  I
> > >didn't even bother with the memory becaues the fault seemed so
> obvious.
> >
> > You might also want to recheck the rom pins too. On occasion I've
> bent a
> > rom pin back, but didn't do it very well and left a kink in it.
> Then when I
> > pressed it into the socket I just bent it out all over again. It's
> worth it
> > to take some care and make sure the are all really in there.
> >
> > kim
> >
> >
>
______________________________________________________________________
> > Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
> > kflint@loopers-delight.com    | http://www.loopers-delight.com
>


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