Hercules Pro startup and than nada

[typenut]

Hello all, made Film yesterday and today: turned the Hercules Pro on, the Floppy shows up on display twice as usual and than it's like the power got cut to the display, nada.

Where do I start to look?

 

[vitaar]

Hello,

Hello, the problem may be a back-up battery for RTC and RAM memory on the motherboard (slot A04).

To verify this, you'd have to connect VT100 imagesetter interface with a computer with any terminal program. VT100 is a RS232 serial port, you just make a cable. Imagesetter-off shows on the terminal screen, which in turn starts and what happens. If you get an error time and date, it will cause the battery.

Sorry for my English, I use a translator

 

[raphael]

Hercules Pro Startup Problem

Hercules Pro Startup Problem

I also have the same problem.The machine boots flashes Linotype twice then goes off.Anybody with a quick solution will be highly appreciated.

 

[vitaar]

I can fix it, but I can not do it at a distance. This requires the electronics board to send to me.

 

[raphael]

Thread: Hercules Pro startup and than nada

Thread: Hercules Pro startup and than nada

Which Board exactly,we have the MAINCONTROLLER board at slot A04, there is the EC CONTROL board, then the entire H-MOTHERBOARD.Which board exactly.I will really appreciate your efforts.

Thanks

 

[vitaar]

It's about the entire Motherboard in slot A04. There is no longer manufactured integrated circuit with a battery that needs to be cleverly replace. And then reset the configuration and enter the new parameters. Not a very simple operation (sorry for my english)

 

[leo]

Which Board exactly,we have the MAINCONTROLLER board at slot A04, there is the EC CONTROL board, then the entire H-MOTHERBOARD.Which board exactly.I will really appreciate your efforts.

Thanks

Morning,
You should check the ECC board.
Good luck

 

[raphael]

Thread: Hercules Pro startup and than nada

Thread: Hercules Pro startup and than nada

Morning,
You should check the ECC board.
Good luck

Not again! the ECC board, I thought the ECC board Controls the Exposure Head, Rotating Mirror Unit and Material Width Recognition.How is connected to the booting of the imagesetter. Please expain further.
Most regards.

 

[raphael]

Please read this: The Main Controller controls all operations in the recorder. The Operating System, pSOS+, is resident in an EPROM on the Main Controller.
Operating System
pSOS+ is a real time multitasking system that dows priority tasking. For instmce, Video
data is assigned a higher priority than Graphic Data, so video data is processed fist. pS0S+
uses the filesystem pHile, similar to UNXX. At Power on, the Main Controller loads pSOS+
From the EPROM and the recorder data from the floppy disk into the RAM on the Main
Controller and executes instructions as required. The recorder is then initialized.

 

[vitaar]

First question: is the boot disk is ok? If not, the machine will not boot properly. A floppy disk that can normally be read in the ordinary PC.

Without connecting the VT100 terminal will not be able to easily find fault - imagesetter communicates at boot, showing all the errors.

Your failure, however, indicates the most to damage the battery. If the imagesetter detects damage to the battery will not run properly.

 

[raphael]

Hercules Pro startup and than nada Reply to Thread

Hercules Pro startup and than nada Reply to Thread

@Vitaar,Where exactly is the battery situated?Can I easily change the battery myself?Please advice.
Thanks

 

[vitaar]

Unfortunately, it can not be easily replaced, because it is contained inside in IC package . This chip is located on the motherboard (slot A04). As I wrote before, this is only half the job. Then you must still enter the appropriate parameters into RAM, and this requires access to special software.

 

[raphael]

Hercules Pro startup and than nada

@Vitaar,I need to send the board to you.Please can u provide me the address.And just for information,how much would you charge me for the job,just incase.
Thanks, Raphael.

 

[vitaar]

Hello,

I work in Poland. Maximum repair cost is about $ 350, excluding transport costs. If you're interested, let me know on email: [email protected]

 

[davec]

Same issue here -
Anyone know the VT100 settings for Hyper Terminal?

Thanks
Dave

 

[LoWang]

Hi,
before you start spending your money check the diskette in some old PC. It 's using different than DOS filesystem but still can be read and write. If you are able to copy all files to HD or another FD than it may be something else than simple date corruption, in some cases I've been involved the drive was the problem. I don't suspect touchbutton (the chip on motherboard) to fail rather simple disk loading problem.
If you can make a backup copy of Herc's diskette even if it's working perfectly. Some files on it consist of vital data (like geometry and machine specific params), also the chip (touch button from Dallas) has a copy of it - the serial number written in both places is then compared during booting up.

It's nice to connect serial to terminal program just to confirm what's going on during start-up.
The speed should be either 19200 or 9600 and 8N1.

Good luck

 

[davec]

Thanks for the update LoWang

I've copied the floppy to a PC, duped it using WinImage and inserted it back in. Looking at the output from VT100, I get quite far in the boot sequence:

Loads 590K into RAM and loads about 6 files:

Errors.txt
default.mat
etc and then fails with an address error

 

[vitaar]

Hi,

Was there a message like "RTC Clock Error" or similiar?

 

[davec]

The error message is v unhelpful:

PC 0x4E565E56
SR 0x00000000
SSP 0x0009e26a

Any ideas?

 

[Wayne58]

Hi, anyone who can help and tell what is the problem of this Hercules Pro.
The machine startup and you can the diskette appear on the LCD, it disappear for about 30seconds and reappear again. Then I can hear the spinner is starting up but then it will stop. No displace on LCD too.
I connect a VT100 onto it and the error is.
Bus Error
PC : 0x36010C4C
SR : 0x00000008
ssp : 0x00000000
ADR : 0x3700D9EE
FC : 00000001
R/W : 00000000
Creg : 00020154

Anyone who can interpret this and help me identify the problem.