gaspipe58

There were bad words. And worse words when I realised it was me being stupid. The worrying thing about the displays is they were working until I replaced the NiMH battery. And now for something completely different - Seems Big Clive's livestream has crashed.

Thanks Ian - will be in touch once we've solved the latest problem, or before if I get bored. Latest problem! NiMH battery replaced. Board not going passed start screen! Much frustration. Swop to other vga out - STUPID BOY! Real problem is although everything seems fine according to the monitor the LCD displays don't. The back lights are all functional but there is no display. A short prayer - Oh Wisdom of the Blue Room do not fail me now. Also on the same board as the NiMH beast I find another button cell not noticed before. It appears to be wrapped in clingfilm. Any advice before I do something even more stupid than plugging the monitor into the wrong port? Tim

No worries. By 'in due course' I really mean 'ASAP' 🙂 It was providing 1.8V which I think is quite impressive for a battery that may not have been charged for a good few years. However it also has the beginnings of a nice greenish beard so it has to go - hopefully this week. The new CMOS battery has cured the time travelling. There are only two repairs needed. A fader knob is missing from the grand master and the button between the power button and the grandmaster faders is absent. Now looking for a clear enough picture to see what it is.

Update. We picked up the board last Wednesday 13 hours of which about 12 was driving! Too big for the boot, but I knew that anyway. Got in to our room in the theatre at lunchtime today. Applied power and got fan noise and blank LCDs. This was expected. opened it up, cleaned out the dust and checked the CMOS battery. It was dead. Put it back in and powered up - IT WORKS!! Apparently we're in 1980 but it works so I don't care. The CMOS battery will be replaced tomorrow which should cure it's time traveling tendencies. The NiMH battery will be replaced in due course - it's beginning to grow fur although not nearly as dead as the CMOS. We've tested it with a LED parcan and it works so all is good. Tremendous gratitude to all who posted to this thread giving me the confidence to take the risk in the belief it was repairable. I've learnt a lot from this but mostly the real value of the BlueRoom community.

Quick reply - more questions later... Thank you so much for your replies. I have just tripped over my first computer which dates from mid 90's and I think is a Pentium something. It was replaced due to hard drive dying and replaced due to a good salesman and me not knowing any better. So we may have a doner board! I feel this isn't just my project anymore but a real community effort - keep the wisdom flowing :-) Software is worrying me - Where do I get it?

That's a useful thing to know regardless of troublesome 500i's. I do have a PS2 keyboard which may be faulty in itself. Just a shame the desk and keyboard aren't closer together. I will pass on the advice. Again interesting! Is it a standard format motherboard? I have a few spare that may or may not work, one might even be Pentium 2. Can't see why a newer board would be problematic but then this is a new area and ignorance is bliss. PSU is not a problem - have loads. Software etc is another matter... This getting difficult - thanks to the blue-room I'm not just thinking 'new board to play with' but also 'How much can I learn from trying to raise it from the dead?'

I've contacted the person offering the board. This is his reply - I guess that's no VGA to the monitors. I could also guess what might be wrong and be way off target. I'd much rather trust the massive knowledge base that is Blue-room. Again very grateful for any help or advice.

Apparently it won't complete its boot up. If anyone has any ideas on how mendable it might be I'd be very grateful. I'd quite like to give it a good home but it's a long way for something that will never be more than a oversized paperweight.

Well it's been a very long time since I've posted anything here but needs must... Having managed to get involved with a local community theatre/Arts centre project I've been asked to find a way of disposing of some xenons preferably for money. A bit of background/history may be helpful. The venue's last job was as a 4 screen cinema. It is the intention to convert it into a theatre and arts centre over the next however many years. The first task I've been set is to sort out the pile of xenon lamps piled in the corner. We.ve been through them. Most are intact. Some are fragmented thus proving the explosion containment works. One or two of them appear to be new. Most we guess are used but have no idea of hours. A couple have clearly been well used with blackening of the envelop, obvious erosion of the electrodes etc. Some boxes contain only the explosion containment device - I am a little concerned as to the whereabouts of the lamps. The question I have to ask - Mr Moneybags orders (he's actually a good guy) - is if we can sell them and if so how much? We also have three digital projectors (there should be four so one might be hiding somewhere) in various states of dismemberment if anyone is interested. So if anyone can offer any advice on what to do with them I'd be immensely grateful - if involves money in our direction the theatre would be very grateful too. Tim