Problem- SoftALM led on 5T

[NZ_Jase]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone can tell me why my Mazak has the SoftALM led lit on the A board? I have looked thru the Maintenance Manual and it has no troubleshooting info in relation to this.

The machine has a couple of servo related issues that I'm trying to sort (and will be the topic of later posts I think!) but has always come up with READY until now. The MDI panel flashes every led for an instant when powering up the control (like normal) then is completely blank and the SoftALM led is lit.

Cheers in advance, Jason.

[WGoyer]

Jason,

The soft alarm generally means that the power up sequence didn't complete properly - usually because it didn't read the E-Proms (Software) into the RAM memory properly. The VAST majority of problems I've seen on 5T's over the years are caused by connector problems on one of the boards. I suggest CAREFULLY wiggling/reseating the board connectors. In some cases, these rather stiff connectors twist the pins on the board beneath and crack the solder joints.

Many machines have been scrapped out over cracked "A" or "B" board connectors.

Warren
www.uptimecorp.com

[NZ_Jase]

Thanks for the info. I guess the RAM is the bunch of IC's up the top right for the A board? Might reseat them and check again.

It was running fine for a few hours before a brief shut down (noisy fan in the transformer cabinet driving me nuts so turned off to have a look at it), then on restart got the SoftALM. Nothing around the control panel or A board was disturbed. Strange.

I'll post again shortly.

Cheers, Jase.

[Dan Fritz]

You may want to try to dump the parameters. There are option parameters that (if they are set) cause the CPU to access EPROMs that are only used for that option. If an option parameter gets turned on, but the EPROMs aren't there, it can cause the CPU to do a "space shot" and give a software alarm. Earlier 5T and 5M controls would just throw a "Christmas Tree" where all the LEDs on the front panel are on. That indicates that the CPU has halted.

If you clear out the parameters and still get this alarm, you may have a bent pin or a bad EPROM.

[NZ_Jase]

Hi Dan,

Do you know off the top of your head how to dump all the parameters? I'll have a scout in the manual later today if there is a procedure, otherwise I guess I just pull the battery off?

My initial post was also incorrect, the display is not blank, but has 41 20 displayed when the SoftALM is lit.

Thanks for your time, Jase.

[NZ_Jase]

Just to finish this off on the off-chance someone has the same problem then the thread is kind of complete.

I never got to the bottom of the SoftALM LED coming on. The bad EEPROM idea had some merit, since the board didn't finish initializing before alarming. I replaced the A board, moving the EEProm set and the base parameter IC from the old one on to the replacement, set the same parameters, and the control has been perfect since.

I still have the old board and a set of EEPROMS with unknown firmware and haven't done any more investigation as to what else the issue could have been. Before replacing the board I did all the normal checks - power supply voltages, good grounds, reseated connectors, etc etc so I knew the problem was definitely the A board and only the A board.

Thanks to all for the input.

JL