easy path s computer

[danl]

I am new to cnc but have a good computer back ground. We have an easy path S and had to replace the computer in it. We were sent a AMD 300 Mhz board, the original was an Intel 66 Mhz. The board worked for 2 days then blank screen no POST. Got it replaced and replaced the power supply. The new board now just reboots continually. Put old board in and boots but no desk top, the original problem. We have tried both a hard drive and DOC same thing. Help I'm lost.

Thanks Dan

[riverrat]

bump

[machintek]

If the BMDC does not load, usually I clean the edge connector of the BMDC and the mother board and communication is reestablished.
Otherwise it may be software or CMOS related. DOC requires there be no hard drive as C or master.
If there is no video, I listen for beeps of the mother board. They are a audio error code feedback.
If no beeps, I see if when turned on, the floppy is accessed for a few seconds. This at least tells me the processor is working.
I would check the voltage of the logic power supply. Never assume because it is new, it works or is in tolerance.

George

[danl]

Thanks for the reply, we have checked the power supply I took every board in the back plain out cleaned and reset. I call the manufacture of the mother board and didn't get any where. The new board hits the floppy for about 1/2 a second and thats al the life it shows. The old board still has no bmdc desktop. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated way past appreciated.
Thanks

[machintek]

If you have a DOM, are you using the full DOS? can you do a scandisk or defrag? Just to check for bad files. What version of software are you using? Is the CMOS correct? Do you have a boot disk? I carry a file called B3T.EXE which is a BMDC test program. You could look for that and run it. It may be a bad BMDC if it is not a software issue.

George

[NC Cams]

CAUTION: The BMDC card may not work with a computer FASTER than 133Mhz. The 300Mhz board may simply be too fast for the O/S and the operating system that runs the BMDC.

On another post, the member had boot problems with an Gateway or some other late model computer. By simply replacing the M/B with an old, salvaged 486, the thing fired up and ran just fine.

You essentially need/want at true ISA based Pentium I or OLDER motherboard. The BMDC system was initially designe/configured to run on 386/486 and SOME of the early, slower Pentiums. We have a BMDC system runnint with a "dumpster dived" Pentium 133 and it runs like a champ.

All the other stuff about using the right O/S (we run our on DOS 6.22 but some machines will only tolerate 6.2 and nothing newer). You also MUST properly format the HDD to the proper size and sector count (it is 540K or something small like that, regardless of the HDD size you may have - THIS IS CRITICAL!!!) - otherwise, the machine will put data on a location on the hard drive where it can NOT find it. Moreover, and more importantly, you MUST disable LBA access in the BIOS. This too will result in scrambled or lost or unaccessable data.

When all is well, generic ISA VGA cards and M/B's with onboard floppy controllers should work along with A/T style P/S's - simply think 1995 vintage DOS PC's and you should be able to get things back up and running.

If you don't know how to run DEFRAG or SCANDISK, you really need to learn how. This can help you diagnose a lot of computer issues. IT also helps to know/learn how to do FDISK and properly partition HDD's if/when you replace a dead HDD or install a DOM in place of the HDD.

IN the mean time, Good luck....

[machintek]

EZPATH S has a control in a box using the half size industrial mother board probably made by ADVANTECH.

George

[NC Cams]

I"m starting to wonder just how "special" that the CIB's really were.

Reason: I recently purchased a V2XT. It definitely has a PC m/b in it. Yet, the BMDC card in it is DEFINITELY that which is listed by EMI as ONLY being used in a CIB machine. Go figure.

I dunno about the CIB in this case. For whatever reason, the original member reports that they got an AMD 300 mhz m/b "replacement".

THe 133 mhz speed barrier of the BMDC's was confirmed in discussions with Bart Stater of EMI (a developer of the original BMDC system at BPT) as well as Brian Terlecki at BPT Machines, a former factory service engineer who now services BPT's on his own.

From these sources, I can only restate that a 300mhz m/b should/could not work as it probably is too fast for the BMDC. I don't know if running the M/B at a low clock speed (133 mhz or less) is viable as it may depend how the m/b synthesizes the slower clock speed.

Another member had a similar problem with a similar "contemporary" higher speed machine when he serviced a m/b that went bad. Simply by replacing the fast contemporary PC with a 133 or slower "legacy" machine, his problems were miraculously solved.

Maybe this same sort of issue is affecting this member's EzPath. However, I won't challenge nor do I mean to impugn the info provided by MACHINETEK. He's got far more expertise at servicing BPT's than I'll ever have.