Bridgeport R2E4 will not start

[synergymc]

Hello,

I have a bridgeport R2E4 that will not start. It was running the other day, but now the crt shows nothing, and all of the lights on the panel are illuminated. I tried several times resetting the machine with the reset button on the back of the cabinet, to no avail. LED 1 on the FMDC board flashes 4 times, LED 2 comes on, and LED 1 flashes another 4 times, and then LED 2 shuts off, and repeats. I do not have the manuals for this machine, so I do not know what this means. I just find it odd that one day the machine works, and the next time I power it up, it does not. By the way, I am running the machine off of a rotary phase converter. Thanks in advance for your help!!

[machintek]

Each board boots. The LED on the FMDC can display an error code/status of the FMDC. But you should get something on the CRT. The CRT is bit mapped by the EZIO board. The mother board is the BSP. It also has LED to display staus/errors.
I would start by checking the logic power supply. Unless you have a very good phase conveter, it may affect the health of the machine.
You need to get a maintenance manual. There is a step by step trouble shooting section.

George

[synergymc]

George,

Thanks for the response. I think I have a good phase converter, it's a Phase-A-Matic rotary phase converter, and I have the voltage stabilizer with it as well to maintain a +/- 5% voltage. LED 2 is illuminated on the BSP board. The power supply looks to be putting out @130 volts. I ordered a manual from machinemanuals.com, hopefully it'll be here tomorrow. Also, on the EZIO board, LEDs #3 and 4 are illuminated (amber) and #8 is also illuminated. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Jeremy

[zam10]

Jeremy , The same problem happened to me many days , at the beginning , I just took out the 3 proccessor boards and fit it again into the rack and the problem was fixed at least for that day . It was 100$% resolved until I made a careful cleanning process for each board ( some chip bases were full or dust , also rack connectors I cleaned up with isopropyl alcohol and with my presurized gun . YOU MUST TAKE CARE FOR NOT DAMAGE THE BOARDS WITH YOUR ELECTROSTATIC VOLTAGE , SO BEFORE TAKING OUT THE BOARDS , YOU MUST DISCHARGE YOUR HANDS TOUCHING THE RACK ( COULD BE BETTER TO PUT A COPPER WIRE AROUND YOUR HAND AND HOOKING IT TO GROUND ) THEN JUST TAKE OUT THE BOARDS BY THE EDGES AND LEAVE THEM OVER A SOFT CLOTH ( COTTON )
After having cleaned the boards and the rack connectors start connecting them at rack and switch on the machine .
As I told you before , the same problem I resolve it on this way

Alejandro Zamora

[justin bowser]

Being an electronic technician (in a previous life) makes me think wrapping a copper wire around ones arm and grounding it is a good way to get bitten! Best practice would be to wear a wrist strap to drain your excess charge. A wrist strap grounds you through a high resistence so you don't get fried in the event something drastic and bad happens...

[zam10]

Well Sir , may be the key point I tried to remark is do not forget about static charges on the body , they will kill your boards , I ´m quite sure that any electronic or electric technician from the past or at the present will not take off any board from an energized machine ¡¡ but here , we are taking for a more mechanic oriented people , so please , if your machine is off ( and it is supposed to be off before any thing else )do not concern from the way you decide to ground your hands before touching the boards , if you have a sofisticated grounded wrist strap that´s fine , if not , me and my electronic boards have survived by 27 years without damage using this basic way to ground my wrist ,if the machine is off , and as far as I know , that processor boards are feeded by 24Vdc , this voltage will not be present after the machine is turned off .

[justin bowser]

To each his own, as they say. You are 100% correct that ESD can cause board faiures (both immediate and months down the road), that is not in dispute. Also, if everything is working as it's supposed to be then grounding yourself to the frame would pose no risk. But, this being an imperfect world, I would rather be safe than sorry. Even low voltage circuits can get you as it is the amount of available current, not voltage, that one needs to be worried about. If I don't have a wrist strap I then personally only touch the frame before pulling out a board. Also, although I am not familiar with this particular controller, a lot of computers/controllers nowadays still have voltage on the BUS even with the switch turned off so the equipment should also be unplugged.

I feel it important that Jeremy be aware of what COULD happen so he can properly evaluate his options and make the decision for himself. I think Radio Shack sells (or used to sell) wrist straps for not a whole lot of money and if somebody is going to routinely "root around" in the bowels of electronic devices it would pay to invest a couple of dollars in a wrist strap.

I'm not going to get into a pissin' contest with anybody about this just trying to advise caution.

Returning to lurk mode...

[DTroy]

Hi fellas,

As a friendly reminder..

With the power switch off and the cord unplugged safety is still an issue.

Capacitors can hold a charge for some time. I know I don't like getting bitten.