The Avolites Discussion Forum

Been using a Pearl for nearly 3 years now and never had a problem. However last night mid show our Pearl suffered a major problem.

It appeared to crash in some way. All the playback faders refused to run. The preset faders brought up lights no problems and behaved correctly. However when you raised a playback fader the desk acted as though nothing had happened. Nothing was shown on the screen. No moving lights would locate.

I'm going to reinstall the lastest software on her today in the hope that it won't happen again, but if anyone can shed any light as to how or why this happened that would be awesome
Many thanks
Alex

Edit: should point out its a 2000 with 2004 software on!

Oh dear! That was naughty

I've never experienced anything so drastic. I have occasionally experienced slow running after complicated programming sessions or wierdness from a cold start when the desk has not been used for a while. (I put the latter down to old battery)

Any issues I have encountered will normally cure with a press of the reset button. Did you try this or turning off/on the console?

I will ask a stupid question... are you certain you had not accidentally changed roller page (as in 1/2/3, not facet!) ? I ask because this happens quite often in my experience.

Things to check:
System/Service/Bus Errors - there should be no errors.
System/Service/Diagnostic Screen - check PB faders are outputting correct values.
If not, open console and check ribbon connectors to analogue board. It is probably worth affirming the seating of all the main chips on the motherboard at this point & all other ribbons just in case.

HTH

/Edit: Re-read and remembered the locate thing, so I guess it was a stupid question!

Started with the reset button....didnt work, turned on and off console.....didnt work!

I will ask a stupid question... are you certain you had not accidentally changed roller page (as in 1/2/3, not facet!) ? I ask because this happens quite often in my experience.

Oh i know this mistake all too well, but this wasn't the problem. I've caught enough people out with that kind of gremlin to know better myself

Things to check:
System/Service/Bus Errors - there should be no errors.

none

System/Service/Diagnostic Screen - check PB faders are outputting correct values.

There is one fader that is playing up, but I knew about it before so hadn't programmed onto the fader. And today I got round to replacing it!

If not, open console and check ribbon connectors to analogue board. It is probably worth affirming the seating of all the main chips on the motherboard at this point & all other ribbons just in case.

Did all that last night, but presuming that a wipe all fixed it I dont think that could be a problem could it?!

Well i reinstalled the software, installed a new floppy drive and replaced a fader today so I guess we'll have to see if it happens again.....any other suggestions?

It sounds like a hardware problem because you mentioned that the LCD screen was blank. If the software crashes it is very unlikely that it would cause the LCD screen to go blank.

I feared a hardware problem........ lets hope it's not and it never happens again!

If you have ever been tinkering inside your pearl, it may be worth venturing back inside to check the ribbon cables. I had a similar problem where the screen was refreshing without any data on it, and had forgotten to plug a ribbon cable in. Perhaps one has come loose?

James

it's back!

Only this time it crashed with bus errors.....something about video then a hex numbers. So i removed the video card and all seems fine. I never use the video card so can i presume this was an ok course of action?

triff wrote:it's back!

Only this time it crashed with bus errors.....something about video then a hex numbers. So i removed the video card and all seems fine.

Doesn't that indicate the old fave - loose card/cables?

I guess removing the card does put a full stop to the problem (hopefully).

Fingers X !

Andy

Mine did the same thing last night. Did you ever figure out what happened?

Battery? Mine is over 5 years old.

have you tried contacting our service team?

During office hours you can get hold of Lee or Tommy by calling 0208 965 8522 and asking for service, or our out of hours number is 07883 1178888

Hi Emma. I will open it up this week in the shop and check the battery. It's been over 5 years, so it's the logical suspect. Will let you know (and others) here.

Well got it open in the shop today. Ribons all look good so far. I put a VOM on the battery and it reads 3.6, but it's still in the circuit. It may be reading left over voltage in a cap. I'm letting it sit over lunch and will test again. If the batt and ribbons are OK, it's a call in to tech support. BTW- memory tests come back fine.