Pearl Expert repair/upgrade

[MathieuMH]

Hi all,

It has been a while since I used my Pearl expert desk. Last few times when I used the desk always crashed. I want to pick up where I left up, but this means that I first have to repair and maybe upgrade my desk.
I actually have no I idea when my desk is build. Where can I see that? What I do know is that it is upgraded once, soft- and hardware was changed after that. Since then it was possible to run Titan OS and Classic OS. I prefer Titan, but back then it was not that stable. So I wish to update the software. But I have no idea how.

I think I'm going to start to clean out all the dust, and replace the memory. I suspect the memory. They are possibly responsible for the crashes, before a crash I always got memory error messages on the display.
Is it advised to place a SSD disk? Could that speed up my desk? Or make it more stable?

I have no experience doing this myself, all previous service interventions were done by a college who is no longer available.
Are there manuals available for these kind of upgrades? Where can I find them?
Are there any other do's and don't I should know about?

Thanks for the help. It is much appreciated!

[clublights]

I know there were kits and upgrades for titan on the older experts.

some of them require soldering on the fader boards and cutting of traces.

if you don;t feel confident in doing that level of work I'd suggest getting ahold of your distributor and getting it upgraded thru them

Also after V6 or V7 of Titan Classic is no longer supported.

[MathieuMH]

Thanks for the heads up.
My solder skills are good, so I don't mind getting into the electronics.
I also don't mind losing the classic pearl OS. I rather use Titan, if it runs smooth of course.

[niclights]

Stability issues suggest hardware faults. Most likely RAM or HDD. I've not had any stability problems with any release version of Titan.

All information should be available from the downloads page.

For version 6 and above some hardware modifications may be required. These are detailed in the upgrade document here.

To install software you need a spare Usb stick (I recommend 4GB). Go to the Pearl Expert download page here and select the latest recovery creator to download to PC. You can also find links to the release notes here.
Once downloaded launch this to copy files to Usb. Then place in console and power on to boot from recovery stick (may require changes to BIOS boot order).

Note that you will then need to license the software. Licensing page here.

Regarding SSD this will improve boot speed and console performance in some areas. However, it is important you use SSD drives supplied by Avolites otherwise you could have stability issues (this is a genuine issue, not a sales tactic). In terms of latest versions on the older hardware it will run fine although certainly not as fast as on the pro machines which have a different motherboard and CPU. For more details on this I suggest speaking to your local distributor or contact Sales in the London office.

[gis]

Do we need also a Windows installer to perform a complete reinstallation of the system or just the appropriate version of the Pearl Expert Titan Recovery Creator?
I'm on an "old" black Pearl Expert.

Thanks in advance

[niclights]

You can find details on the update procedure in the release notes. Generally recovery for major builds (ie. v9.0) then installers for minor builds (ie. v9.1).

[Gregory]

If you are asking whether you need to install Windows separately then the answer is no. The Recovery Creator writes a USB memory stick with all the required operating system files and software.