Patches and discussion for Ensoniq VFX family

My SD-1 has worked flawlessly since 1991 and toady it won't start.  
Power on and the drive chirps twice and that's it.  If I hit enough 
buttons I can get "8"s on the screen.  So, the question --- would a 
dead battery alone cause this or is this a sympton of something bigger?

Well, just for the heck of it, I left the power on for a couple hours 
and then cycled it and GUESS WHAT?  It sprung back to life.  OS and all 
had to be re-loaded, but it took off good as new.  

Used it for a couple hours and then shut it off. Two hours later, dead 
again.  I'm thinking that with the power switch on, enough leakage is 
there to give the battery a quick boost.  But it won't hold charge when 
shut off for a bit.  

If it's the battery, I can't really complain.  This is the FACTORY 
batter, 16 years old.   I know, I know, I should have changed it twice 
by now.

If anyone has better ideas on this, let me know.

The Battery won't cause the SD to not opperate, In fact the only unit I ever found that had that issue was the JX10. If the bat goes dead on the JX it will not play anything but the SD will simply display that the bat is dead and keep working.
?Rich

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott <NW7U@...>
To: Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 3:53 am
Subject: [Ensoniq-VFX-SD] SD-1 Finally Concked Out






Well, just for the heck of it, I left the power on for a couple hours 
and then cycled it and GUESS WHAT? It sprung back to life. OS and all 
had to be re-loaded, but it took off good as new. 

Used it for a couple hours and then shut it off. Two hours later, dead 
again. I'm thinking that with the power switch on, enough leakage is 
there to give the battery a quick boost. But it won't hold charge when 
shut off for a bit. 

If it's the battery, I can't really complain. This is the FACTORY 
batter, 16 years old. I know, I know, I should have changed it twice 
by now.

If anyone has better ideas on this, let me know.



 

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Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I'm a little skeptical of diodes - I've never seen an intermittent one 
and the board DID come to life after awhile.  The fuses are fine.  And 
it's been sitting in one spot, unmoved for about a year so I don't 
think it's mechanical.  Board inside was VERY clean - a little dust on 
the key ends, but otherwise clean.  Very surprising for a 16 year-od 
ANYTHING!

I found a source for batteries on eBay and have ordered one.  At this 
age it needs replacement regardless and if that turns out to be the 
fix I'll let everyone know.

Now if there were just some way to convert it to a crystal frequency 
reference so it would work on a generator....

now about those program trades.....

Program trades?  I must have missed something...

--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, "tedstruk" <tedstruk@...> wrote:

>
> now about those program trades.....
>

Check out the hottest 2008 models today at Yahoo! Autos.

I had a similar problem with my Sept. 1991 SD1 about 3 years ago.  
The solution I was advised to try was to unplug the SD1, open it up 
and CAREFULLY disconnect and then reconnect each of the spade lugs 
connected to the power supply.  This has the effect of scraping the 
contacts clean and reseating them at the same time.  After closing up 
the machine I did the hard reset (turn on then immediately off as the 
display lights up for 7 repetitions).  On the last power-up it worked 
fine.  Had to reload the OS, etc, but it's worked fine ever since and 
it's still on it's original battery.
--- In Ensoniq-VFX-SD@yahoogroups.com, "Scott" <NW7U@...> wrote:
>
> Well, just for the heck of it, I left the power on for a couple 
hours 
> and then cycled it and GUESS WHAT?  It sprung back to life.  OS and 
all 
> had to be re-loaded, but it took off good as new.  
> 
> Used it for a couple hours and then shut it off. Two hours later, 
dead 
> again.  I'm thinking that with the power switch on, enough leakage 
is 
> there to give the battery a quick boost.  But it won't hold charge 
when 
> shut off for a bit.  
> 
> If it's the battery, I can't really complain.  This is the FACTORY 
> batter, 16 years old.   I know, I know, I should have changed it 
twice 

> by now.
> 
> If anyone has better ideas on this, let me know.
>

On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 23:23:59 -0000, Scott wrote
> My SD-1 has worked flawlessly since 1991 and toady it won't start.  
> Power on and the drive chirps twice and that's it.  If I hit enough 
> buttons I can get "8"s on the screen.  So, the question --- would a 
> dead battery alone cause this or is this a sympton of something bigger?

That's exactly what my SD did last summer. I tried it again today, but no activity. Please tell if you got it 
running. I think I had this problem 10 years ago and took it to service. I think they replaced the battery. 
Maybe they also gave it an over all service (the spade lugs mentioned here etc). But I don't think I can 
find any service in Finland anymore. I'm going to do that myself. Replacing the battery shouldn't be that 
hard. Anyone done that? One must obviously solder it from same side that the pins go through the 
board.

--
Johan Halm\ufffdn