Tascam SX-1 freezes after "Fader Calibration Ended"

[Samson307]

Hello everybody,

I´m new to a "non-working" Tascam SX1, which I got from a friend. Maybe someone could help me getting it back to work? The issue: After power on, it does the fader calibration, all faders move up and down and stop in the middle. At that point, the lcd screen shows "Fader Calibration Ended". This is also the point, the machine freezes - nothing is possible at all: no keyboard recognition, no vga output, no option screen, nothing... . CD_rom and HDD power up, but i think the sx1 doesn´t recognize them. No chance to get into the Option-Screen or do a new software installation.

I´d be glad, if someone could give me some tips or hints to get the machine "back on the road".

Best regards

 

[BobT]

Hi

There's good information here:
https://www.tascamforums.com/threads/sx-1-fader-problem.1009/

Try reseating the boards, reseating the memory and replacing the battery first.

I've had a similar problem in the past, and if those don't fix it, the issue could be related to the graphic card and/or the motherboard and/or the power supply and/or the memory itself, but not necessarily in that order......

If you don't know how to take a SX-1 apart, you can find instructions in the Documents and Manuals section of the forum.

Bob

 

[Samson307]

Hi BobT,

thanks for your helpful reply.

Reseating didn´t solve the problem but helped to figure out, that the PC Mainboard is absolutely dead (tested it outside the machine this night - nothing). But I received a spare Mainboard -exactly the GA-7iex4- yesterday morning via ebay, which i bought very cheap on suspicion. Tested this one also outside the machine and it worked fine with the RAM, VGA-Card, HDD and CD-Rom. It even booted Beos and showed the Tascam-Screen to the point where it said: "No DSP-Card detected" (did what it should do - sure it was not plugged in).

Thanks to your recommendation, I found the service manual in the forum. So I hopefully will put all that stuff together next evening(s). I will continue to report... and maybe asking again.

Samson

 

[Samson307]

Hello ,

changing the Gigabyte GA-7iex4 Mainboard took me one step further. Installing V 1.52 to HDD is possible now, diagnostics with the 1.52-CD inside runs smooth, no errors, all cards detected. Buttons, faders, leds, rotary encoder are responding well.

However: Booting from HDD is running thru "Starting Hard Disc Recorder" and "Starting Sequencer" with no problems, but now freezes at the point "Mounting volumes...". Tried several HDD, no effect. The M4 card LED "Host" is off, "PGM_OK" is on, LED "M4" flashes quickly, while the system tries "Mounting volumes".

I heard, the machine normally works with a Tascam modified BIOS setting. Maybe the fact, that I have to use (new motherboard) the original Ami-BIOS causes the issue?

Perhaps someone could give me more hints getting this machine to work.

Greetings
Samson

 

[RussD]

You might want to see if you need to change the bios settings to those you can find in this forums documentation section. I’m also thinking that you might need to retrieve an eeprom from your old motherboard and install it in the new one but I’m not sure about that. I know that there are a few folks on this forum (if they still check it) that have installed new motherboards and they would know for sure.

 

[Samson307]

Thx for your tips, RussD.

Anyone has an EEprom-chip in spare and would like to sell it?

I think, the motherboard doesn´t recognize the DSP-Card in the ISA-Port (all DSP-Card-LED stay dark), otherwise in "diagnostics", which i am able to run, it is detected. Maybe the DSP-Card died, ´cause after 30-60 min. freezing in "Mounting volumes", the machine tells me something about: "Error. Starting sequencer failed...".

Do I need an new DSP-Card and an EEprom (or better give up?)

 

[Samson307]

Maybe someone is interested...

Tascam Europe kindly sent me the "SX-1 Bios" on request. Flashing via a bootable cd-rom was easy, anyway it didn´t solve my problem. After "Mounting volumes", as mentioned before, it says:" Error: Failed to start sequencer".

 

[crosstownblues]

My SX-1 LE+ just refused to go beyond fader calibration. The room is kept cool by the central ac in the upper 60’s, while it’s not being used. On a hunch, I closed the ac vents a bit, to let the room hit ~70°F. The SX-1 booted up, no issues. Moral of the story? The SX-1’s are fussy regarding temps. It doesn’t like it too warm, nor too cold. Like Goldilocks, it must be “just right.”