Memory loss when power down

[Yves]

I programmed a show yesterday with a lot of pallets, but when I'd reboot the desk there were onely a few of them working. I did not change anything on the show, so I found it a bit strange. :?

 

greetz

yves

[Paul]

Might be a problem with the battery in your desk. There are 2 types of main board that are used in the Frog Series desks. Earlier desks used the STMain1/1B board, which had a 3.6V NiMH battery soldered to the board. Later desks use the STMain2 board, which has a 3V CR2032 Lithium coin cell. In either case, open up the desk and measure the battery voltage with a multimeter to check that it is OK.

[Jason]

Hi Guys!

Having a bit of a problem with my Fat Frog. After every power down my desk loses submaster memories. O.K I'm backing up my shows on disk but it's getting quite frustrating, as other people I have spoken to outside of these rooms of endless information, ie theatre technicians who have used fat frogs, haven't had the same irritation. Has anybody else, before I send mine back to Zero :?: :?: :?

[Paul]

There are 2 types of main board that are used in the Fat Frog desks. Earlier desks used the STMain1/1B board, which had a 3.6V NiMH battery soldered to the board. Later desks use the STMain2 board, which has a 3V CR2032 Lithium coin cell.

 

You can tell if you've got an STMain1/1B or STMain2 main board by looking at the position of the floppy disk drive on the back panel. If it's an STMain1/1B, the drive is next to the DMX connectors. If it's an STMain2, the drive is next to the Power in connector.

 

In either case, open up the desk and measure the battery voltage with a multimeter to check that it is OK before ordering a spare. If you have the STMain2 main board, the coin cell battery can be probably be found in a high street store. If you have the older STMain1/1B main board with the soldered in battery, you'll need to find a good electronic components supplier.

 

If the battery measures OK, or if you still have problems after replacing it, then give Keith a call in the office to discuss getting the desk repaired.

[Jason]

Even though my desk is only a couple of months old could the batery still be going? I'd have thought that if this was the case I would lose all memories and settings. Is this not the case then? :?

[Paul]

If the battery is going, then data in the battery backed RAM inside the desk will be randomly corrupted. The manifestations of this will vary, but I suppose it is possible that you see submasters disappear and not memories.

[Jason]

As my desk is still under warranty canyou give me an address for a replacement battery please Paul? Great if you could.

[Borg]

Hi folks,

I was using a fat frog the other week doing a show, and half way through a song the desk just crashed, similar to what a PC does, the VGA monitor went blue, the LCD screen showed "desk saving 0% done" and there was no response from the Go Button, the Grand Master, well anything, i wasn't doing anything with the desk at the time and the memories are Go not Auto. Fortunately the dimmers are set to fade, so at the end of the song where there was a blackout i just plugged the desk out and it blacked out (the next 3 scenes were managed by follow spot!!) I left the desk off for 30 seconds and tried turning it back on and got nowhere, i tried again and it took some time but it worked. There are no memory problems and the battery, which is rechargeable (it is a oldish desk) reads 4.6volts.

 

Has anyone else had this problem??

 

If anyone can help, please do!

 

Thanks

Will Harrison

[KWR88]

Best guess would be the battery. 4.6v on a 3.6v battery with no power seems a little high.

You will proberly find that the voltage is going to creep up with the power on until it hits something over 6v at which point the device it is powering will shut down.

 

Replacement from RS is stock number 422-393.

[sicole]

Hi

 

Programmed a show on Monday night and then powered down. All was well on Wednesday when I powered up, finished the programming ran the show, powered down went to the pub.

 

Came in yesterday, the changes I made were not saved. Any change I now make either to an existing program or if I program a new memory or sub are lost on power down even though I still retain what I programmed on Monday night.

 

Any ideas guys?

 

Thanks - Si

[KWR88]

Best guess is that the internal battery may have gone flat.

Please can you PM me with the desk serial number so I can let you know which type of battery you need.

[orlando]

Best guess is that the internal battery may have gone flat.

Please can you PM me with the desk serial number so I can let you know which type of battery you need.

It looks like mit Fat Frog is behaving the same way - time and date is lost and also all memories and whatsoever - how can I change this battery?

[orlando]

It looks like mit Fat Frog is behaving the same way - time and date is lost and also all memories and whatsoever - how can I change this battery?

 

Hi,

 

I changed the battery of my FatFrog. Everything worked fine again - but after only one week the same error occurs again...

Now I obviously have to change the battery again, which is a pain in the...

Is there any possibility that this might be a firmware related problem?

Is there any workaround? Which way is the easiest to disassemble and reassemble the thing?

[KWR88]

I think we have been dealing with this via e-mail already, it sounds like a hardware failure not firmware

I will continue when I am back in the office.