Desk will not boot

[pdodo]

Hi, I'm a tech at a lighting production house in Culver City, California. I just aquiered a fat frog, and i cant get the desk to start. The monitor reads "operating system not found". So i did what the screen says and loaded the upgraded software that came with the desk. When the software seemed to finish loading the monitor read the new version, but thats all it did nothing eles. when i turn off the console to restart it it atarts its madnes all over

again. Help Me :cry:

[Haytech]

Laubfrosch said anywhere else here in forum,

that this behavior sounds funny to us (other user)

Take a few minutes to try to load a new software file found here

 

And install it

[*] switch off your desk

[*] put in the disk with frogupg.osf fil on it.

[*] switch on desk again

[*] wait till boot loader is open the disk

[*] please choose [Continue] to update the Desk...

[*] wait little

[*] turn off desk and get the disk out

[*] switch on desk again

Now the desk should do its work, if not your frog has a disease

Greets

[Christopherdean]

Just recieved a fatfrog I purchased used on ebay.

upon plugging it in some of the channel buttons flash and I get the following message on the main lcd

frog bios v 1.0

copyright 2001

total memory 4608kb

checking for upgrade

 

then nothing else happens

please help

[Christopherdean]

After 15 mins the console finished booting. it is using software version 3.6.1. can i update from 3.6.1 straight to v9.2 or do I need to update thru each version

[GLX]

No plow on and update to the latest software.

[K-Nine]

As GLX said, you can upgrade straight to the latest software DOWNLOAD HERE

 

For a step by step guide to upgrading the operating software on the desk CLICK HERE

 

When the desk boots up there are a number of messages displayed on the main LCD - these are then followed by ...

 

Frog OS 9.6.1

Copyright 2004

Zero 88 Lighting Ltd

Loading ...

 

then:

 

Frog OS 9.6.1

Copyright 2004

Zero 88 Lighting Ltd

Running ...

 

Finally, when the desk is up and running, the main LCD shows the Memories screen.

 

This process should take no longer than 20-30 seconds depending on the size of the show already stored in the desk.

 

I think that the 'checking for upgrade' message only appears when there is a floppy disk in the drive when the desk is powered up.

[friesngravy]

Having a problem booting Fat Frog. It won't. Plug it in, the LCD screens light up but no info is displayed. Plugged in a monitor and it reads as if the console is off.

Let it sit unplugged for and hour or so and tried again. It went through some of it's boot but found no operating system. Loaded OS disk with version 9.6 and let it sit. It didn't read the disk after 20 minutes.

Did the console dump it's OS? What do I do?

[Paul]

If an upgrade failed part way through then your desk will be left without the Frog Operating System installed. However there is still a write protected BIOS in the desk which will always look for an upgrade disk at boot. Have a read of THIS TOPIC for upgrade instructions.

 

If you still have no joy, then it's probably best that you give Keith a call in our service department (contact details on www.zero88.com ), since the next steps in resolving the problem are best talked through with you on the phone.

 

Good luck!

 

Paul.

[Jazzy]

Hi all,

Not sure if this is a bug or the desk developing a fault but my Fat Frog went out on hire last week and I got a call to say that the desk was freezing on startup. The guy who hired it owns a Fat Frog as well and needed a second one for another job. He said it worked fine when he got it, that he loaded his show from a disk and modified it to suit, everything was ok so he turned off the desk and went home. He came back the next morning to start rehersals and the desk would'nt bootup,it would either freeze at the very start and say "Searching for upgrade" or go as far as "Show loading" or "Running". He broght the desk back and when I fired it up it loaded first time. I then powered it down and back up again and this time it froze as he described. I then tried this several times and sometimes it booted up ok and sometimes it froze,the next time it booted properley I cleared everything and reset to default. After this it worked ok everytime so far. Is it possible that something on his disk corrupted the OS or something. The OS on my Fat Frog is 9.6 ( so is his) but it is one of the first Fat Frogs ie. no screen driver or keyboard input or group button.Any Ideas?

[KWR88]

Dear Sir,

 

It sounds like there is a problem with the simm modules or the battery.

PM me to talk about this further.

[Paul]

The first thing to do is to identify which version of the main board you have in your desk. 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. Here in the UK - RS, Farnell, Arrow etc. would be worth trying. Not sure about Canada though. You could order a spare from us, but the postage to Canada is going to be the killer. Try our dealer in the USA (ACT Lighting) if you're sure it's the battery - they may be able to source you a spare.

 

The other thing that may be causing problems on a desk of this age would be the floppy disk drive itself. Search the forum for 'Panasonic', and read all about it! If you have a drive from an old PC that you could *borrow* for some tests, that would be worth trying too. Or while the desk is open, just check that all the cables to the drive are plugged in securely.

 

Let us know how you get on,

 

Paul.

[friesngravy]

This console is the STMain1/1B board variety. We recently bought a second desk and I noticed the drive placement difference while troubleshooting the old desk. Good to know. The disk drive on the old desk has been replaced (though I'm not sure how long ago). In the brief moments I had it working recently the disk drive operated fine (ie: reading fixture libraries)

I cracked it open and made sure all ribbon cables are seated properly - which they were. I also metered the NiMH battery and registered 3.6V. I'll look into replacing the drive again before the console gets to take a trip to LA. Thanks for the help.

 

Brent

[Dan_atr]

The desk will not boot! all led light up. but the desk will not boot up!

 

Help please ! thanks [/b]

[Paul]

To work out where the problem may be, can you give us a bit more information...

 

What sort of desk is it? How old is the desk? What software version is it running?

 

Is anything displayed on the LCDs? Do the LCD backlights come on?

 

Do you hear the floppy motor try to run at startup?

 

What is displayed on the external monitor?

[michaeltabner]

hi guys,

 

we have a fatfrog we purchased late last year, which is having recurring start-up problems.

 

when turning on, the desk lights up, and the lcd screens display the initial start-up info - 'fat frog' and 'support.zero88.com' etc.

 

but then it stays like that, not getting past the start-up screen. turning it off and on again doesn't solve the problem.

 

the really strange thing is that, after leaving it for a day or even a few hours, it will then load up fine and work perfectly.

 

we thought it could be the power supply, as ours is not a zero88 one, but after testing it with a zero88 one, there was no change in behavior.

 

if anyone can offer any advice, we would be very grateful. its probably worth noting that we are real novices to all this - so it may be a really simple problem that we've missed.

 

thanks alot for your help,

 

Michael.

 

salford quays, manchester, uk

[Paul]

Hi Michael,

 

Can you plug a monitor screen in to the desk and let us know what it's displaying during the slow startup?

 

It's also worth checking that no-ones left a floppy disk in the disk drive.

 

Thanks,

 

Paul.

[michaeltabner]

thanks for your reply Paul, i am currently at a different location but i will try that tonight.

 

thanks,

 

Michael.

[michaeltabner]

the external monitor displays a black screen with the following digits slightly off centre in the middle of the screen - 42ABCDEFGHIJKLM

 

there are also a few random blue, red and green squares across the screen.

 

the output stays the same (the numbers and squares don't change), but the screen flashes on and off, as if losing signal repeatedly.

 

i also checked there was no floppy disk in, by the way.

 

hope this helps,

 

Michael.

[Pedro]

Hello guys,

I also have regularly the problem with my Mambo since the update towards 10.8 software.

before this last update, I never had problem to start it. I work with this

Mambo since 4 years.

 

Best regards

Pedro

[Pedro]

Some weeks ago, I had the same problem with my Mambo. It arrived only once in four years of use, and after having installed last updated (10.8). At start-up all led light up and the lcd screen was full of black square.

 

Best regards.

Pedro

[KWR88]

Hi Pedro,

 

Please can you e-mail me on krogers@zero88.com the desk serial number and what the desk is showing when you boot it.

Even if it is the same as michael desk just to confirm.

[Darkslide]

Some weeks ago, I had the same problem with my Mambo. It arrived only once in four years of use, and after having installed last updated (10.8). At start-up all led light up and the lcd screen was full of black square.

Best regards.

Pedro

 

 

I have the same problem. After half hour it will boot. this error occured last week and now i have the problem every morning. what should i do?

[Kirkup_xp]

Please email or call Keith (KWR88) with your desk serial number and a description of the fault - he should be able to help

[oliver821570]

Hi, We have a Zero 88 " Fat Frog " Lighting Board, and we are currently having problems with the fact that our lighting board will not boot up. This happens randomly, and one day it will boot up fine and the next it wont. Does anyone have any ideas.

 

When we boot it up, we hear the floppy drive motor activate. Do we need the floppy disk???

[amillar]

Hi,

 

Over the past while my FatFrog has been hanging occasionally (well getting close to 50% of the time!) when powered up. It doesn't even get as far as checking the floppy drive for upgrade disk etc (it doesn't seem to make a difference whether or not a floppy is in the drive). Cycling the power the desk comes up fine. I'm just afraid that someday it will not come up at all. Any ideas on what may be the problem or what i need to check?

 

My frog is running software version 10.4.1. The BIOS version is 5.2.1 (8/3/04) and the battery state reads OK. I can provide serial number if required.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

Andrew.