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bitsquad
Joined: 13 Jan 2020 Posts: 26
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Link Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 4:02 pm Post subject: Crystalio II VPS-3800 Won't Boot - Can Anyone Service? |
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I have a Crystalio II VPS-3800 which was working fine yesterday. I used it for an hour or two with Laserdiscs, and then connected a computer via HDMI. I switched to that input and it worked fine. I wanted to go back to the Laserdisc for a minute, and I pressed the input button on the remote. An input menu appeared on the screen, and then the unit froze. It wouldn't respond to any other commands or the power button. (I don't know if it was still passing video at this point because the computer was a static image) I unplugged it and plugged it back in. Now it won't boot. It displays "Crystalio II" on the screen but doesn't reach the point where it shows me the current configuration or allow me to select options. I don't get any video output except for some odd wavy lines.
Is there anyone who has experience working on these? Perhaps a service manual or someone I can ship the unit to for repair? I was enjoying it until it crapped the bed.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 17860 Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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Link Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 7:31 pm Post subject: |
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Got any inside pics of the Crystalio II VPS-3800? I couldn't find any. Reason I ask is to see the age/level of components used, how much of it is entirely solid state IC and similar stuff that should never die and how reliant it is on stuff that eventually dies like electrolytic caps.
Also curious to see how the power supply is done/separated as that's usually the first thing to check.
Kal
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AnalogRocks Forum Moderator
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 26690 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G
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Link Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 10:03 pm Post subject: Re: Crystalio II VPS-3800 Won't Boot - Can Anyone Service? |
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bitsquad wrote: | I have a Crystalio II VPS-3800 which was working fine yesterday. I used it for an hour or two with Laserdiscs, and then connected a computer via HDMI. I switched to that input and it worked fine. I wanted to go back to the Laserdisc for a minute, and I pressed the input button on the remote. An input menu appeared on the screen, and then the unit froze. It wouldn't respond to any other commands or the power button. (I don't know if it was still passing video at this point because the computer was a static image) I unplugged it and plugged it back in. Now it won't boot. It displays "Crystalio II" on the screen but doesn't reach the point where it shows me the current configuration or allow me to select options. I don't get any video output except for some odd wavy lines.
Is there anyone who has experience working on these? Perhaps a service manual or someone I can ship the unit to for repair? I was enjoying it until it crapped the bed. |
Maybe the power supply is going?
System tries to boot but can't due to wrong voltage. Check the power supply section output voltages. They may be labeled on the board.
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El Duderino
Joined: 23 Jan 2011 Posts: 4627 Location: Portland, OR
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Hulio
Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 469 Location: Belgium
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Link Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:15 pm Post subject: |
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Yep, definitely a power supply issue. A well known problem almost all C2 owners dealt with at some point.
Just replace it with a Flex-ATX power supply for PC and your Crystalio will get a fresh bill of health.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 17860 Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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bitsquad
Joined: 13 Jan 2020 Posts: 26
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Link Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the help everybody! Hopefully this goes swimmingly!
Would high quality photos of the internals still be helpful for anyone? I had planned to disassemble it and take photos on Monday, but if nobody needs them then I'll just save the time.
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El Duderino
Joined: 23 Jan 2011 Posts: 4627 Location: Portland, OR
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Link Posted: Fri Oct 08, 2021 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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If yours is as dirty as the one in the photo, I'd suggest giving it a good blow job. When there is that much dust, it can sometimes get conductive for high impedance sensitive circuitry (like clock oscillators) especially when coupled with high humidity.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 17860 Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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Link Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2021 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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Definitely clean. I'd also measure the power supply rails under load (with the unit on and connected) and replace the power supply if any are low. As someone above mentioned looks plug and play.
Hopefully it's not the hard drive. Not sure if the software is available for re-install, what sort of format it's in, or how you'd even get out of a HD failure.
Kal
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nidi
Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 303 Location: Switzerland
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Link Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 9:09 am Post subject: |
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There is no software for booting on the harddrive.
disconnect it and try to boot,
kal wrote: | Definitely clean. I'd also measure the power supply rails under load (with the unit on and connected) and replace the power supply if any are low. As someone above mentioned looks plug and play.
Hopefully it's not the hard drive. Not sure if the software is available for re-install, what sort of format it's in, or how you'd even get out of a HD failure.
Kal |
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 06 Mar 2006 Posts: 17860 Location: Ottawa, Canada
TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7
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nidi
Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 303 Location: Switzerland
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Link Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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kal wrote: | Well that's good. I admittedly have no idea how these things work, where the software to run the unit resides (must be in a ROM of some sort) or what the HD is used for.
Kal |
The HD was there for saving some HD files that could be played back via their Media Player (3800 only)
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nidi
Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 303 Location: Switzerland
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Link Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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Pixelmagic Systems still seems to be in business.
have you tried e-mailing them about the problem?
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bitsquad
Joined: 13 Jan 2020 Posts: 26
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Link Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2022 5:36 am Post subject: |
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I got some high quality images as were requested. I'll have to host those somewhere and link them.
The power supply checked out fine. Powered the machine back on and it worked. I guess the machine just tripped out for a minute from me messing with the settings so much. It seems to work without any issues right now.
This thing is awesome. Not only is it great for deinterlacing LD and VHS, delaying the audio to match, but I'm using it on a NEC XM29+ CRT and I have tried a bunch of HDMI to RGB converters and this is the only one that gives me a clean signal with no jittering, and works with any input resolution. I've got adjustments for the picture on every signal, where previously anything from a HDMI source was super dark but there was nothing I could do about it that wouldn't throw off my analog signals. There's pretty much no signal conversion I could want that this thing doesn't have.
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bitsquad
Joined: 13 Jan 2020 Posts: 26
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Link Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:09 am Post subject: |
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Well, I'm not out of the woods yet. I had the same issues after a couple of hours. It seems like it's overheating. Is this a common problem for these units? I plan to try installing a fan and see if that helps.
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nidi
Joined: 17 Aug 2008 Posts: 303 Location: Switzerland
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Link Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:51 am Post subject: |
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bitsquad wrote: | Well, I'm not out of the woods yet. I had the same issues after a couple of hours. It seems like it's overheating. Is this a common problem for these units? I plan to try installing a fan and see if that helps. |
I've taken the top off and left it like that , helps with cooling
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