Discussion Category: Scintillation Counters
LS6500 WYSE terminal, CRT Terminal Test
Hi all
Trying to determine if a problem I am having is related to the WYSE terminal, or if it is something inside the counter, possibly the power supply? After turning the terminal on it gets as far as the auto-login, but after this goes to a black screen with a single cursor.
I checked the LED indicators behind the front panel. These run through a few different codes but then stop at the CRT Terminal Test code each time. I assumed this might be confirming a problem with the terminal, but wanted to be sure there wasn't something else going on.
One thing that seemed odd to me was that the LEDs on the front of the vertical board to the right side are not lit. I will post a picture of the internal boards tomorrow. Wasn't sure if this was simply because it doesn't advance to that part of the startup, or if that indicates some other problem. I see there are various test ports but not sure exactly what I should be checking.
Thanks!
Reply byReply byHi Don. Thanks for the response, you were the expert I was hoping to get! We've met a few times, you have worked on this instrument before. I hope you are enjoying your retirement!
We have the thin client connected to standard LCD monitor. The model is WYSE VX0, Product ID: WintermV30 manufactured Dec 2006. S/N of the instrument is 7070256. Sounds like I can be confident that this is the problem and not something internal to the counter? If so, and I'm able to find another of these, do I simply swap the EPROM and that's it? Or is there more to it? Is it possible the thin client is fine and the EPROM is what failed? Or is that not something that would be very common.
Just in case there's something else going on, here is a video of the startup LED sequence. There are few times when it beeps and at the end you can hear the printer responding for a second before it stops on the CRT Terminal Test code (1000 1100). (Corrected - 0011 0001)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10X-UWow3iKIrESaEsY3I_g7Mo2hxPl6u/view?usp=sharing
Thanks
Reply byYou said that you saw a message at start up. Was it just the boot up sequence or by any chance did it say "hit F1 to continue"? There was a rare but known issue with the thin clients where they would spit out that message and it actually required connecting a keyboard to the client in order to hit the F1 key. Otherwise I have seen some other posts about swapping out the EPROMS inside the client although I have never did that myself. The failure rate on the clients after the initial problems of bad solder joints, and yes, if you have any good soldering skills you might take a crack at resoldering literally everything inside of the client, too, was almost zero up until the point I retired. Unlike their CRT terminals, the thin clients were much more reliable AFTER the original bad solder joint problem. Initially it was so bad that I always had 3 of them in my car stock for any call I went out on as a just in case.
Don
Reply byNo, I did not get the 'hit F1 to continue' message, looked to be normal startup. When I restart the terminal the WYSE logo screen displays, then the auto-login screen with the countdown, then after the countdown it goes to black screen with single cursor.
Given the manufacture date of 2006 on the client do you suspect ours would be in the bad-solder group? And how exact of a match would a replacement need to be? I see a number of VX0 Winterm V30s available on ebay but none with the exact match on the part number. Part number on mine is 902095-24L, I did see some that are 902095-01. Seems like I could get one for very cheap so figure I might as well try the EPROM swap first.
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Reply byJust to update on the situation, we went ahead with getting a new terminal from Beckman and that did the trick. If anyone wanted to try switching the EPROM as discussed in this and other threads, inside the terminal is a small flash memory board that can be removed, I'm assuming that is where the Beckman information is programmed. I did not see any other easily removable parts.
Unfortunatley, seems we have bigger issues and now getting the H# abort: count rate too low message for every sample. I see this is referenced in other threads so I will read those over and post over there. Don, thanks again for your help with this.
Reply byNice to hear that one problem has been resolved. Can you get good CPM values if you count you C14 standard with H# turned off? If you can then your PMT's and other front end components are functioning properly. Get back to me and we'll go from there.
Don
Reply byThanks. Bear with me, my knowledge on how to use the instrument is pretty limited so let me know if I did not set this up properly. I created a new program with 14C as one of the isotopes, then went to Quench Monitor parameter and changed it from H# to OFF. Then ran the program with the C14 standard loaded. CPM readout for this was 0.0 so guessing that means PMT is the issue?
Reply byYou absokutely programmed it properly and the results are inducative of a problem somewhere with what is referred to as the "front end" of the LS Counter. It could be a PMT, one of the sockets, or even the front end board. I guess where we go from here depends on how far you want to get into it and what your background is relative to instrument repairs. Get back to me or you can also check out some previous threads from individuals that had the same problem as you.
Don