Dear Janeen,

for this question I need much more information. Detailed model number, serial, eventual Firmware version , if ever updated. The fact that you consider the combination of a hardware solution (replacing the motherboard) and the software solution (modifying a VXWorks image file) indicates to me that you are not qualified to touch this problem.

Greetings,,

Harrie

Dear Harrie,

Thank you for your response. You may be correct that I am not qualified but I plan to try and learn in hopes of finding a solution otherwise this mass spectrometer will never be used again which would be a real shame.

The LCT classic serial number is KC368 running MassLynx v3.5 and it has the 3.6GHz TDC upgrade. The last functioning EPC motherboard was a Motorola PATX3070 and listed on the board is S/N 01-W3639F 13C.

Based on the limited information I have, I need to find an exact replacement for this motherboard or find a compatible motherboard and modify the VX Works image file in order to allow communication between the acquisition PC and EPC.

Thank you,

Janeen

Dear Janeen,

Please find attached the user manual for the board. Read it, and then I would suggest to do the following:

remove the memory and any other modules. Take care for statics, so make sure you are holding a ground potential metal part of the PCB. Only the power connector is present now.

Power the board up and notice te POST messages.

If the board does not power up, you have probably a hardware malfunction.

If it powers up, it will give you a message (a number of structured beeps, see attachment in my second part of this answer) that no memory is available (or any other message). That is a good sign.

When you have done this, please contact me again for the next steps.

Succes!

Harrie

Dear Janeen,

And for the beep codes of the two major BIOS versions see attached file. If the board remains silent, try replacing the lithium backup battery. This is most likely the source of your problems. This means that you will have to reprogram the BIOS settings. To do this, you need to take a few steps which I will explain to you once you have verified the viability of the board.

Good luck,

Harrie

Hi Harrie,

Thank you very much for your response and support. Unfortunately, it has already been confirmed that this mother board won't post. This is why we are looking for a replacement. The alternative is a similar generation board that might work if we can modify the VX Works files to allow communication.

Thanks again,

Janeen

Dear Janeen,

Do you have access to the original BIOS settings of your board? They may be crucial if you want to replace it by a look alike board. And then I am referring to the INT DMA settings of the periferals. I had recently a similar problem with our MDLC system, which went dead. After reinstalling the software, it still did not work. It appeared that the interface card was not plug and play, but needed, in combination with the software, a particular combination of Interrupt and DMA access.

As for your problem, have you tried repacing the board with a vanilla 486 ATX sized board? Connect a keyboard, mouse and insert an AGP graphics card and you can see what is going on during start-up. Try modifying the BIOS settings to the Motorola board settings and have your fingers crossed.

This hardware is often so similar, that the operating system even would not notice it is running on a different paltform.

Good luck,

keep in touch.

Harrie

Dear Janeen,

The webpage of Wind River gives a number of boards, including just commercial boards with no specs (apart from processor type), to be able to run the same version of Vxworks 5.2 with Tornado Tools 2.0 for 386, 486 and pentium commercial boards.

link:

http://www.windriver.com/products/bsp_web/bsp_architecture.html?architecture=x86%2FPentium%2FIA-32

Harrie

Dear Janeen,

The Motorola board is using the 440 chipset, which was common in the early 90's.

I do have a functioning MB with a 440B chipset, an early Pentium processor.

Interested?

Greetings

Harrie

Hi Harrie,

Thank you for your messages. Does this MB have a slot for a compact flash card? Are you able to send me a picture and price?

Thank you!