Session starting in 1 hour. Console Dead. Help.

[teamdresch]

Also, with the volume at zero, there's a constant noise coming through like someone's using a drill in the next room.

[blaugruen7]

it just came to my mind that electric bulbs most often get broken during switching on....

maybe a doctor is needed.
but perhaps the monitor is damaged, or the amplifier or grounding or ...

[David Kulka]

It sounds like you might have a power supply problem. If that's the case it might have been caused by something faulty (shorted cap, etc.) in the console.

Avoid powering up the board until the problem is resolved because the reverse can happen too -- a problem in a supply can cause more things to fail in the board.

If the power supply (or supplies) have LED's, do you know what the LED's were doing when you powered up and saw the problem? Fuses all ok? You might disconnect the board, then power up the supplies and see if anything looks out of the ordinary.

Sounds like a repair job, one that should not be rushed. I'm afraid you may need to cancel the session.

[Poutine]

If the board's still up, try the following

first off, process of elimination: can you bypass the console and confirm that the monitor system is ok?

second: if the power supply visually looks ok, and nothing smells like burning, then let's assume that it's board related:
the bus meters indicate level? what kind of level? tone? program?

try the solo bus with a channel or 2: same problem?

what you want to do is try to trace the source of the problem:

could be something big, or could be something small, like a component in the master section: chips / caps / opamps are the common culprits

are you alone? can you get someone else to either hop online and hit some sites - ddr would be a start, or make some local calls to techs in the area, or find a national service number for the distributor / manufacturer

With luck, it's either relatively minor, or a known issue that has a fix.

meantime - what's the session for? can you work around the problem if you can? sounds strange, but depending on console, it's possible to bypass the master section with some clever patching if you have subs that are working and can route straight to monitors: if you don't need headphone mixes or aren't doing a full-on mixing session, just o'dubs, this might work.

And remember - you're in showbiz - and the show must go on!
Don't panic, don't give up, and start thinking OTB for solutions; you still have time to troubleshoot and possibly fix the problem, even if the client shows up, they'll usually give you a bit of a window before packing it in.

[Tim Farrant]

What was the outcome of this?

As a side note, if I was you I would not be turning this console off, unless you know it is not going to be used for a week or more. If you are using it every day, then leave it on. It's amazing how many faults on a complicated piece of electronics (which a console is) occur at power up.

Cheers
Tim.

[Poutine]

Originally posted by The Buzz
What was the outcome of this?

As a side note, if I was you I would not be turning this console off, unless you know it is not going to be used for a week or more. If you are using it every day, then leave it on. It's amazing how many faults on a complicated piece of electronics (which a console is) occur at power up.

Cheers
Tim.

Yup - probably in the top 3 sources of malfunction; current surges on power up pushing marginal components and inadequate power supplies past the edge.
Every tech guy I know has kittens dealing with under spec'ed power supply designs. Funny how overbuilt stuff keeps on ticking...

[ajcamlet]

never turn off the console!