[stevieboy]

Hi Guys,

I think I'm starting to have hard drive problems on my old mill. It's a BMC 20 with ultimax 3 control. I keep getting errors with the tool changer but there's different errors so if it was a bad proxy switch then it would be the same error each time surely. Also can't drip feed programs into memory anymore, they have to go to disk and then drip from there.

I know someone with a Cincinatti mill who's just converted to a flash hard drive, so that's an option. Has anyone done this with their hurco. If I could find a new hard drive can I use a slightly bigger one than the standard 130 meg. I don't have coppies of the master disks so how can I make or obtain a set.

My biggest worry now is that one day it will go bump on me, and it will of course be in the middle of a job. I know the obvious answer is to call out the hurco engineer but unfortunately I'm guided by cost so I have to find alternatives and try to fix things myself. The same for so many I'm sure.

Can anyone help?

[HorridHenry]

Whats the operating system on the HD? you should be able to do a ghost image and transfer it to a new HD,but the fact remains some or one or two files might be damaged?

[HorridHenry]

Welcome to BMC Support Central - BMC Software

[stevieboy]

Thanks for the reply Henry. I should imagine the operating system is Hurco's very own. Probably DOS based, certainly not windows. The guy I know with the cincinatti used an old version of Norton Ghost on a floppy in an old pc to clone his hard drive. I could probably do the same but if the one I have is corrupt in some way then surely I'll just be copying that.

BMC is just the model name for the Hurco machine Henry.

[underthetire]

You can ghost the drive. Hurco has a procedure for formatting. You MUST find the smallest drive you can, a 2TB just wont work. You have to format it using the same heads/sectors etc as the original. It makes the drive "think" its the small 20MB or so drive.
This may be close

MANUAL HARD DISK SETUP VERSION 2.30
1. Make sure that the CMOS setup is correct for that drive type Use Cylinders 3303, Heads 16, Sectors 63 for the
CMOS configuration. If there is a PIO Mode in the IDE Hard Disk Setup, then set it to 0 (zero). Also, the LBA or
Large Mode must be ON for v2.XX systems.
2. Reboot the control with the DOS UTILITY DISKETTE (427-0004-009) in the floppy disk drive.
3. At the A> prompt, enter FDISK to display the FDISK options.
4. Select option 1, Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive.
a) Select option 1, Create the Primary DOS Partition.
b) At the prompt “Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a primary DOS partition and make the
partition active (Y/N)” enter N.
c) At the prompt “Enter partition size in Mbytes or percent of disk space (%) to create a primary DOS partition”,
enter 20 for 20Mbytes. K5
d) “Primary DOS partition created” should be displayed when completed.
e) Press ESC to return to the main menu.
5. Select option 1, Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive.
a) Select option 2, Create the Extended DOS Partition.
b) At the prompt “Enter partition size in Mbytes or percent of disk space (%) to create an extended DOS
partition”, leave the default Mbytes displayed or set the percentage to 100% minus the percentage of the
primary DOS partition and press ENTER.
c) “Extended DOS partition created” should be displayed when completed.
d) Press ESC to advance to the next prompt.
e) At the prompt “Enter logical drive size in Mbytes or percent of disk space (%)”,leave the default Mbytes
displayed or set the percentage to 100% minus the percentage of the primary DOS partition and press
ENTER.
f) “All available space in the extended DOS partition is assigned to logical drives” should be displayed when
completed with 100% listed for Usage.
g) Press ESC to return to the main menu.
6. Select option 2, Set Active Partition.
a) At the prompt “Enter the number of the partition you want to make active”, enter 1.
b) “Partition 1 made active” should be displayed when completed.
c) Press ESC to return to the main menu.
7. Select option 4, Display Partition Information.
a) The following should be displayed as: K5 this is a sample yours may differ base on actual hard drive size.
Partition Status Type Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
C:1 A PriDOS 20 Unknown 22%
2 ExtDOS 1,698 Unknown 88%
Note that Usage and Mbytes will be different depending upon the Hard Drive.
b) The logical drive information should be displayed as:
Drv Volume Label Mbytes System Usage
D 1.698 Unknown 100%
c) Press ESC to return to the main menu.
8. Press ESC to Quit FDISK and reboot the Control.
9. At the A> prompt, enter FORMAT C: /U /V:EXECUTIVE_1 to format the Hard Disk Drive C partition. Verify that
only 20M (approximately) is formatted.K5
10. At the A> prompt, enter FORMAT D: /U /V:PART_PROGS to format the Hard Disk Drive D partition.
11. For V2.xx systems, follow the procedures in the V2.XX Field Retrofit Kit.
Version 230 software only
12. Insert disk #1 from the ULTIMAX UPGRADE DISKETTE (007-4123-016, -017) set into the floppy drive and
cycle power to the machine tool.
13. The control will reset and the Ultimax Installation Utility will start. Follow the instructions on the screen.
14. Insert the proper diskettes (by part number) into the floppy drive when prompted.
*** NOTE: DO NOT remove the current diskette from the floppy drive until prompted to put in the next diskette.
15. If the security device is not at the correct security level M1, there will be a prompt to insert the
OPTIKEY UTILITY DISKETTE/ SECURITY MODIFIER SKCOX2__ (007-4136-005) diskette
to complete the upgrade. This must be a valid and unused Optikey security modifier diskette
for the version of Ultimax being installed. The installation utility will use the Optikey diskette
to update the security device.
16. M1When prompted, insert the ULTIMAX MACHINE PARAMETERS/PRODUCTION COMPOSITE diskette (427-
0004-021) into the floppy drive.
17. When prompted, insert the ULTIMAX MACHINE PARAMETERS/FIELD COMPOSITE diskette (427-0004-024)
into the floppy drive.
18. Before the installation utility completes, it will require that the ULTIMAX UPGRADE DISKETTE (007-4123-016,
-017) #1 be reinserted into the floppy drive.H7
19. After the installation and all options are installed, remove any diskettes from the floppy drive.
20. Cycle the Machine Power Off and On.
21. Refer to ULTIMAX2 Build Installation Kit # 007-4123-009 To use the Chart listed below.

[stevieboy]

Thanks for that reply. I've got version 1 ultimax 3. I'll still need to get hold of some executive disks. Will Hurco have them I wonder?

[underthetire]

Hurco will make them, and you usually end up with the latest software for your machine. However, they do charge for it.

[67Cuda]

Probably DOS based, certainly not windows. The guy I know with the cincinatti used an old version of Norton Ghost on a floppy in an old pc to clone his hard drive. I could probably do the same but if the one I have is corrupt in some way then surely I'll just be copying that.

If the drive is slightly corrupt, you could use a program called SpinRite. It will identify the damaged sectors and move the data off of those sectors to new sectors, essentially reconditioning the drive.

GRC*|*SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0**

You can then ghost or mirror the image to another drive. I've heard sector by sector imaging is the best, as opposed to file by file.

For my Hurco, I was able to find similar hard drives on eBay for a reasonable price, that way I'm hoping not to have any issues. I would like to have a couple of back-ups since if the hard drive totally fails I'm not into a major purchase from Hurco when some up front planning will bring some piece of mind, barring some other unforeseen catastrophe.

[underthetire]

Yes, but all you need to do is ask someone you know for the software

[stevieboy]

Ok,

I spoke to a service guy at hurco on friday to see if they can supply the executive disks and it's not something they can do but they can fit an upgraded hard drive and set it up with the latest software for that model. The price was a lot less than I thought it would be so I am tempted. However, when I described all the problems I was having he said that non of it was a specific hard drive problem. So I'm at a bit of a loss and not sure what to do.

I can't sort it myself because this kind of thing is not my bag, I know I would mess something up and I've got plenty of work for the machine to do now. The problems only start when the machine's done a few hours work, never when it's cold so something's getting tired.

When I looked in the cabinet I noticed that both the cooling fans on the cpu card rack were not turning. There's power to them so they're obviously gone. Don't think this is going to help is it. I'll have to see what I can find.

[underthetire]

It will help greatly. Once the fans fail, they turn in to heaters usually. Make sure the heat exchanger is clean and working as well.

[powerr]

If it is just tool changer issues it is reporting. It sounds like low voltage. Check your voltage check points in the rack. Must have a solid 5 volts.

Also reseat all the cards in the rack. And any ic chips that are socketed give them a good push into the sockets. If it is dry in your shop use the anti-static strap on your wrist before starting.

[stevieboy]

No it's not just tool changer problems. I get an "Overflow error" when drip feeding programs to the internal memory and told to "check protocol", but the protocol's not been changed and I used to be able to drip feed no problem. I can send programs to the hard drive and then drip them from there so that proves there's nothing wrong with the protocol. I also get a motion control queue error on X and Y axis when the machine's done a few hours work.

It's as if something is getting tired and slowing down. (I know the feeling)

[JWC]

No it's not just tool changer problems. I get an "Overflow error" when drip feeding programs to the internal memory and told to "check protocol", but the protocol's not been changed and I used to be able to drip feed no problem. I can send programs to the hard drive and then drip them from there so that proves there's nothing wrong with the protocol. I also get a motion control queue error on X and Y axis when the machine's done a few hours work.

It's as if something is getting tired and slowing down. (I know the feeling)

Could be a ram chip on the memory starting to fail. I also got that error when I switched post processors and it had and error in the program.