[Russ Shugg]

Hi, I just purchased a used ATRUMP bed mill with a Centroid M-400 on it. I put it in the shop and put power to it. The control booted part way, and a statement came up that said " CMOS battery voltage low". I went exploring and cannot find a battery to replace. From opening the back of the control console I have determined ( I think) that the computer board is a ACROSSER AR-B1564. (From comparing it to pictures online from cnc services.) There is not a battery to be seen. So obviously, the battery is somewhere else. WHERE ? Also, I suspect the CMOS settings are no longer correct as the date and clock are not right. So my questions are: (1.) where is the battery? (2.) where can I get a list of cmos settings that are right for this machine? From markings in the control, it appears the control was assembled in 1999. (3.) Is there any way to put a USB port in for file transfer? It now has a small hard drive and a 3 1/2 disc drive. (4) anyone have a boot disc for this machine?

It has a pentium II with 133 megahertz, 32 meg of ram. It has a 10 gig hard drive. I have had centroids in the past and loved them. I am retiring from my day job and want to go back to doing some machine work. I got the mill at auction for a great price. It appears to be good mechanically. It was very dirty. So if I can get the control working for a reasonable cost I will be very happy. I would appreciate any help or comments. Thanks.

[cnckeith]

Russ,

hello. the best way to solve all your problems at once is to install the latest "All in one DC" cnc control board.
you retain your servos, powersupplies, contactors and most all other electricals. the new boards then connects to a new modern windows 7 or 8 PC.
you will be running the latest version of CENTROID CNC software and you will of course have USB connections for file import and export and networking is super easy as well. this upgrade is getting very popular with lots of the centroid installers performing them on older centroid cnc controls (m40's, early M400's and M15's CENTROID M15 CNC control upgrade to M39S, Trade in your M15 for a new M39S.) . you can do it yourself as well buying the all in one dc board from www.ajaxcnc.com

best regards, Keith

[Russ Shugg]

With the help from Centroid service I learned that the battery is embedded into a real time clock chip on the cpu board. If I can find the chip, I will have to desolder and resolder the chip in place on the board. The board was made by Acrosser and is a AR-B1564. I would like to find a board if anyone has one hid away. If anyone can point me to where I could get a board or a "real time clock" chip for the board, I would appreciate that too. Best Centroid could do is offer me a upgrade board to take its place. I like that thought as option B, but would really prefer to get the original board fixed. I got a great deal on buying the machine at auction, but I really don't yet know what mechanical shape the machine is in. I have had (3) other Centroid equipped machines and really like the ease of programming. So I am really anxious to get this machine going. Thanks Keith for the suggestion to do an Ajax installation. I actually have another machine that I am considering doing that to.

[Air Ride]

Russ

Did you find a solution to you CMOS battery low problem?

I'm having the same problem with my Centroid M15 and cant find any info on the net.

[cncsnw]

Try this:
Replaces DS1287
You will need someone who is highly skilled at desoldering and soldering.

[Dennis Rech]

Try this:
Replaces DS1287
You will need someone who is highly skilled at desoldering and soldering.

If you are brave, there are several websites and You Tubes with instructions for adding an external battery to your existing chip.
Here is one:
Reworking the DS1287 / DS1387 RTC chip

[Air Ride]

Thanks for the links. I think I am going to try and replace the chip the next cheapest option seems to be about $3000.

[Air Ride]

Got the motherboard out now I just need to find a good electronics guy to swap the chip.

[Russ Shugg]

The end to the story is that I was able to purchase (2) chips for $40.00. I have a friend that is a electronics wizard/inventor and he replaced the chip for me. (20 minutes). I put the machine back together and it is running like a swiss watch. I love the internet. The person that helped the most was the owner of NWcnc. If you search "centroid" on google, a site comes up that explains all of the various motherboards that Centroid has used through the years. The guy is VERY knowledgeable and was very helpful. He told me where to get the chips.

[Air Ride]

Got the chip replaced and it works but the screen is offset. Any ideas how to fix this?

[cncsnw]

Check your panel type selection in the CMOS setups. Assuming you have the 10.4" screen, I think it should be something like "640x480 18 bit TFT".

If that doesn't fix it, there may be something amiss either with the descrambler board that adapts the ribbon cable to the back of the LCD screen; or with the LCD screen itself.

[Air Ride]

I tried changing the primary display to one of the other 4 choices and now I just get a white screen. And I cant get back to the setup. Any suggestions?

[cncsnw]

If you have the ribbon cable for an external VGA monitor connected to CN13, then you might be able to get a picture on an external monitor.

Otherwise, you need to find a way to restore the default setting.

Either navigate "blind" to the BIOS Setup screen and try "Auto Configuration with Fail Safe Settings" (tenth choice in the menu, therefore nine spaces down from the top, at least according to the AR-B1564v1.3 manual); or, if you installed your battery/clock chip in a socket, try unplugging it for a while (though that might now work, since the BIOS setups may be stored in the chip along with the battery). I don't see any mention of a "Clear CMOS" jumper on the motherboard, but it seems improbable that they would not provide one.

[Air Ride]

That worked, thanks for the help.

[cncsnw]

Just for the record, what did you do that worked?

[Air Ride]

Restarted the controller, delete, down arrow 9 times, enter, Y, enter. Couldn't remember how many steps down it was to "save and exit" but knew it was the second to last choice so I did up arrow 9 times and then to more to get to "save and exit", enter, Y, enter and it started up. The screen is still not centered but it is usable.

Thanks again.