[BOSS5]

Hi all:
I've very recently acquired a perfectly unused 33 year old Boss 5, circa 1980. (Probably has less than 500 hundred hours on it!), with absolutely perfect ways & table. It has likely sat for more than a decade collecting dust. The oil film covering it saved the iron, and fortunately it sat largely dry. Aside having needed to spend considerable time to clear out some long dead critters and the huge mounds of fiberglass insulation they dragged in whilst once nesting inside the controls cabinets, the spindle still runs wonderfully quiet. Removing the spindle and drive belt covers reveals only minimal belt dust. The serial numbers on the computer boards matches those noted in the appendix of the machine installation manual, and every other part also appears 100% original. Not even evidence of soldering marks on the power transistors! I've done all the usual cleaning maintainance and checks, like carefully washing the computer boards and setting the supply voltages exactly to spec. (They were almost perfect). Even re-sat the socketed LSI-11 chipset. No burn't fuses or other issues readily appararent. Yet the system shows error code 70005 on the display after turn-on, with the Run, Goto and Hold lights all lit, along with F,S,T. The other numerals are all zero.
Although I bought the machine with full intension of retrofitting modern controls right away [they are on hand], somehow my ideal and nostalgic dream would be to also keep the original controls in place and thus retain a fully functioning 100% authentic "retro" mill. {I learn't to program on paper tape about the same year this mill was built}. The Gecko's and breakout board can quite easily be paralled and mounted alongside onto one of the cabinet doors, and with a few strategic cable plugs moved over, to transfer control.
My hope is that somebody on this list has enough experience to suggest were to look for further problems. The LSI-11 board hault codes I managed to dig out via a previous posting's link indicates a 1 or 5 last digit means the halt source was "Bus error occured while getting device interrupt vector". At least it is not the dreaded 70007 error. I suspect it may be looking to another board and not reading anything... but I'd need help from here-on.
Today while playing around I ONCE (never managed to repeat despite numerous tries) got past the 70005 by some combination of flicking the taper reader reset and moving the edit buttons simultaneously... and it came to a state were the previously lit status lights quickly went off one by one and ended with the ABS light on about 2 seconds later, and the 70005 cleared to show a blank display. I could enter a few digits with the keypad until everything was again "locked up". My suspicion is that the communications board (ERS) may somehow be related to the issue, or perhaps the pendant control pannel is faulting.
Having never come across the maintainance manuals for the Boss 5 despite searching endlessly (For Boss 6 I found a copy, but it is rather different), I really don't know were to head now digging any further.:drowning:
Any ideas or contribution of said manuals are welcome. Greg.
PS: Ebay shows no LSI-11's, but I do believe I've seen XDI's RCK's and ERS. In any case they are all quite expensive, and blindly trading out cards without a solid diagnosis seems like a real crapshoot.
My Machine serial # is CNC1711
LSI S/N AB82041073 (board stamp 027332)
XDI S/N 1212
RCK S/N 1268
ERS S/N 202

[PAUL BASSETT]

I have the whole series of boss 4-5 manuals. some i have copied but if you only need certain pages i could scan and send to you.paul

[BOSS5]

Paul:
Thank you for the offer of Boss 4/5 manuals (Mine is a series 1 machine). If I had the maintainance manual in front of me I could tell you exactly what pages were needed! Essentially there ought be a section describing operator pannel error codes and trouble shooting /diagnosis of the computer logic boards. Scans of those pages would be most welcome. A copy of the whole manual would be preferable, however you did not specify how I could compensate you for that.
The BOSS 6 Series 2 maintainance manual I have is about 200 pages, so I'm expecting something quite similar. In the manual I speak of, chapers 4 thru 7 are respectively: Logic boards, Axis drive, Troubleshootong, and Tests.
I note that many of these procedures call for test tapes to be run, and corresponding responses at a terminal. I'm really wondering if anybody out there still has a copy of such tapes, or the code on them and/or if they could be run via the RS232 port using a terminal emulator program? Any experiences related could be quite helpful to myself and others who may face such issues in the future.

With thanks;
Greg.

[PAUL BASSETT]

Greg i have some or all of the tapes (not sure how many) i will look thru the manual and see what areas jive with what you need and let you know. trying to troubleshoot 1 of my machines right now. spindle will not operate and all3 lights are on for the left side of console. hold,goto,run and getting some number that ends in 7 but the first digit read out is dead.my other one i can get the spindle running but no axis movement yet.both have been in lousy storage for 5 plus years and relocated 3 times to boot.trying to get ahold of hillbilly to get a bob but so far no answer from him.paul

[aBigSAM]

Did you resolve the problem? I'm having the same issues, and mine has the same boards. LSI-11, XDI, RCK and ERS. Does that make it a Boss 5? I don't have manauls and don't even know what pages to ask for.

[MillMan97]

I know this thread has grown a long beard since it started 9 years ago, but here in the brave new year of 2022 I have almost the same problem. EXCEPT, as BOSS 5 put it, I have the "dreaded 70007 error". I cannot find out what that error means and my BOSS 6 Series ll, which has almost the same complement of boards, including the LSI-11 is down and I am in desperate need of some way to get the machine running. I have tried swapping out all the boards, testing all the fuses (all tight and good), checking the relays and even making sure the lube oil reservoir level is full. The machine will power up to the point where you press the Override button to get things started. The light goes out when I press the override button, but the 70007 code is on the control panel and will not go away. I cannot move the axes, even though the seem to be powered up. the spindle will start. None of the buttons on the control panel do anything, nor does hitting the "reset" switch inside the tape reader cabinet. I have also tested all the voltages and swapped out all 5 boards, one at a time, with no luck.
I need this machine back up and running ASAP, so any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Fred