[AbbySmith]

Hello!

The best way i can describe my situation is "a fish out of water".

Before i begin please be advised i completely lack knowledge as far as these machines go.. which may lead you to think "Well, why are you even messing with it?"

My dad's had this machine sitting around for afew years, we've had the odd look at it but as said we're not trained or have much understanding (myself anyways) however my dads suffered a recent heart attack, this has caused the left side of his heart to be permanently damaged so i've taken it upon myself to see if we can fix it or at the very least have a breakdown of what the heck we need to do, i do have some help from my dads friend called Chris who understands abit more than i do (we're really good at following instructions though, promise!) we've had afew people look at the machine and it's either been: Motherboard, Hard Drive, someone i'm sure said graphics card at one point? but no one's actually said to us "Right, start here and do this, if that works the next thing you want to try is this" and actually help us dwindle the possibilities down, assuming it is a do-able thing.

"Well, why don't you just pay someone proffesional"
Brilliant idea! However, after spending 2 mornings and many hours up and down google, trying different companys, different numbers, even different email addresses, trying to find someone we could call out to have a look, i have ended up fruitless.

Acramatic 2100 Cincinnati

Id post all the specifications etc that you guys may need but again, don't know where to start.. VERY SORRY for making this painful, appreciate any help / advice you can muster

There should be 2 photos attached of the machine.

[JordanMach]

Firstly. I wish you luck with this. Secondly. I dont know a ton about these machines either but I am learning as I go and work on my machine as it needs it. This being said. You did not attach any photos of the machine. So we dont know what model the machine is, we just know the control the machine has. As for information we need, on the back of the machine is the electrical cabinet. On the outside of the door there is usually a silver metal data plate. If you can either write all the info from that down, or just take a picture of it, that will help a lot as that is all the info that we would need to know to look up info on the machine. As for the machine itself, what is "wrong" with the machine? Like, does it not power on? Does it power up but no picture? If it does power up with any image on the screen, can you take a video of the screen as someone flips the breaker so we can see exactly what is happening when you turn it on? I am trying to get as much info from you so others who know more than me can help you easier.

Edit: I am sorry to hear about your father.

[meckardt55]

Sometimes it is easier to get one of our engineers to fix your machine then to discuss this over the web especially if you are not familiar with the machine or the control . Where are you located?

MIKE CNC Machine Services INC | Cincinnati Milacron MachinesCNC Machine Services

[maver1ck]

There are a few of us that will try to help, but as was pointed out, need more detailed information. At a minimum, what the machine is doing (or not doing), but preferably a history of what/when it started.

Depending on what is happening, the specific hardware/software may be relevant, but until I know more, can't really say.

As it appears you've discovered, there are not a lot of people familiar with these machines, and from what I've seen those that say they will try to fix them anyway frequently cause more problems.

Since you have had multiple people look at it over what seems to be an extended period, it is likely there is more than one issue to address by now.

For example, there are 3 different batteries in the machine, if it has been out of service for an extended period, you will likely need to address each of them, but only one can really be changed by the end user easily.

If you let us know where you are located I may know someone that I could recommend as I still have contact with some of the old distributors and technicians.

[AbbySmith]

Thank you so much for even having a look at this thread guys, i do greatly appreciate it.

I did attach 2 pictures however it seems they didn't upload (as said, new to forums, sorry for making this painful) will upload it to a website and see if i can get the pictures up that way (currently at work)

We're based in the UK (not to be any more awkward), i have had 1 very promising email reply from a company that specialises with these machines which David (a guy who offers training but doesn't deal with this specific machine much) helped me get in contact with, so BIG FINGERS CROSSED.

I will get more pictures / videos and attach them properly as soon as i'm free, the machine itself does boot up, we get the black screen which shows keyboard not detected etc, then jumps to a blue screen with alot of code and thats about all it gives us, i'm going to contact Graham and see when he can come out, hopefully that will begin to take the stress off my dad and we may just be able to get up and running.

When i get Graham out will happily post up what he's said about the machine (may help someone else in some way?)

Appreciate the replys, i will be back!

[mbservice]

Hi Abby
If you pm me I will attempt to resolve as had some experience with these

[maver1ck]

I lived in England installing machines for a while and can think of a couple guys in Leeds and Birmingham that may be able to help you, but its been a while since I've talked to either, so not sure if they are still available.

The blue screen you described sounds like the hard drive was likely corrupted. As I indicated I the last post, it is likely occurred when someone was working on another issue since the most common cause for this is someone shutting the machine off before Windows has completed a successful shutdown. I have also seen cases where a power outage can cause this so it is possible the hard drive is your on the issue but based on your description seems unlikely.

I have a computer specifically setup for hard drive recovery, and I can frequently salvage and recover the information from the hard drive, but since I doubt you have access to this, would probably be easier foe you to just replace the hard drive.

Another thing to consider is I have had several shops send their PCA to me to test everything and make sure all the basic control components are OK. Depending on what you know about the history, this may be the quickest way to get through all the unknowns.

[AbbySmith]

**Update

Grahams currently busy with jobs, will be phoning him again Monday the 3rd of December, we've ordered another hard drive and keyboard, but Chris said something about the date for the BIOS he thinks may be causing an issue, what an adventure this is going to be haha

On other news finally got the pictures to upload! i do have some more / can get some more

Thank youuu

[AbbySmith]

I lived in England installing machines for a while and can think of a couple guys in Leeds and Birmingham that may be able to help you, but its been a while since I've talked to either, so not sure if they are still available.

The blue screen you described sounds like the hard drive was likely corrupted. As I indicated I the last post, it is likely occurred when someone was working on another issue since the most common cause for this is someone shutting the machine off before Windows has completed a successful shutdown. I have also seen cases where a power outage can cause this so it is possible the hard drive is your on the issue but based on your description seems unlikely.

I have a computer specifically setup for hard drive recovery, and I can frequently salvage and recover the information from the hard drive, but since I doubt you have access to this, would probably be easier foe you to just replace the hard drive.

Another thing to consider is I have had several shops send their PCA to me to test everything and make sure all the basic control components are OK. Depending on what you know about the history, this may be the quickest way to get through all the unknowns.

The last guy we had in did manage to make a copy of the contents on the hard drive which is saved onto my computer, what exactly he's copied and saved i don't have the foggiest but i do know the machine had a program on it that my dad wanted to try and save

I don't know of its importance but we also have a Floppy disc in the book for the machine

Edit: we've also suffered power cuts etc so would not suprise me

[maver1ck]

Your Pictures show 2 different types of hard drive issues.
1) the blue screen you mentioned is commonly associated with a corrupted hard drive
2) the BIOS screen showing "insert bootable media" indicates the system can not detect a hard drive

You mentioned ordering another hard drive....from where? I'm just curious if you are buying it from Siemens/Cincinnati so it will be correct for your machine, or if you are getting it from somewhere else, in which case you need to make sure software versions are compatible with your machine.

As you mentioned, the system date and time not set indicates another issue, usually associated with a dead battery. This should not prevent the control from booting up, but will cause a failures when the A2100 diagnostic software runs (and these failures mean the control will likely not be shut down "safely", so can lead to the hard drive being corrupted. The memory size decreased message seems odd though as that would indicate someone removed RAM from the WS Board. If you PM me with your WS board part number and an e-mail address to respond to, I can send you the configuration for your board so you can get it set up properly again. If they battery is dead, you will also want to replace it or this will be a persistent issue.

The floppy disc you mentioned is likely the original Machine Dependent data. It may help get your new hard drive set up, but there were some compatibility issues if the new hard drive has a different software version than the original did.

[AbbySmith]

Another update**

Graham wasn't able to come out Monday so will be contacting him again this afternoon and hopefully getting another date sorted

Maver1ck pretty much hit the nail on the head as far as blue screen / bios / battery haha

I was told to order this hard drive Fujitsu MPC3032AT 3.5" IDE AT Hard Drive HD PC 486/586, however this was before i came across Graham whos mentioned he does have spare parts available so will have to let you know as far as that one goes

As said, the battery did have to be changed completely right, we did manage to get into it from the boot up screen and change the date and time (WOO, very very small victory, let me have that one, beforehand we couldn't do ANYTHING)

Again will update as soon as i learn more / Graham comes and saves us haha

[JordanMach]

I am glad to see these updates. I hope you can get it all sorted out. As for if you ever need a new HDD or parts in general. FIVES does still have parts for these machines. As for the hard drive specifically, they do have them in stock and are actually fairly reasonably priced(From what I was told on the phone with them a few months ago). They are pretty much just a swap and run part with not much software installing to do. Keep us up to date! Good luck!

[gwood]

Fives Cincinnati Technical Support is 1-859-534-4750 We are the same group that has supported this product in the US and were formerly Mag-Cincinnati; Unova-Cincinnati; Cincinnati Machine; and Cincinnati Milacron.
Hours 8am-5pm EST (Lunch Noon-1pm EST)
Best Regards,
Greg Wood Fives MSI - [Machine Tool Services & Solutions]