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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    62

    Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    I just acquired this BP Torq cut 22 with a DX32 control. I purchased it in unknown condition and was told that the issue that took it out of service was air solenoid related. This seemed to be accurate as there was a broken tool fork, some new airlines plumed in around everything and some new solenoids just hanging off the machine. My intent for the machine was a complete retrofit to LinuxCNC if I could not get the DX32 up and running cheaply.

    So I have been slowly getting the PC to turn on and boot to DOS. The first issue was reseatting all the cards on the motherboard as the monitor had no signal. Next I had a bad CMOS/BIOS battery. I got that fixed and can boot to DOS. The control attempts to do the "Machine Check"but I get a timeout. I tried the B3T test and got the results shown in the picture. It makes it past the analog test and then times out.


    I have pulled and cleaned the BMDC contacts and switched ISA slots. The BMDC has 2 visible LED's. one is red which is on, the other is green which I have never seen come on. The machine does not have air to it but I assumed I could at least get the control to come on if it didn't.

    As for the rest of the PC. It has an aftermarket motherboard, a Biostar 8433UUD running an AMD CPU and a Trident VGA video card. The HDD is 1 GB after market and makes a ton of noise (if it gets running most of these will be upgraded). It came with a ton of manuals, diagrams and 3.5" original floppies.

    Since I had a dead Bios battery I am hoping I do not have the correct bios settings in. To get it to even boot to DOS I had to disable the external cache in the bios. Do any of the Bios settings have an effect on the BMDC timing out? So what should I try next? The cost of the BMDC repairs appears to be more than I paid for the machine and about 1/3 of the way to a new Linuxcnc system with new servos etc.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    503

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    A couple things I'd try, turn off PNP and check the ISA bus speed or clock, it should be 33Mhz. Maybe someone that has a MB based Torq-Cut can chime in on BIOS setting. My TC-3 uses an ISA backplane with an SBC. Normally resetting the BMDC will sort it but I've heard of the mother boards going flakey and causing issues. I'd scrounge up an ISA MB before I replaced the BMDC. I'd also try another PC power supply.

    Check this thread:
    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bridge...rd-repair.html

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    62

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    Thanks for the tips. Turned off Pnp and also changed "PCI IDE IRQ Map to: ISA" from PCI-auto. Also turned off the serial and parallel ports just to make sure. Nothing.

    A couple other items of note looking over the motherboard. It is jumpered for a CPU clock speed of 25MHz. It has settings for 33, 40, 50. The CPU is an Enhanced AM486DX4-S which is listed as 75MHz and a bus of 25MHz. So it seems that jumper is correct but you are saying it needs a bus speed of 33? I will look at getting a different motherboard to see if that is it. I read on this post that you could use a P3 motherboard and run everything off DOS 7.1 to get USB support as long as you limit the speed to 100MHz. As you can tell I am not very computer literate but like to learn as I go.

    Looking at the BMDC card it appears that it was just refurbished. The PWMINT card looks brand new and a bunch of chips also look to have been replaced as well. But there are plenty of old components on it that can still go bad.




    If anyone else would like to chime in with BIOS settings I feel that may be where the issue lies or hopefully just the motherboard. Here are some screen shots of the default settings. The motherboard manual was not very insightful.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    503

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    The 33Mhz was off the top of my head. 25Mhz should be fine. The issue with some board the ISA bus speed being clocked to the CPU which caused issues. Not the case here looking through the bios settings. I assume you have given all the socketed chips on the BMDC a little push to make sure they are all seated? It's odd that the BMDC passes memory and other tests but still fails to load.

    I'd replace the PC AT power supply. I've heard of guys sending their BMDC back for referb only to get it back with the same issue. Read this thread:
    http://www.cnczone.com/forums/bridge...th-s-bmdc.html

    I have USB working in DOS 6.22. I posted the details a while back. I thought about moving to 7.1 for FAT32 support but never bothered.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Posts
    14

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    Here are screenshots of our BIOS settings on our TorqCut 22 with an Intel 486. As far as I checked most of our settings appear to be the same but have a look for yourself. Since you're running a different motherboard not all settings will line up, but hopefully it can be of some help!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails BIOS_01.jpg   BIOS_02.jpg   BIOS_03.jpg   BIOS_04.jpg  


  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    62

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    I had to disable my external cache memory to get the PC to boot successfully. As I understand it that would probably need to be enabled for proper function of the machine? On the same note why wouldn't the machine boot with the external cache enabled? I have enabled it and it will not get past "Updating ESCD"

    I will give everything mentioned here a try this week when I get of work.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    503

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    Quote Originally Posted by DJEkim33 View Post
    I had to disable my external cache memory to get the PC to boot successfully. As I understand it that would probably need to be enabled for proper function of the machine? On the same note why wouldn't the machine boot with the external cache enabled? I have enabled it and it will not get past "Updating ESCD"

    I will give everything mentioned here a try this week when I get of work.
    It should run without the external cache but it would likely be terribly slow. That vintage would have used socketed chips. Make sure they are all seated. Sometimes they can creep. Also make sure the jumpers JP5, JP6, and JP7 are set correctly for the chips installed. Verify all the chips are still installed, of course.

    This error can also be caused by mismatch/bad memory. Run a mem test on the memory.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    62

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    The continuing saga:

    I did find a chip on the PWMINT card attached to the BMDC that was not settled. However reseating it did not affect the BMDC timeout issue. So here is what I have tried so far:

    I went to replace the power supply with one of a half dozen I have lying around but the 486 MB takes an AT power supply. I did discover that the horrendous noise I thought was my hard drive was the power supply. SO instead of doing a hack splice job of AT to ATX power supply I had ordered another mother board and instead installed that and booted up DOS 6.22 from the original HDD.

    The new motherboard is a Biostar M6VLQ with a 100Mhz P3. My intent was to move to DOS 7.1 with this. However I had no issue booting the original HDD with DOS 6.22 and attempted to get the BMDC to load. It did not load and I got a slightly different message on the B3T test:


    So even with the new error messages I did have a moment when I was checking the contents of a few disks where the green LED on the BMDC did come on which was new. So I tried to run the BMDC program and got a timeout again and the green LED went off and left me with just the red.

    So my thoughts going forward are to reload the DX32 programs. I have several disks including an original Bridgeport TC back up disk. My question is how to use them? Copy all or certain files on to the HDD? What files should I back up?

    I am also thinking of loading a fresh install of DOS 7 onto another HDD I have and then attempting to load the DX32 onto that. In this case which programs would I need to copy over and what is the best method? I will be using the new biostar MB for both. Here are the disks I have that are relevant to the DX32:
    "Emergency Disk" (hand labeled):


    "Back up disk Torq cut 4.42/6.86.1 JL update"


    "Non CIB Torq cut 4..42/6.86.1 Update/Install"


    "Bridgeport Back up Torq Cut SN TC/22-513 Version 6.81"


    If none of this works there may be a bunch of DX32 control parts listed on ebay soon.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails IMG_20180303_145409.jpg   2 Emergency Disk.jpg   3 Back up disk.jpg   6 Non CIB Update-Install.jpg  

    7 Bridgeport Back up.jpg  

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    62

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    This is my current HDD:

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails HDD.jpg  

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    135

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    Did you ever get this machine going?

    Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

  11. #11

    Re: Torq cut 22 DX32 BMDC timout

    I would like to know as well, if he got there machine up and running.

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