[ziggyd]

Hoping there is someone left still alive, that has some knowledge of the boards used in the control of my Hurco BMC25 with ultimaxIII Max32/dsp.
This week it refuses to boot ocasionally only with a cursor in the bottom left of text screen. Wonder if it needs new dallas chip? or if someone knows where to start looking would be a great help? and no!! Hurco service can not help they say its too old, bit like me I guess!

[cncmakers001]

Hoping there is someone left still alive, that has some knowledge of the boards used in the control of my Hurco BMC25 with ultimaxIII Max32/dsp.
This week it refuses to boot ocasionally only with a cursor in the bottom left of text screen. Wonder if it needs new dallas chip? or if someone knows where to start looking would be a great help? and no!! Hurco service can not help they say its too old, bit like me I guess!

Many older CNCs use a Dallas DS12887 or similar chip that contains both the
Real-Time Clock (RTC) and non-volatile memory for BIOS settings.
If this chip has failed (common after decades of use), the system may fail to boot properly.
Check if the date/time resets when the machine does boot. If it does, the chip is likely dead.

[Rich Carlstedt]

Also on these old machines, It never hurts to step back and using the static band on your hand
to unplug and then re-plug in all the boards and connections - vibration and time takes it toll

[ziggyd]

I have removed and cleaned all boards and contacts, used contact cleaner on all plugs etc. tried removing some boards to get to a minimum set up but nothing gets on screen? Having nothing much to go on yet, leaves me wondering if I should change this dallas chip for a new one, But I can find no details or instructions on how to enter the Bios stup on this Hurco with 486 cpu board,or to get to the settings, will all the required info be lost?? (Thats if it is infact the rtc stopping it booting?) Has anyone had to replace the dallas rtc chip,and gone through the initial setup on a similar machine? Is there anyone in the uk who can check or repair Hurco boards?

[Rich Carlstedt]

Well, I missed the fact that it is Ultimax III and not Ultimax II which is what I have .
So my words may not apply, but the Dallas chips provide power for memory use and the Batteries in them die
One of the repairs is to have batteries added to your board so the Dallas chips are bypassed ( sort of) for the power needs ( not mem )
Does your memory board have batteries like this- ?
If it does not, then putting these special batteries in is easier than replacing the Dallas chips IMHO
The batteries are none rechargeable ( I think 3.6 V) and I can find out the number if you need it

[ziggyd]

The 486 board is quite different, it only has one dallas chip, no other batteries, I am concerned that the bios has possibly been lost , does the Dallas on the cpu board actually hold the bios setup with boot order,etc. and HD config table? If I replace the Dallas rtc chip with a new one, how do I get into the bios config to put things back as it was? what would I need?

[Rich Carlstedt]

Ziggyd
does the Dallas on the cpu board actually hold the bios setup with boot order

I don't think so. I believe it it supplies voltage to the board AND directs the storage of memory in the adjacent memory chips . Folks have replaced the Dallas chip and did not incurr Bios problems to the best of my knowledge and I have followed this board for 20 years
If you look at my picture you will see a string of chips with pasted labels . On my KM3 there are maybe 12 such chips in line and
note that they say the version of Ultimax on them . They are the chips that match the what you have in your machine..ie the Ultimax program .. But I do not know if that includes the Bios ?

There is help in the UK. We had a wonderful guy who helped people . I believe he is a retired Hurco tech Service (???) and his name is Bloke . try a search on this forum

Good luck
Rich

[ziggyd]

Thanks for reply, I have been in touch with" Bloke" hope he has time to help, and look into my hurco problem, not many folk left who worked on these machines,

[ziggyd]

Don't seem to be getting any nearer finding out how to access the bios on our Hurco , the cpu card is a radi sys corporation 486 board, the machine is with Ultimax 3 and max 32/DSP I was hoping someone could explain to me if its possible to gain access to the bios , and check all is OK

[Rich Carlstedt]

Ziggyd. I posted about 6 postings back on this Forum , a note about Midwest CNC
I know it's a international call, but they have been helpful to others, maybe they can answer the Bios question
Rich

[ziggyd]

Rich, thanks for reply, I have been in contact with Midwest cnc,they need a bit more info, but I will be back in touch with them soon as possible. lets hope I can make some progress?

[ziggyd]

Rich, thanks for reply, I have been in contact with Midwest cnc,they need a bit more info, but I will be back in touch with them soon as possible. lets hope I can make some progress?

Unfortunately Midwest cnc Have no idea how to acess the 486 bios on my machine,... well that was their reply? but credit to them they did respond quickly.

[ziggyd]

It been almost impossible trying to obtain infor on this Hurco BMC25 with Ultimax 3 , and max 32/dsp upgrades, Is there anyone anywhere who has any technical details of the system , the board cofigurations , jumper settings, test points, or anything related to repairing and testing this system? even what the on board LEDS mean on the cpu or the personality board. It would be great to just narrow things down, I can't just replace things randomly. or spend money on parts, if the part is OK
Although replacing the machine seems to be the only resolve!
I have read others have been in a similar situation ? Did Anyone find a current service engineer, or any repair info, relative to this actual Hurco machine and control sytem?

[Rich Carlstedt]

ziggyd, there is another resource that I have not mentioned I beliive, and they have a very good reputation

https://www.machinetools.com/en/comp...martin-cnc-inc

He also worked for Hurco and His credentials say BMC service - worth a shot i think

Shane Martin 352-326-0047
Florida

Rich

[Rich Carlstedt]

Ziggyd- here is another possible resource
Download Masters, Software and Post Processors | Accurate Machine Tool Svc, Inc
And they do free help to BMC owners
Rich