IFR 2393A no boot - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: cozidinho
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2024, 07:29:23 pm
content: I have an IFR 2393A that I rescued from being recycled (I was at the right location at the right time, pure luck). Of course it was too good to be true and when I plugged the mains, it basically didn't go past a blue boot screen showing "IFR Copyright 1992-1998". I connected the serial port to another computer by means of a null modem adapter and I was presented with this screen:Code:Memory Size Function OKTime of Day Function OKSystem Services OKMain RAM to.. 000D3FFF OKSystem Segment at......D399Rom checksum OKIFR Systems function onlineExtended Ram Not Found.288K Parameter RAM foundIEEE-488 interface: working store at D390:0000SPI serial bus: online: working store: D38F:0000LPT Function OKKeyboard Function OKSysVue segment at D37C:0000Last fatal error code: FFFFFFFFAnnabooks AT BiosKitModified by IFR Systems, Inc. under license. 07/21/97Booting System:Loading IFR BIOS extensions...Moving stack to top of free RAMLoading applicationsNo ROM application found: executing monitorSysVue Copyright (c) FOSCO 1988, 1989 - All Rights Reserved.SysVue  >After some online research in this and other groups, I found that maybe an EEPROM somewhere or the Flash (PCMCIA card) could be corrupted. If I remove the PCMCIA card the screen doesn't show any output at all, but it goes into the console. So I reckon maybe the PCMCIA card is still readable. I really don't have any means to read the PCMCIA nowadays.The RTC seems to have held well as it shows the current time/date.It would be very nice if someone could provide some insight here.

author: cozidinho
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 09, 2024, 03:57:42 pm
content: Ok, I know something more now. I have dumped the BIOS - which is in two EPROMs in an even/odd arrangement. The ROM BIOS in itself seems to be fine.The flash PCMCIA, judging by the strings contained on it, has the video board driver, which seems to be loaded correctly -ANX VGA Video board GSP programmer V4.13 16 Jul 1998 16:39:13- however the main program is not loaded as it should -ANX main program V1.0 Thu 20 Aug 1998 10:19:17.So, at the prompt I started making questions, not too complicated...QuoteI suppose it finds something unexpected after the first module being loaded. Could the programs be OK, are moved into the RAM before being loaded, but the RAM or the RAM addressing circuitry be not so good?I find nothing out of the ordinary with the board.

author: cozidinho
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2024, 07:54:04 pm
content: If anyone is in similar position and wants to ping me so we can share some insights, feel free to do it.

author: MICKP
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 12, 2025, 01:18:17 am
content: I seem to have the same problem, the unit will not go past the blue screen.Interesting that you got results from the 232port, I will have to try that and see what I get.I have another PCMICA card from another IFR analyzer that is model AN1830.The unit looks exactly the same in construction.I took that card and put it into the IFR 2393A and the machine booted past the blue screen but hug up at the analyzer display and there was no keyboard input available.I would guess that my 2393A needs a flash card that has all the files on it. when I got the unit the CPU was popped half way out.I have an old laptop computer that has a PCMICA slot that works but it will not read the card, seems that I need a driver for it.The card that I have for the 2393A is a 1MB Mitsubishi MEL-CARD F-EEPROM and the card from the AN1830 is a Fujitsu 1MB flash.If you find a way to read them I would be interested in trying to recover the data from the units that I have and maybe between my two cards the data can be rebuilt.Not sure where I would get the files, I doubt that they would be available due to being obsolete.I will have to troll the ham swaps this summer and maybe I can pick up a wrecked unit for the card.Thanks for the post.

author: cozidinho
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 12, 2025, 09:26:28 am
content: Mine has a PCMCIA Fujitsu 1MB flash card. I've read it and I'm happy to share the results with you.I have also the boot ROM data, just to do some comparisons if you're interested.

author: MICKP
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: February 25, 2025, 11:47:41 pm
content: I had to do some research on these cards before I responded so that I would know what I am dealing with and also that I can understand the help I might get from the forum.I have been trying to read the data cards that I have but have been unsuccessful with that.The computer is asking for a driver for the card and I have not been able to find the proper driver for them.can you let me know what hardware that you are using to read and write to the cards.None of my 6 laptop computers so far will read these cards so I purchased an external PCI to PCMCIA card reader/programmer for my PC, it might read the linear flash cards.I will be hooking the unit up to see if I can read the card, after that I may need some help.The RS232 on the back did not yeild anthing and I ran out of time to hook up the scope to see if anything was there.The next time that I am in the unit I will see if I have the tools to read the ROMS.It would be neat to compare to the ones that you have.Thanks

author: cozidinho
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2025, 12:29:03 am
content: For the reading of the card I'm using a tool called ELAN Memory Card Explorer. I'm using an old Dell with Windows XP 32-bit. In this case, the card was seen as having a driver unavailable by Windows, but still the program was able to read it. Haven't tried writing.Cheers

author: MICKP
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 01, 2025, 07:58:09 am
content: This thing may have other issues, I am not getting anything from the RS232 port.I also noticed a blinking red LED on the back side of the keyboard with two buttons next to it that read reset and the other says mode.I connected up to the RS232 port on the back of the keyboard to see what comes out.nothing there, so I pressed the reset and got a beep.There was some activity on the port after I pushed the other button. It seemed to dump data for about a Minuit then it stopped.I was using hyperterm and I just got junk.I remember that when I used the card from the AN1830 that it would boot all the way to the analyzer screen but the keyboard did not work.The next time I get the unit on the bench I will unhook the front panel keypad and see what happens.If nothing changes, I will start removing some of the cards, one of them may be kicking out some weird data, never know.pull the roms and read them and compare them to the files you sent.It will be some stuff to look at while I do some more research.All of the power supply voltages are good and the reference oscillator has a good signal coming out of it.

author: MICKP
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 15, 2025, 03:57:43 am
content: Well I am still having problems reading the flash cards, it seems that I need a specific driver for those cards.I have A reader that will do the linear flash cards but the system wants a driver that I can not find.I have tried all versions of windows on (6) old laptops with PCMCIA ports and one desktop with a Elon P423 setup. I have not tried the DOS programs yet.So I will have to wait until I get more resources ready, I have not done this stuff since the late 90's.You asked how I knew the ram was bad in a different unit.I did not know for sure that it was the RAM other than the SA unit acted the same way computers did way back in the days of 386's, they would fail to boot the same way every boot up, or random crashes all caused by the ram chips.The chips on board are SIMM'S with pins pinched on to the gold leads off from the ram stick making them in to DIPP'S.I dug around and found the same chips on some known good ram and used a rework station to swap the chip.Be carful not to move the pins, mine were soldered on.I swapped out the chips and all was good.I have a bunch of RAM testers coming so that I will no longer have to make a huge guess.So I am going to remove those sticks and test them because I see A blinking light on the main board right near the RAM chips.I do not know what it means but I do not think that it is supposed to be blinking steady.Thanks