DECR-1000a Not Booting - Flashing Green Status LED

Hey guys, I've managed to get hold of a DECR-1000a kit but unfortunately am unable to get it to boot. I'd appreciate any and all help

The GPI switches are all down (not sure what effect this has), both hard drives are inserted and the console is connected to a monitor via VGA. When the system is powered up, the Status LED flashes green indefinitely with no progress. There is no activity on the GPO pins when attempting to push the On button. Removing the Communication processor daughter board seems to allow the system to boot for 3-4 seconds, until it shuts down and begins flashing the status LED red. Resetting the CP using the "System Init" button also seems to have no effect.

I've reseated the daughterboard several times with no impact on the issue, are there any other fixes I can attempt? Are there any other manuals that detail what the Debug status LED's show on the CP/Main motherboard?

Cheers

 

Can you get the unit in to recovery mode? The method is identical to the retail consoles.

Also try swapping the HDDs. One has the OS and it won't boot if the OS drive is swapped.

 

Unfortunately not, holding down the power button never produces any beeps from the system. I've just now swapped the hard drives, but nothing seems to have changed. It seems as if the issue is pre-OS, as not even the fans start spinning or the GPO lights flash in its current state. I've tried hooking a FTDI USB serial adapter to the RS232 serial port on the back of the unit, in the hope I'd get some boot status messages - but it looks like its just used for SYSCON updating. I guess the LED's inside are my only peek into whats wrong with the system. Really appreciate the help

 

try to communicate with the CP. see if that at least is working. if the CP is not working, the rest of the system won't work. to communicate with the CP you need to plug an ethernet cable from your laptop/pc directly to the DEV LAN port on the DECR. usually the ip is the same for all consoles: 10.0.1.2 (you can see this on the manuals in the leaked sdks, grep or find for Reference pdfs). good luck

 

I think the serial port connects directly to the CP, so you should get the CP CLI from there if it's healthy and operating.

I have a spare CP if you're interested.

 

Wasn't able to connect to the CP board using DEV LAN. My network card showed many packets sent, but none received, and putting 10.0.1.2 into the browser timed out. I've found the Reference manuals though, so will have a read of those tonight and see if there's anything in there that I'm missing.

Aspect - Will reattempt a serial connection to the CP board tomorrow, but received no output on my serial monitor today. There are a bunch of DIP switches on the CP board that I'm unsure of the function of, wondering if the error could lie there? Also, it's great to hear you have a spare CP but unfortunately I'm in the UK. Will try contacting the seller first to see if theres anything he can arrange, as the unit was assured as fully working. If no luck, may drop you a PM.

Thanks guys

EDIT: Came across this line in reference docs:

"To restore the factory settings of the CP Software, hold down the SYSTEM INIT switch and press the POWER switch. After carrying out this process, always update the CP software. Without this update process, the target system will not boot when POWER switch is pressed. "

Based on this info, it would seem after attempting to restore initial settings, that my CP board will prevent boot due to firmware in a corrupt state. To update the firmware though, I would need to have network access which I don't have. Anyone know if its possible to flash through Serial port? Or am I barking up the complete wrong tree here....

 

I believe the default IP address is 192.168.0.2 (not 10.0.1.2). Try using that.

 

Default IP should be 192.168.0.2

Green flashing light needs to be solid before it can actually boot - and from what youre saying this stays flashing

Ensure all components on the inside are connected

 

Just chiming in to say I've got a DECR-1000A with the exact same problem! Only difference is I'm testing with HDMI.

I've a claim open in PP with the seller, as I paid extra for a working one. If I don't get a refund/return I'll pull it apart and perform some of the same checks as you, before considering splitting for parts.

Got a working DECR1400 now, so I'm not as eager, but still willing to try fix this.

 

Was unfortunately not able to get any further with fixing the Kit so have returned it to the seller for exchange with another. Mistawes, it's worth reseating the Communication Processor board and attempting to bring up the web interface. Will contact you in a PM to ascertain whether be bought our kits from the same seller, might be something dodgy going on with all of the ebay kits that have hit the site recently....

 

Also gonna chime in here, i have a DECR-1000A on the way from the UK from eBay, (Haven't received it yet) are these the sellers you got them from cyberd********** or *******s2002 ? (Asterisks are length accurate)

 

Yeah cyberd********** is the seller. The courier (paid for by the seller) picked up the faulty kit today, so I'm optimistically hoping that I'll have a new kit on the way sometime this week. I'll update the thread on whether it works or not. It's worth noting that when the kit arrived, it was fairly poorly packaged (no padding) and the front faceplate had cracked at the top left. I'm assuming it got damaged in transit for now, but I guess we'll know for sure once this next kit comes.

 

Alright, keep us posted, it will just give me an expectation (Or idea) of what i will get soon as i still have a little while to wait as i live a long distance away from the UK and my unit is being shipped via freight.

EDIT: When my DECR-1000A eventually arrives i will also report what i get. (Working or not and any flaws be it cosmetic or hardware) to see if the seller is legit or selling bad units as working units. Or it could've been just an honest sale but during shipping something got damaged.

 

Same seller here, also damage to front left on mine.. I had to double check I didn't post that comment! haha
He did say to me, test the unit before signing for delivery! I'd advise you do that if at all possible Raptor.. Otherwise, dispute it ASAP!!

PayPal resolved my claim today, I'm shipping it back!! The seller didn't want to accept a return, as I took a while to confirm it's actually dead, but PayPals 180 days came in handy! Debating whether to get another or not, maybe I'll save for a PS4 TEST or XDK instead..

 

That's the same seller whom sold me a unit, mine had no functioning blu-ray drive at first, but I found that the ribbon cable needed reseating and needed an external antenna to get wireless (see http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/help-with-decr-1000a-antenna.64988/#post-930267 ). I have noticed that this seller now lists parts of a DECR-1000A separately (the PSU, hard disk bays and blu ray drive) some of them are listed as having more than one available, so I think they've been dismantling returned faulty units to try and get some value from the working parts. I think I'm one of the lucky ones to get a unit that fully functions, albeit with one broken USB port and CF slot eject button broken... but I can live with that. Whenever I've found it won't boot it is normally a problem with the hard drive. It cannot accept a hard drive over 1TB in size. Although it will format a hard drive as large as 1.5TB (the maximum size a regular PS3 can handle), the communication processor cannot support it and will abort the boot process after restarting post-format. There is no error message about this on-screen (TV will be black), I had to use DG Target Manager to see the boot log over the network to find this out. However it *will* format a 2TB drive for use as the BD Emulator, but you have to use some tricky-to-find software to make use of all that space. Quite an odd-thing this, just thought I'd share this info as it's very hard to find information about this unit. Anyway, there's some advice: try putting in a new hard drive if your unit won't boot. 1TB is the maximum for system hard drive, 2TB for BDEMU (theoretical, I haven't tried a larger one but bear in mind that internally, the hard disks are connected via a SATA to IDE PATA bridge internally, which then connects to the mainboard via IDE cables. I've never got an over 2TB disk to work properly using a SATA to IDE PATA bridge adapter on any computer in my experience, but 2TB should be well more than enough!)

 

I also bought my console from the same seller. Everything went without any problems, however, the packaging was terrible. It was only wrapped in a box. No wonder so many units arrive damaged. This item is sooo heavy and fragile, it must be wrapped well.

 

Come to think of it, when mine arrived I found it did not have padding, just the bare cardboard. Plus it had been raining heavily and the cardboard on one side was so soaked that the whole box nearly collapsed while I took it upstairs to open (which was a right struggle, it is so freaking heavy!). I noticed after this, that the seller added a £10 delivery charge to the remaining units for sale, mine had been free postage... I hope they use this charge for better wrapping! I think personally my unit was dropped in transit and that's what caused the ribbon cable to partially dislodge. I don't plan on trying to move it again any time soon without an extra person on hand, I'm very lucky and glad it works.

 

Keep us posted, too I'm hoping to god mine turns up in one piece (especially considering it takes long time to ship) and fully functions without issue, a scratch or minor cosmetic issue doesn't concern me *too* much but the less dinged up the better

 

The kit has arrived perfectly, and the sellers packaging has really stepped up! Came with an extra 3 hard drive caddies as well, with foam packaging around an extra internal box housing the kit. All good on this end guys, best of luck with your consoles, hope they all arrive intact.

 

Great to hear! Hope you enjoy your unit(s) I'll still let you guys know if mine is all good, if it is it's likely that it was an honest mistake on part of the seller (Lazy packaging)