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Need Help Network chip Roland VP540

Caleab Brown

Caleab Brown

New Member
Krister Koppari said:
Ok, will check that, thank you.
Click to expand...
Any update? I have a VP-540 with the same issue. This is the most up to date and technically detailed thread I've found. If you could take the time to recap what you've learned about the networking issue in whole / what to look for / what to avoid, it would be of great help to me! Thanks.
 
C

Cosmin

New Member
This printer is a nightmare. Try to find an electronic workshop and chance Y5 (oscilator clock for network chip RTL 8201) and Y2 ( oscilator clock for AU2100 micoprocesor) .
 
C

Cosmin

New Member
Caleab Brown said:
Any update? I have a VP-540 with the same issue. This is the most up to date and technically detailed thread I've found. If you could take the time to recap what you've learned about the networking issue in whole / what to look for / what to avoid, it would be of great help to me! Thanks.
Click to expand...
 

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Krister Koppari

New Member
Caleab Brown said:
Any update? I have a VP-540 with the same issue. This is the most up to date and technically detailed thread I've found. If you could take the time to recap what you've learned about the networking issue in whole / what to look for / what to avoid, it would be of great help to me! Thanks.
Click to expand...

We are right now back where we started.
The machine has the original network chip and works if we keep it warm.

Next thing we will try is to change the Y5 and Y2 as Cosmin suggest.
 
A

Arda

New Member
Hello. I have the same problem, has anyone update for this problem. Works this method to change Y5 and Y2??
 
Ignis

Ignis

New Member
mikedrees said:
Any updates on the crystal swap/fix?
Click to expand...
Usual thing on all forums that cover this problem. In the end they never tell us after all repairs if they manage to solve this problem.
I can share my experience with repairs. I did successfully replaced Realtek chip, and Cristal oscillator that is next to realtek chip. And neither of them fix issue with dropping network. I haven't tried to replace that other oscillator. I will try that and get report here so we all can get our boards repair for good.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
i would imagine there is nothing to tell.
krister is more than qualified and had all the right equipment...

if it were me, i would remove the board and "reflow" /rework the board in an oven.
this is common practice for laptop repair (several years ago, everyone was investing in these ovens because there were MILLIONS of bad laptops with nvidia chipsets

i have not reread the entire thread, krister may have tried the reflow approach

i assume a replacement system board is prohibitively expensive. sometimes you can't beat an imaginative cheat, such as placing a small heater in position to keep the board at the temperature it prefers.

as these printers go from off or idle to printing state, components heat up and the board flexes, causing intermittent problems. they can be very difficult to troubleshoot & the solution may be different, every time.
 
N

netsol

Active Member
Krister Koppari said:
well, the last thing I tried before I replaced the Realtek chip was a reflow of the entire mainboard.
Did not make any difference either.
There has been a problem with temperature on this machine for a long time.
The company that had the machine before my friend had a heatfan blowing warm air from underneath all the time.
They had around 35-45 Celius inside the black metal box where the boards are.
The people that do this kind of stuff does not understand what heat does to electronics and the components.

So my friend bought it "broken" and did not have so much problem with it last summer.
But last autumn and really this winter the problem started to escalate!

Just before we did the reflow and replaced the realtek chip the machine would print anywhere from 1 inch to 5 inch and stopped with message "now processing" on the display on the machine and "no connection" in versaworks.

Very similar to others that I have read that have had this issue.
They have replaced the mainboard and the problem is gone.
Replacing the mainboard for $2000 + custom fee and VAT is not an option for us right now.

The thing that made me thinkt that it really was the realtek chip was that when we made the chip a bit cooler with freeze spray (around 15 celsius) the machine stopped working and when I made the chip warmer again (about 35-40 Celius) it started to work again. (I use a FLiR cam to check the temp on the chip)

The difference with the old chip and the new chip is that the leds where lit and flashed even thou the machine stopped working.
I think thou that we could see a difference on the activity led that it flashed far less when the machine stopped working.....

There is one thing that I came to think about yesterday, capacitors! very well known problem with aging electronics, especially since the previous owner liked to keep the machine very warm.
So I will check every capacitor tomorrow, may one of them died when I replaced the realtek chip.

I´ll will get back tomorrow when I know more.
Click to expand...
krister had used the "workaround " for quite a while
sometimes there is no better solution than a good cheat...
 
Ignis

Ignis

New Member
I understand. I use this workaround for almost three years now and its getting worse every year, it wont more heat :)
OK, does anyone have for sale motherboard and servo board for this machine. Thanks
 
N

netsol

Active Member
this is becoming a common problem.
i will locate a service manual.
i am just curious if any of the unused "headers" on the board are an unused usb interface
(no promises). if there is a usb interface, that was unused, we might be able to "workaround" with a usb printserver, (or even a parallel, like my old fj52 or cj400 had
 
J

jr!

New Member
netsol said:
i am just curious if any of the unused "headers" on the board are an unused usb interface
(no promises). if there is a usb interface, that was unused, we might be able to "workaround" with a usb printserver, (or even a parallel, like my old fj52 or cj400 had
Click to expand...
if u have any ideas to complete these unused headers let me know.
It is possible by the firmeware? Why Roland design printers with only 1 connection ...
regards jr
 
I

Itsacustomised

New Member
jr! said:
if u have any ideas to complete these unused headers let me know.
It is possible by the firmeware? Why Roland design printers with only 1 connection ...
regards jr
Click to expand...
I have this same problem for the last 4 years on my Roland vp540. I came across a thread somewhere 3 years ago that said there was a bug in the fan plug and to remove the fan/unplug it from main board. Which I did. Problem was solved. For a short while. It still disconnects in the morning until it’s warmed up a bit but nowhere near how it used to. I’ll attach some pics of what I did. The green circle is where the fan is. The red circle is the fan plug that you need to disconnect.
42072773-E5F9-4A24-A304-577A91871B6A.jpeg
B4424DC5-8CF3-4F2E-8D95-10CA87751784.jpeg
 
D

damonCA21

New Member
It's not actually a problem with the fan, its with the board. The fan is there to cool down the boards in the back of the printer. All you are doing is heating the boards up ( which is why it works when the printer warms up ) by not having the fan on.

It 'may' work for some people, but the fan is there for a reason. You are better off just replacing the faulty board rather than risk damaging the others by having them overheat
 
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