Jump to content

633 "keyboard disease" again


Philip Perkins

Recommended Posts

After a long period of working well, my 633 has "keyboard disease" again.   A USB keybd will work when the machine is first booted up for the day (after being off for several hours), but shortly after becomes unresponsive to the keybd.  I can make this happen by unplugging and replugging the keybd from the 633 USB socket, this causes the keyboard interface to fail every time.  After the keyboard has stopped working there seems to be no way to bring it back: rebooting the 633, repatching the keybd etc no avail.  I have tried various USB keyboards and USB adapters--all of them behave exactly the same, as above.  What is going on?   How can it work at first and then stop?   The rest of the 633 seems to be fine.   I found an old post recommending shutting the machine down and hitting the MENU button until the screen flashes, ie disable Quickboot, which does bring the keybd back after a reboot.  But now my TC has been blown to Mars.  This is on 633 firm 4.51.  Is this a hardware problem?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 I have used the menu reset a million times, usually at times when I did not want the machine to keep the TC on during the machine being stopped..why run the internal batteries for this..?  But if on a show, you'll of course need to re jam the slate and box if necessary..but...It has always come back to time of day TC.. only thing being blown is the sync to the other TC items..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The prob is that the keyboard will not keep working, even if the machine is on and idling and not being touched.  Resetting all the TC stuff every time I need to use the keyboard won't fly.  I was wondering if anyone who has had this issue on any 6xx machine sent their recorder in and had a fix done by SD, and what was it?   When I had a 664 a few years back this would happen, but a reboot wold return the keybd (with correct TC).  The only way to get the keybd back on this 633 is the hard reset, with the loss of TC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I spent some more shop-time with this issue.  I did re-up (the same) firmware, no change.  After some thought I realized that if I boot with the keybd connected and leave it alone it generally keeps working (but not always).  What I absolutely can not do is unplug the keyboard and then repatch it.  Getting it working again after doing that requires a hard-reset (with TC setting nuked).  This problem has come up when I needed to pull a card from the 633 because a client wanted some interview etc audio uploaded right away, while we recorded the next subject.  If I turned the machine off, unplugged the keybd (so I could get the "card door" open) pulled the card and then reversed this process, when I reboot the 633 the keyboard is now dead.   On to a hard reset, and TC rejam.  So, yes, I could roll with the "card door" open, so I could pull cards w/o unplugging the keyboard, or I could roll the 633 with an external TC generator jammed to my slate and camera boxes, so its loss of TC wasn't an issue.  But I think this ought to work--a manifestly "bag" type recorder should be able to have its keybd come and go as needed, since a "bag wearing" recordist is unlikely to want the keyboard connected all the time.   Yes, I understand that Wingman does some of the same stuff, but I hate typing on my phone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm cool with the card door, but what I really want is to be able to use a keyboard the way I did in the 7xx days.  IE I could be working solo, wearing the machine w/o the keyboard, but occasionally walking over to my cart, hooking up the keyboard and entering some notes and making corrections, then unplugging to go back to recording, all without rebooting etc the machine.  This all is not possible with my 633, anyhow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if the door could be modified, like the hole for the keyboard USB lengthened into a slot, that would allow the door to open around it?  I'd prefer to keep the door, for dirt+dust and also since the SD card is spring loaded, vs a doco scrum etc...    Like an after-market door replacement?  3-D printers--attention!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Philip Perkins said:

I wonder if the door could be modified, like the hole for the keyboard USB lengthened into a slot, that would allow the door to open around it?  I'd prefer to keep the door, for dirt+dust and also since the SD card is spring loaded, vs a doco scrum etc...    Like an after-market door replacement?  3-D printers--attention!

I'd be happy to make you one, I just need you to send me a 633 :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Philip Perkins said:

I wonder if SD would sell me that part, and you could start from that?

 

Just now, al mcguire said:

Philip, life is too short,

Try Wingman.

 

Neither of these gets me closer to having a 633! In all seriousness, this would be pretty difficult to print. My guess is that there's pins that go into the top and bottom plates to form the hinge- that wouldn't be very sturdy if printed. Finding a metal pin the right size and fitting it into the printed door would be… difficult. You'd also have to figure out what I assume is the magnetic latch.

 

Honestly, if you can buy the door as a spare part I'd Dremel out the material between the USB port and the "ridge" in the door (or cut from the port all the way back) and call it good. Then have the original to swap back in if you need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I broke my 688 door for my cart recorder and after taking it off I feel free, especially since I never closed it anyway due to all the problems with disconnecting/reconnecting. I have reached out to SD about a replacement and will hear back hopefully soon. I’ll let you know how much they are in the event you choose to mod one. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, ryanpeds said:

I broke my 688 door for my cart recorder and after taking it off I feel free, especially since I never closed it anyway due to all the problems with disconnecting/reconnecting. I have reached out to SD about a replacement and will hear back hopefully soon. I’ll let you know how much they are in the event you choose to mod one. 

Still got the broken one?

 

Hook @Allen Rowand up!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I notice that it looks like the Wingman dongle+adapter would have to come out for the 633 card door to open.  Given my experience with unplugging and replugging keyboards in order to get at cards, and having the keyboard not work after the repatch unless I do a hard reset, does Wingman come right back up after that sequence of shut-down, unplug, replug and reboot?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...