DI Computer Freezing

[djhs@optonline.net]

Any help for the DI computer freezing?

 

[Emilio Lazcano]

Is the inside computer? do you have a Plus or Classic press?

 

[mrheidelberg]

What operation is the machine doing when it freezes.

 

[djhs@optonline.net]

Ink fountain key setting

 

[djhs@optonline.net]

Classic

 

[mrheidelberg]

It is probably one of the ink key motors that is not responding to it's move to position message. Alter the keys manually one unit at a time to narrow the suspect key down, it could be jamming due to dried ink or the motor could want replacing.

Regards.

 

[Prepressing]

On RIP Computer or DI Computer

Is the computer that is on the DI press itself freezing or your RIP computer freezing? Is the RIP computer running on a Dec Alpha or an Intel Computer? What operating system is the RIP computer? If you are using an Intel Computer, what operating system are you using and what version RIP are you using? Sorry for the questions but it is important to try and understand more about the problem.

 

[whatayanuts]

refreezing

go into gui type scan disk and scan your drive. then type in defragment
and do that. also dont let your saved ink profiles build up to much. copy them on to disk. remember you have only a 75 mhz processor in it. hope this helps
it worked for me. now i do it once a month:

 

[Emilio Lazcano]

So it is the inside computer the one that is freezing or the RIP?

 

[kev c]

Any help for the DI computer freezing?

Yep once a month delete all files you have that you dont need and it tends to run faster and better

 

[Paul Cavanaugh]

mrheidelberg is correct.

Here is a breakdown on what happens when an ink key command is sent:

Lets assume the ink key is currently at 30% and you want it to open to 50%.

1. The signal is sent to the ink key to open.
2. The motor on the ink key opens to 60%.
3. Next it closes down to 40%
4. Then it moves slowly towards 50% until it gets there and stops.

The reason it does this is to take out the back lash in the linkage from the motor to the ink key so you get an exact setting. During this whole proccess the PC is polling the ink key potentiometers to see where they are at. When the PC sees the ink key is at 50% the screen frees up and allows you to continue working.

When it does not see the potentiometer signal after a fixed amount of time in the software it locks up due to the constant polling.

The way to find the offending motor is relatively easy. Move all of the ink keys on one unit at a time until one of the units locks up thhe PC. Next start moving each key one at a time on this until it happens again. Now you found your culprit. Order a new potentiometer and install it. (There is a procedure for this and I recommend you have a qualified technician perform this.)

Until you get the part you can unplug the motor and potentiometer on the bad ink key from the PCB. There is a knob under the ink fountain which will allow you to manually adjust the ink on this key until your parts arrive and you can have some one install them.

Also keeping the ink files on your computer to a minimum can help with this as it frees virtual memory. Once you get over 75 ink profiles stored things start to get flaky.