John Bowen Synth Design

Though I have too little time to play my Solaris, I at least try to keep its OS up to date. For some reason, today's attempt to install the new OS failed, and now my Solaris is like "No CF-Card found". I tried to delete dot files automatically created by macOS (like ".DS_Store"), but to no avail. I reformatted the card using a Windows machine and reinstalled the "vanilla" OS 2.0 files, but to no avail. The card works on Windows and Mac, but the Solaris obviously fails to recognize it.

Does someone have an idea of circumstances that can cause such a behaviour? Any input is much appreciated.

Thanks a lot,

ce

This can happen if the Solaris doesn’t recognize the format of the card. When you reformatted the card, what format did you use?

That was FAT32 AFAIR.

Some further analysis:

• I had a look into the card slot so as to check whether some pins are bent. That does not seem to be the case.

• In some drawer I found the original card that got shipped with the Solaris. The Solaris does not recognize it.

• I found some other 512MB card and formatted it with the "official" SD Card Formatter app. The Solaris does not recognize it.

In the hope that helps, what happened IIRC was:

• I ran the Solaris with a 16GB card for approximately 10 years, but admittedly didn't use it for several months.

• I removed the card, copied solarisos_v2.2.0.raw as solarisos.raw to the OS folder, and set doFlash.txt to "1".

• I unmounted and inserted the card to the Solaris and did power on.

• Expected behaviour: The Solaris updates its OS.

• Actual behaviour: The Solaris IMO did not update the OS, but complains "No CF-Card found".

Is there some menu where I can check which OS version currently is running on the Synth, so as to verify whether it did the update or not?

OK got it, OS version is still 2.1.0, so the Solaris did not perform the update.

Let’s ask minorguy (Jim)....

Hi christeck, just a couple of questions.

- You haven't used the Solaris in a while. Was it reading the CF-Card OK before you tried to do the update? Meaning the last couple days?
- After copying the solarisos.raw file, editing the doflash.txt file and turning on the Solaris, did it even attempt to do the update? Or was this the point when it didn't recognize the CF-card? Did it appear to progress through the update process?

The thing I would say to try first is to get back to previous version such as 2.1.0 in case the internal flash might have been partially corrupted by a failed update. To do that you would need to boot into the bootloader by turning on the Solaris and holding the Enter key. (It might take a couple of tries.) Although the regular OS program is not recognizing the CF-card the bootloader program might. Make sure that you've first copied the previous solarisos_v2.1.raw file to solarisos.raw and put it in the OS folder.

You also mentioned that you formatted with the "official" SD card formatter app. I assume you meant CF-card. I don't know what "official" means but I would say to just format it as FAT32 with the normal Windows methods like from within Explorer. Maybe that's what you meant.
It doesn't hurt to have the extra Mac files on there.

The sad truth is that I cannot answer your two questions for sure.

- For the first one, I haven't used the Solaris in the last couple of days, it's surely been months ago.
- For the 2nd one, I didn't monitor the screen so I can't tell . What I can tell is that I was surprised how fast the Solaris was up and running. Usually an update on other synths requires some time, while the progress is indicated.

So what I do right now:

- Reformat a 512MB CF-Card as FAT32 using Windows explorer.
- Copy all card content from a backup on my Mac to the CF.
- Copy solarisos.raw v2.1 to the OS folder and set doFlash.txt to 1.
- Unmount CF and insert it into the Solaris.
- Switch on the Solaris, leave Enter button alone.

Result:

- The Solaris boots until the Waldorf screen is being displayed.
- It appears to be stuck, the Waldorf screen is on display for at least two minutes now.
- Eventually it was up and running, but did not load any preset. The error message was like »Bank 0 is empty« or so.

Next:

- Reboot the Solaris.

Result:

- The Waldorf screen one again stays on display for at least one minute.
- Attempt to select a program tells me »No bank 0«.

Next:

- Shut down the Solaris.
- Remove card.
- Boot Solaris.

Result:

- The Solaris boots quite quickly, no Waldorf screen rest.
- »No CF-Card found«, obviously correct, since none is inserted.

Next:

- Shut down the Solaris.
- Insert card.
- Switch it on.
- Press enter.
- Pressing 1 from the boot menu.

Result:

- The machine appearently doesn't do anything. It seems to hang, since pressing 3 (Normal start) and 2 (Calibration) do nothing either.

Next:

- Switch Solaris off and on, leave card inserted.

Result:

- Waldorf Screen stays on display for ages.

Next:

- Switch Solaris off
- Remove card
- Switch it on

Result:

- Oooops. Hangs with white main display.

Next:

- Switch Solaris off
- Switch it on

Result:

- Normal boot (CF-Card still not inserted)

Next:

- Switch Solaris off
- Insert original CF-Card that was shipped with the Solaris some 10 years ago.
- Switch it on.

Result:

- Waldorf screen being displayed endlessly.

Next:

- Switch Solaris off
- Leave original CF-Card inserted.
- Switch it on.

Result:

- Waldorf screen being displayed endlessly.

Next:

- Switch Solaris off
- Remove card
- Switch it on

Result:

- Normal startup.
- Solaris complains »No CF-Card found«

So my verdict was like:

- The issue is not caused by the cards themselves, since I used three different cards and even reformatted two of them. The Solaris has problems reading either of them.
- The issue is not caused by card contents, e.g. damaged files, since even the original Solaris card does not work.
- The issue is either caused by a hardware malfunction, or the Solaris Firmware/OS was damaged by my attempt to update to OS 2.2. In the latter case, maybe the file did not download properly or some bits flipped.


BTW: I'm extremely grateful for the OS updates and the support I receive. My issue is not time critical and can wait so we all can enjoy the Xmas break.


Thanks a lot.

When you boot up the Solaris without any CF card, does it play normally? Just wanting to make sure the main board is not bricked.

JB

That seems to be the case. I can tweak the initial program, change square to sawtooth, open and close the filter, and edit envelope values. Everything seems to behave as expected.

ce

OK, eventually I should work on getting the issue ironed out. So, given on the conversation above, are there any hints what I could try next?

Enjoy your sunday eve,

ce

Well....I would have to say it might be an issue with the card connector on the board, since we’ve pretty much checked everything else. That’s a soldering issue - to replace the connector. Not sure if that’s it, but I am suspecting it now. (Another thing we could do is to have you send/give one of your CF cards to another Solaris owner nearby, just to verify my idea. You could send a card to me, or we could locate an owner closer to you.