Microvision Track/Record and current cue number

Josh,

I have heard of this on very rare occasions.  A couple of questions for you...  Are you running v1.33 software?  It was the last version available for the console.  Also, are you using DD diskettes?  I know these are impossible to find but I have seen MV console act odd or even act as though they are running macros because of reading from a HD diskette.  If you can't find DD disks, make sure the disk is formatted on the console before recording shows to it.

There could also be a hardware issus but I think this would be the more unusual case.  Let me know about the above.

Thanks!

David

Josh,

I have heard of this on very rare occasions.  A couple of questions for you...  Are you running v1.33 software?  It was the last version available for the console.  Also, are you using DD diskettes?  I know these are impossible to find but I have seen MV console act odd or even act as though they are running macros because of reading from a HD diskette.  If you can't find DD disks, make sure the disk is formatted on the console before recording shows to it.

There could also be a hardware issus but I think this would be the more unusual case.  Let me know about the above.

Thanks!

David

David,

I believe the software is 1.2, so that may very well explain the bug.  I am using genuine DD diskettes, though it's interesting to know that HD disks can cause issues.

Thanks,

Josh 

Josh,

It's hard to tell from the release notes in '91 if this was a bug that was fixed or not.  I would recommend contacting Technical Services at some point to send it in for a free upgrade.  They can also check out all the other functions, give it a good cleaning and let you know if it needs any other work.  They're great consoles and I even used one last summer to do a show.

Thanks!

 David

Here's a little trick I found if you have a Windows 2000 or 98 machine laying around... Go to Start, then run, then type cmd

Type "format a:/n:9/t:80"

This will format an HD disk to DD. I have so many dumb HD disks laying around!

This wont work on XP or later.

Brian,

Yes, this does work to reformat but be careful as ETC consoles this old do not work at a DOS level on disk access.  Even if you format to another level on a PC you MUST format on the console.  There is also a format function on ETCEdit but we always recommended performing it on a console because even though the program could do its best to access the disk at a low level, the console worked more consistently.

David 

Although I haven't used a Microvision, I want to support David's observation about DD diskettes.  I always buy a box when I see them - but I haven't bought any in a few years.  Reformatting an HD diskette can be part of the problem.  If the head gap varies, or the head alignment varies between the formatting drive and the Microvision, even formatting the diskette again on the light board can fail.   It's as if you had the front wheel of your car exactly on one of the yellow lines in the middle of the highway, but the rear wheel happened to be overlapping the empty space between the two lines.  That rear wheel will touch the other yellow line, even if it was a thinner track from the higher-density formatting.

That is a big reason why the problem can be intermittent.  But it's not "mysterious", if you see what I mean.  You can't even know in advance whether the drive you happen to be using is really an HD drive being run in DD mode either!  If the board drive is still an original DD, the head gap might be much wider than the formatting drive.

I know that this is months too late, but having programmed many, many shows on  a Microvision FX, I can assure you that this is a very common error, even in software version 1.33.  What seems to trigger it is going from "Stage" to "Blind" and then back to "Stage," at which point the prompt in the upper right corner will read one cue ahead of the cue actually onstage. 

BA