Expression Diagnostic Menu

I was awaiting someone from ETC to chime in....

To my knowledge, there is no built in access to any kind of diagnostics or to the firmware.

The console series (Expression/Insight/Express) did not have hard drives.  The OS booted from 3.5" floppy when installed and the OS then ran in bios. 

What exactly do you need to do, and can I assume trouble shoot a problem ?.

Steve B.

just picked up a console used and wanted to run whatever tests built in I could to ensure it's in good working condition. I'm surprised there isn't a function available to do this.  What's the "reserved" #12 in the setup then believe it's option's menu?  

There must be a way for it to run a system's check?  no? 

There are no 'built in' self-tests for the Expression line but generally speaking you should be able to use the console to see if everything is basically working. If it boots and you end up in the Stage screen then you are 90% there. Run though all the buttons and sliders to make sure they are actuating and then ensure you are outputting DMX. ETC Link and RFU testing would require a Link device and a RFU. Save a show to disk and then load a show from disk.

'Reserved' #12 in the Setup is not anything :-)

You can clear the unit back to all defaults (this will erase the show and patch) by doing a 789 Deep Clear. With the console turned off....hold down the 789 keys and then turn the console on (continue to hold down 789 until the unit is done booting

If upon System Reset, the following message appears: Record is locked out.  Press Clear to continue.

Cause Record Lockout is enabled in the System Settings menu in Setup.

To disable:
[Setup] [1] [Enter] [13] [Enter] [0] [Enter]

You might hear rumors of an Expression Diagnostics test but this is a software tool used by ETC and our Authorized Service Providers to test for specific failures on a unit that has a reported failure from an end-user.

Sincerely,

Mike

 Also,

If you are new to the Expression line or run into some odd questions, please also see the WIKI page for Expression: http://community.etcconnect.com/wikis/products/expression-insight-consoles.aspx

I'm always pushing the WIKI :-)

There is a long list at the bottom of the article but you can run a search of the complete ETC WIKI.

Thanks for the deep clear tip - no I'm not new to the console at all...   I've got four of them running in our facility right now.  Just wanted to do a more thourough test and run through than simply loading one of my existing shows and hoping everything works.

Now lets get back to that "reserved 12" item....   what is it for and what does it do.

thanks.

Reserved 12 goes nowhere and does nothing - it's a placeholder in case we needed to add something to the menu.

It turns out that we didn't need to.

how about a diagnostic function.. that would be convenient to add in there, wouldnt it?  Lock it out similar to the CEM module's login?

Console is long out of manufacture, so don't plan on it.

SB

so how about making the diagnostic tool downloadable for people to use since the console is too old, out of production, and no longer supported?  not an unreasonable request by any means.

 I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's unsupported.  ETC still supports L86 dimmer racks which they actually never made - they just acquired the company that made them before they came out with the sensor rack. 

Being that the console is out of production, I doubt that any more R&D dollars are going to be spent on getting a diagnostic tool out to the end users.  As Mike said before, there's really not that much to the console that you couldn't spend about 10 minutes and do a pretty full diagnostic yourself.

 I wouldn't go so far as to say that it's unsupported.  ETC still supports L86 dimmer racks which they actually never made - they just acquired the company that made them before they came out with the sensor rack. 

Being that the console is out of production, I doubt that any more R&D dollars are going to be spent on getting a diagnostic tool out to the end users.  As Mike said before, there's really not that much to the console that you couldn't spend about 10 minutes and do a pretty full diagnostic yourself.

who said they needed to create a diagnostic tool?  It already exists... simply load it in the download section of the website so console owners can make make their own floppy disks with the tool on it and check their units for correct operation...

again... not much to ask.