I usually leave my empeg in my car when I get home as I have an alarm and I park in the rear of my house so I have never had a problem doing that. Anyway, it got a little cold last night and the last time I left it in the car during the winter months my hdd froze and failed! When I got in my car this morning to go to work I noticed my display looked dim. Then I noticed the weird bright line going vertically on the far right side of the player. Is my display hosed? I am pretty savy when it comes to soldering and repairing electronics but does this sound like a mainboard problem or VFD problem? Any help would be much appreciated.

I know this has happened to others before Rob Schofield has repaired players where this has happened. A quick BBS search reveals two threads which talk about similar problems:

http://empegbbs.com/ubbthreads/showflat....true#Post272327

http://empegbbs.com/ubbthreads/showflat....true#Post282017

You'll most likely need to send it to Rob or Stu. Hit the "Repairs" link at the top of the page.

You'll likely need a new VFD or one of a couple display ICs. Like Tony said either of the two folks should be able to fix it for you as they stock all the needed parts.

Stu

"They".

Again I am pretty handy when it comes to working with electronics, I repair laptops, xbox's, computers etc and solder all the time so I could probably do it myself if I could lock the problem down. I have included a picture of what it looks like. Anyone have any extra vfds lying around? or a MkIIa mainboard? or an extra empeg w/out hdd's or sled etc? How much would it cost to send to one of "them" to fix? I would rather do it myseof to #1 learn how #2 save $$!! thanks guys.

<img src="http://www.tremorsrockabilly.com/images/empeg%20002%20(Small).jpg">
<img src="http://www.tremorsrockabilly.com/images/empeg%20003%20(Small).jpg">

Paul Grzelak on the bbs here organized a couple VFD group buys. I'd be surprised if he didn't have a few spares. I imagine the afforementioned folks can tell you where the test points on the board are to determine exactly what components are bad.

Oh...I feel like the biggest loser! where in the hell kind I find Paul? I know I see him on here all the time but when I am trying to find him I can't! any help in his direction would rock and any help on those test points would be fantastic...I have my multimeter ready! thanks guys....I am really happy this community is still going strong and supports each other....brings a tear to my eye!

I have emailed Paul....now the countdown begins! If anyone else has any suggestions about where and what to test as far as caps, resistors, chips etc...please let me know....thanks to all.

Greetings!

To be fair, I have been hibernating for a while, so I am not on the board very often lately.

I looked, but I do not have a spare VFD in my spare parts bin. I have to check to see if I have a personal spare left in storage, but that is not as likely.

Is there a lot of demand for VFDs these day? I am not sure it makes sense to try for another group buy or not.

Paul.

I have a spare that I wouldn't mind parting with. I just have to work out how much I paid for it first. Does anyone remember?

Greetings!

Last time around, I was selling them for $90 each... For Sale forum thread

Paul.

I just hate to pay that much when,sadly, I can pick up a 2nd hand empeg complete for just over 100-150. To think I paid 500 for mine not 3 years ago! and my buddy paid 1,100 just a year before that!! go figure.

Who would have thunk it? After problems with my vfd I decided just for shits and giggle to re-flash the firmware last night which of course did nothing but after I reinstalled hijack and was trying to upload some tunes the display flickered back to normal brightness for a few seconds then poof went back to normal!! what the hell?!? So what could be wrong with this thing? could it have been a software glitch? or a hardware demon posessed my player and atomic jesus exorcized it?

Good that it recovered, but unfortunately I'll bet the problem will return particularly after some trips in the car. i.e. the problem will be intermittent - it might come and go but eventually it will probably be permanent.

That said and if it stays that way - "if it aint broke don't fix it"... It won't do any harm to anything

How true! It came back after a day or two....why did you jinx me like that!? Got a spare vfd for sale? or Empeg for that matter?

Sorry about that Did you see PCA's (Patrick) post about some Mk1 VFDs?

No, I don't think so....I heard they are compatible with the MKIIa but I am not sure...teach me.