ASTRO Saber III - DEAD ?!?!!

[kgb]

Hi folks,

A bit puzzled, frustrated, etc. here....

Bought an AS 3 earlier this year. Everything working good, realigned it and got ASTRO TX working (alignment was way off), etc. Many months of good operation, no problems.

Then I decided to buy a DES-XL module seen on eBay. I'd prefer a dual algorithm DES-OFB/DES-XL module, but that's irrelevant now. After waiting 1 week+, the module arrived today. I then disassembled the radio to install it.

Loosened the spanners at the bottom, pulled the radio up and out of its case. Then I removed the display/keypad board, taking out the two plugs connected by flexcircuit as well as the sidebutton plug/flexcircuit. After this, I removed the 4 screws holding the VOCON into the radio between its two covers & took this sub-assembly out of the radio. Upon doing so, I took the encryption module & seated it in place. Everything seemed fine. I reseated the VOCON sub-assembly into the radio body, plugged everything back in and reseated the display/keypad board ontop of everything. Then slid it back into the case & tightened the spanners. Slid the battery back on and turned the switch - NOTHING.

I broke the radio down again and removed the module, put everything back and tried again - NOTHING.

What on earth have I done ? Was this a defective module that's now blown my radio ???

There must be some detail I'm missing (having not worked inside one of these before) that wasn't obvious. Until now, this has been a very happy radio. I make every effort to take the best care of it after spending $700 for it.

Please tell me there's a simple explanation for this?

W-T-F

Model: H04RDH9PW7AN
HOST: R07.11.00
DSP: N08.02.06
Flash: 591008-4F1E00-9
Serial#? Yes, the radio has one

[batdude]

i *HAVE* seen "killer" secure modules before... just not in the astro line - this was in a MTS chassis.


#1 question that everyone is going to ask you ... did you do this at an ESD bench? Astro parts are readily capable of blowing up due to static.

#2 question everyone is going to ask is that you VERY carefully inspect the inner flex INSIDE the HOUSING for a tear in it... that flex routes power to the radio.... tear in flex = no power


good luck - i'd offer that it's VERY UNLIKELY that your new secure module nuked your radio




doug

[MRFLASHPORT]

kgb,

Sounds as though something may have been over looked, I would take the radio apart and meticulously start over again.

With the flashcode you have posted, Its definitely a parts built Radio.

[alex]

kgb,

Sounds as though something may have been over looked, I would take the radio apart and meticulously start over again.

With the flashcode you have posted, Its definitely a parts built Radio.

That flash doesn't mean that the radio was parts built. If you look at the origional post, he actually says that it has a serial number.

Flashcode doesn't determine if the radio is parts built or not, I would put more weight on the serial number.

-Alex

[Pj]

I did the same thing with mine after replacing a secure module. One of the flex connectors wasn't all the way in (small PITA).

Open it all up, seat everything back in, reassemble and has been great for the past 5 years.

[dvpman]

I had the same problem and found that 10 pin (i think) male to male that connects the vocoder to the rf board was not seated the right way and once I corrected it everything was fine.

Mike

[d119]

I had the same problem and found that 10 pin (i think) male to male that connects the vocoder to the rf board was not seated the right way and once I corrected it everything was fine.

Mike

My thoughts exactly, Mike. When I've had to open up the two that I own, I've found it's very easy to misalign that connection, and also for that connection to appear to be seated, but in reality it isn't.

KGB is a friend of mine, so I passed the advice on via telephone. We'll see what the results are.

[kgb]

Interesting..

I didn't do this at an ESD bench. I did the best with what I have here (haven't had trouble before). The case appears to be A-OK. I examined the flexcircuit carefully & it has good continuity. Power is getting to the rear of the radio. I highly doubt that I ESD'd anything on the board. Anything's possible, though.

The serial # is 365TTT0987. Sound legit? I don't really have an allergy to 'parts-built' radios. Every radio basically is, but some are done at the factory while others are not. Having a legit serial or not is the real item of importance. This radio is tagless, but the case was new when the previous owner bought his. The datecodes inside show 2001 & 2002. It's basically a new radio as a whole. Anyway, moving on from tangent #1..

In further discussion with a friend & my own thinking, the connector between the VOCON & RF boards seems to be the likely failure point. He said he had great difficulty getting this connector seated properly. (5 whole minutes futzing around just to seat it properly!)

One general comment I have.. I don't like the internal construction of the radio related to the VOCON. It's a "cheezy" arrangement. Oh well.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I took the night to sleep on it. With a clear head & this advice, hopefully I can make her play again. This was a big investment for me & I handle it with kid gloves rather than "just tearing in". Anyway, will report if fixed...

[RESCUE161]

You should not have had to fuss with or force anything back together. That's where I would start looking.

[MRFLASHPORT]

Alex,

Any Astro radio that has this Flash is Bogus! Motorola never made this Flashcode.( 591008-4F1E00-9 )

It was a made up by a very clever individual. I have never seen any Factory radio come out of Motorola flashed with that code.

Not trying to argue with anyone, Just stating the true facts.

Most of all the parts built radios that I have looked at, have that flashcode.

KGB, For the heck of it post your radio's serial number.

[alex]

MrFlashPort -

You've missed my point.

There's a difference between factory built, and parts built. That Flash does NOT nesecitate a parts built radio. There are plenty of dumb idiots who took their perfectly good M built radio with legit tags, and blown that flash in to the radio. This doesn't automatically mean that it was assembeled in Nick's basement.

And he did post his serial number: 365TTT0987 (see above post.)

-Alex

[kgb]

Well folks, still no success. I've tried re-seating the VOCON/RF board connection a few times with no change.

The radio still acts as though it's not even getting power. The light doesn't give the slightest blink when I click the knob on. The case is fine - checked that as one of the first things. I'm wondering if I blew a fuse somewhere inside...

Now I'm working on obtaining a service manual for this thing. Before attempting anything more, I'd like a much clearer idea of what I'm dealing with.

If anyone has any further ideas, please advise.


(DAMN!)

-KGB

[bellersley]

Dumb idiots who want to save $$$ by turning their (generally) useless conventional only, analog only, Astro radio into a full blown IMBE radio with all the fix'ins that is...

Maybe if there was a F/C out there available that included compatible features that were useful, people would load that flash into their radio instead of the super-whore one, which, btw, has nothing wrong with it as long as you don't try something cute like software encryption.

There are plenty of dumb idiots who took their perfectly good M built radio with legit tags, and blown that flash in to the radio.

[kb3jkp]

HEY! whats wrong with modat on 800?? hehe

[RESCUE161]

Dumb idiots who want to save $$$ by turning their (generally) useless conventional only, analog only, Astro radio into a full blown IMBE radio with all the fix'ins that is...

Maybe if there was a F/C out there available that included compatible features that were useful, people would load that flash into their radio instead of the super-whore one, which, btw, has nothing wrong with it as long as you don't try something cute like software encryption.

There are plenty of dumb idiots who took their perfectly good M built radio with legit tags, and blown that flash in to the radio.

The thing is, you're not going to get IMBE out of an analog only Astro just by blowing an IMBE F/C into it. A firmware uplift is needed as well.