Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

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dustybowldays
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Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Wed May 16, 2018 8:25 pm

MX2424 does not read the hard drive [ Seagate ] in the front bay. Only SCSI ID 0 is displayed. The previous owner supplied me with 5 mounted
hard drives which i assume he was using etc. Been searching internet for "Option Installation" which was mentioned in the manuel but not to be
found in binder of updates. Does the expansion bay become an addition to the internal hard drive and not a SCSI for backing up ? or Is the expansion
bay for backing up ?

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markjazzbassist
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by markjazzbassist » Thu May 17, 2018 6:45 am

do you have a manual? have you contacted tascam? they have a technical support line that assists.

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sat May 19, 2018 9:39 am

It needs to be formatted by the MX2424.

I hope you have the manual. If not, I can dig mine up later and walk you through the formatting process.

The MX 2424 has several types of disc formatting. I forget which one is best, I use the one which Macs can also read. NTFS. But you may not need to do that.

Are the other drives being read properly? What is the difference between those drives and the one that is not seen?

Does that drive spin up when powered up? Can you get an external enclosure, independent of the MX2424, to test those drives with?

Cheers
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dustybowldays
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Tue May 22, 2018 5:54 pm

with a hard drive mounted in the front panel expansion bay, i have run a low disk format and then a drive initializing. The SCSI I D # was 0 . I recieved
a "non- existent device" message when used SCSI I D # 1. Am i correct in thinking that SCSI I D # 0 includes both the internal drive and the hard drive
i inserted in the expansion bay [ the recorded disk free space was almost 107 hours ].
The procedure for assigning I D #'s to hard drives in the front bay requires opening up the MX2424 and messing with connectors etc. [ Seagate hard drives
came from the person i bought the MX2424 from]. Over my head stuff at present.
Any suggestions for an external drive so i can use the back panel but not get involved with a computer as of yet ?
i was able to record a couple of test tracks, play back, etc which was lost formatting and initializing of course.
thank you nick s for responding ....... appreciated !!

dustybowldays
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Wed May 23, 2018 7:58 pm

with a hard drive mounted in the front panel expansion bay, i have run a low disk format and then a drive initializing. The SCSI I D # was 0 . I recieved
a "non- existent device" message when used SCSI I D # 1. Am i correct in thinking that SCSI I D # 0 includes both the internal drive and the hard drive
i inserted in the expansion bay [ the recorded disk free space was almost 107 hours ].
The procedure for assigning I D #'s to hard drives in the front bay requires opening up the MX2424 and messing with connectors etc. [ Seagate hard drives
came from the person i bought the MX2424 from]. Over my head stuff at present.
Any suggestions for an external drive so i can use the back panel but not get involved with a computer as of yet ?
i was able to record a couple of test tracks, play back, etc which was lost formatting and initializing of course.
thank you nick s for responding ....... appreciated !!

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by Nick Sevilla » Thu May 24, 2018 9:21 pm

Hi Dusty,
Glad to see you made some progress.

On my MX2424, the front a drive caddy enclosure, that you can insert and remove drives with while leaving the MX turned on.

This meant all drives would get their own portable enclosure, which then gets "locked" to the MX2424 enclosure.
This way you do not have to open the MX at all, and you can also have all the external drives be the same SCSI ID (only if you'll never
ever connect them together on a computer, that is.)

You can still get SCSI caddies and accessories online in different places, you'll just have to look around. They are super cheap now.

Mine are "Data Express" brand, with a tiny blue rhino as the logo.

Remember, you are looking for SCSI 1 type. Not for any other later ones, which went up to 4 or thereabouts.
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dustybowldays
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Sun May 27, 2018 7:49 pm

upon further investigation ......... first some info ........ the caddy is a Data Express - DE100 ATA 33 drive enclosure ....... it has selector leads
[ ID Select Cable ] in-between the I/O cable and the Power cable. Facing the back of the hard drive the 6 sets of connecting pins are as follows:
from left to right - no connection on pin #6 then pins #5 -#1 are connected and colored coded. I didn't see this configuration on any pin outs
i downloaded.
But !! ....... i don't believe the front bay drive is getting power ! On the drive enclosure above the lock key on the right side is a small square
display which doesn't light up and i don't hear any loading noise from the drive enclosure ?
If i try a [ 711 ] disk low format the Mx2424 will say " non existent device ...... Id # 1 up through #6
[ 790 ] SCSI ID's mounted will say " none "
as for the [ 703 ] Rec Disk Free will say approx 107 hours which i assume is the internal drive. The front bay was empty for this.
Basically when i "mount" the drives only the internal hard drive gets mounted [ it seems to me ]
I was given 4 hard drives in Data Express enclosures which the prior owner was using etc. Is there any MX2424 command chain that might shut
the power off to the front bay ? Could it be a "master/slave" or "terminator" thing ? [ terms i have read, but not at all familiar with how they
translate into practical use ] ......
thanks nick s for your help !!

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon May 28, 2018 1:43 pm

ALL of the mountable drives have to be set to "slave", with no exceptions.
The only drive allowed to be the Master is the internal one.

Check the jumpers on all the drives.

I think the enclosure might be the problem.

I would go and buy a new data express or similar enclosure, to confirm that either that is the issue or not.

And by enclosure, I do not mean the ones that hold the drives themselves, but the surrounding chasis, which is most likely failing or
is already non workable.

Cheers and good luck.
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dustybowldays
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Mon May 28, 2018 7:34 pm

thanks nick ........ wow !! ...... this is getting way over my head ...... but i will plod on ...... thump thump.

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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Tue May 29, 2018 7:56 pm

Not Good. I open up the unit and noticed that the power supply chord [ 4 pins ] for the front bay enclosure was not plugged in. [ this is directly behind and next to the power connection for the internal drive. I proceeded to plug in the front bay to the board, closed up the unit, and then
inserted the front bay hard drive caddy and key locked. I turned on the MX2424 and the front bay display lit up and read 8. . The digital display
on the MX2424 read " no new volumes mounted " . Then is smelled and eventually saw smoke coming out of the fan !! i turned off and unplugged
the MX2424.
Eventually i reopened the unit , unplugged the power to the front bay enclosure , and removed the front bay hard drive caddy.
I turned the MX2424 again, and it immediately started to smoke !! obviously i did something nasty !!?
Note: the internal hard drive is mounted above the front bay enclosure ....... and by the hours available etc it is larger then the standard internal
drive the comes with the Mx2424. I wonder why the front bay was not powered and i was given 4 other hard drives in caddy for the front bay ?
Lost and hoping i didn't damage the machine. ug !

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by Nick Sevilla » Wed May 30, 2018 2:11 pm

Ouch!!

I opened my MX2424 to take a look at what is there, to see what differences there are between yours and mine.

I only see ONE drive, which is the drive caddy itself, with the one drive inside it.
No second drive on top of the caddy. I also only see ONE power cable to the caddy, and no more
for drives.

That second drive you have may be the issue, or not... the smoke is definitely a bad thing.
If that drive is taking too much power, or the power cord is bad, or any number of things...

If you are brave enough, try disconnecting that internal drive, and only run the caddy.
BE CAREFUL. Maybe the caddy itself is shorted out? In that case you'll need a new caddy enclosure
for inside the MX, as I had suggested before.


On mine, the SCSI drive cable goes thusly:
From the motherboard, to the drive caddy, thru to the second connector,
thru to a third connector which is terminated with a SCSI terminator
labelled "LVD / SE ".

Which software revision is your MX2424? Mine was the last firmware they had...

Pictures from within my MX2424: (You'll have to copy paste these as Google drive is THE suck for inline image viewing, very retro.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HfqSBC ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bYoKpr ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cro1Rq ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sxskcJ ... sp=sharing
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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by Nick Sevilla » Wed May 30, 2018 2:14 pm

Also,

If you notice on the 4th picture, the further connector, which looks like it is nothing but
open plugs, has a silver wire attached to it, which goes to your fan.

That one HAS to be connected all the time. You would plug in another drive power cord on top
of this one, that is why it is open on the top.

Cheers

The wire going from the connector to the fan:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QX3JeB ... sp=sharing
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dustybowldays
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Wed May 30, 2018 9:00 pm

Damage done ..... top cover removed .... both four pin power supply cables from the board to the internal drive and the front bay are not connected. I can see burn damage to the four pin power supply connector on the board which goes to the internal drive , and major damage to the small square tan button to the right of the connector [ it is melted and not recognizable ]. The four pin power supply to the front bay has a little discoloring but, the tan square button looks fine. [this connector is right behind the internal connector ].
If i turn on the MX2424 it seems that the analog ribbon from the internal drive to the board starts to smoke.
Basically i have the top cover removed , and both power cables to the internal and front bay drive enclosure removed.
Visually i see no other damage to the board. When i turned the unit on it seemed the analog ribbon [ internal drive ] started to smoke.

the MX fan on the side of the unit was venting smoke when the top cover was in place.
i've dug a hole for myself for sure !?
nick, thanks for hanging in with me [ the "master of disaster" ]

dustybowldays
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by dustybowldays » Wed May 30, 2018 9:03 pm

i need to take a good look at your response etc .......

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Nick Sevilla
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Re: Tascam MX2424 front panel expansion bay

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sat Jun 02, 2018 5:46 pm

Well, from your response,
it looks like you will have to find a repair tech...

Depending on where you are located, this may need shipping.

Please, don't turn it on any more... unless you want to make it get damaged more.

It looks like you were sold a Mx with a defective or broken data express caddy.

I would turn it into a competent tech.

If yours end up not being able to be repaired, mine is for sale. It has been on this forum for like a year. Search on the "for sale" section here.

But first, try to find a tech. Hopefully, you did not do damage to the motherboard, and only to the power supply section / fan.

Cheers.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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