rajdude's Ampro 4200 setup and troubleshooting threads

Hello Everyone,
I recently acquired another PJ an Ampro 4200G
It is in good condition with minty tubes. Due to the good tubes I have high hopes for this PJ. This thread will follow the setup of that PJ from scratch.

I'm gonna need some help from fellow AVSers as new issues crop up,.. and with Ampro PJs reputation, I am sure there will be lot of issues!

Thanks for reading and responding!

-Rajiv

I have the manuals for 2000, 3000, and 4000 and 4600 and 3600. I can't find a service manual for 4200G. I hear there were no manuals but it is true?


Also, I already know these links, does anymore have more information on these PJs?

http://archive.avsforum.com/avs-vb/s...threadid=86432
http://dion.swamp.dk/ampro4200g.html
http://www.curtpalme.com/Ampro1500.htm

-Rajiv

Hello Everyone,
Friday night, I spent a good amount of time with this PJ. I fired it up and saw that it won't do anything; I mean it will not accept any commands from the remote. After tinkering with it for a full 2 hrs I finally realized that it maybe in the executive mode ! I totally forgot that Most PJs have a service man mode so as to set them up. Ampro starts up in the "executive mode" THAT is why no buttons are active at power up!! The manual did not tell me to get out of Exec mode first! Or maybe I did not read correctly, after all it was 2 AM in the morning!

I FINALLY learnt (after wasting a couple of hrs) that you have to put 909 CODE to get the pj respond.

Here is the first issue (already)

Issue #1
The projector's help menu and test patterns do not seem to be working properly. (or maybe I am not doing something right)

When I press the menu button, (9 times out of 10) the menu does not show up. Instead I get 2-3 words at the bottom right corner. It looks something like this

enu
OBJECT

Looks like the menu does not come up properly. It looks like there may be something wrong with the help menu/test pattern generator board.

Issue #2
Also the input image does not show up like 70% of times. Do you have to press a button to do it? I have selected the RGB input and selected channel 1.

All help is highly appreciated!
-Rajiv

Thanks for the tips Curt! I will check the voltage tonight.
Quick Qs
(1). The CPU board is the board on the extreme left, if viewing the pj from the backside (the one where the remote plugs in) right?

(2). Do I have to take out the CPU board to check the voltage of the battery?

(3). I have also got this error at least two times, mostly when I was re-starting the PJ again and again.

"ERROR 20 AT 4e
CHANNEL 77"

Any tips?

-Rajiv

Thanks Clarence, that helps. But if you already set the blanking shouldn't it be all set now?? Unless it is losing the memory (like Curt said).

Also, when you had this pj, was it stable? I mean whenever you pressed help, did the menu come up everytime, reliably?

I am also not getting the image (I am feeding) to show up everytime I switch on the PJ. The relays do not click and it seems the tubes do not turn on OR the PJ does not sync to the input (I can hear the loud high frequency noise whenever the picture is about to come on)

-Rajiv

Does "setting up different inputs" mean (say) you were playing your HTPC, but then later you hooked up your DVD player? Hence you had to setup the blanking again?

But again, I have seen the menu work properly at least 2-3 times. But I could not go all the way through (due to you know, take the dog out, have dinner, etc etc ). When I came back and re-started the PJ, the menu won't come up at all ! I'm like ...hey this thing was working properly 10 minutes ago!


Yes, and if I do a system status code (it is 30-CODE I guess) it says everything is fine. Then it just says RGB input, Channel but does not display anything.

Of course this happens intermittently. 10% of times it works properly.



It displays that message on the LCD. The screen is totally blank.

Thanks for scraping up the info

-RM

OK!!
I am in a good mood today because the Ampro put a reasonable picture yesterday night. Now I can see what new picture tubes on a CRT PJ can do.

Action #1 (battery voltage)
Curt, I checked the voltage of the Battery. It is kinda strange, but I am getting 0.36 volts across the terminals. After running the PJ for 2 hrs that voltage was still 0.38 V

Here is how I tested it.
The card was in the slot (I did not take it out) The PJ was turned off . (Even when the PJ was switched on, the voltage was the same). Please refer to the diagram below:-



Between the points
A and B it measures 0.36 volts
B to D measures 0 volts
C to D measures 0 volts
A to D measures 0 volts (not sure about this one, forgot)

Which points are the correct ones?
[added later] the points A and B are the correct ones. With reference from Curt's site
http://www.curtpalme.com/Ampro1500.htm

The Battery says 3.5 volts Lithium on it. Isn't it supposed to be a rechargeable battery? Doesn't look like that, since even when the PJ is powered up, the battery voltage is still the same.

Also the PJ seems to retain the memory even at this low voltage, why?
[added later] actually, it does not. I confirmed this later on

Action #2 (The menu issue)
I tried the blanking, Clarence was right. My top and left blanking was at the max settings.
BUT even after I set the blanking to minimum the menu won't come up. Then I saw a code for initialize test screens in the manual. THAT did the trick. After that I also set another code, that one is right below the initialize test screens code I guess it is to reset all help screens to the default parameters.


Action # 3 (convergence)
After that I proceeded to do a full convergence. This PJ's menu driven setup is very helpful. It is a very long and tedious process but I am getting the hang of it. I did not finish it last night as it was 1 AM by the time I did the RED to GREEN convergence. I will continue tonight.

Also, I notice that the internal test patterns are very noisy. I'll try feeding an external test pattern after I go through all the help screens.

[added later] external test patterns are pristine!I'll NEVER use the internal test patterns on this again. BTW, I am usign a HTPC to feed test patterns to the PJ. The philips test pattern generator is awesome. That lets you put out dots, which the Nokia TPG does not.

Thanks for all tips.
-Rajiv

Pete,
Actually, I find them pretty straighforward. All you need is a cheat-sheet. I think (sometimes) it gets work done faster than going through a set of menus like on my Sony.

I also wonder why some people talk about the dreaded "incorrect direction" error message. You merely have to use the STEP and the TEST to go forward and backward respectively through the menu system.

(I'd agree that having to press TEST to go "backward" is kinda stupid but once you memorise it the routine becomes second nature, like driving a car. )

Overall I like the guided setup system, if only the test patterns were accurate and sharp. OR maybe my PJ's test patterns are not good.

Other Ampro owners, are your test patterns sharp??

I will post screenshots tonight to show what I am talking about here.

-RM

Thanks for the tip, Nick
yesterday night I did not get that error even once (knock on wood ) but if it happens regularly I will look into the possibility of cleaning the contacts.

BTW, what does the I2C bus connectors look like and where are they located?

Thanks
Rajiv

Yes, tonight I will hook up the HTPC (lets say it is just a wanna-be HTPC) and use the Nokia test generator. Any tips on what the contrast setting should be while I am displaying the convergence patterns so as to prevent burn-in (for a reasonably long time)??


Yes, I will do that too. I read the Guy Kuo manual, I understand that the focus and magnetics are to be tweaked first; then comes convergence.

Thanks again

I have 2 questions for AVS member -- Dion^Swamp

Question 1
I see that you changed the belly fans of the 4200G with 120mm ones. I'd like to do that too. But how about the current draw? Does a bigger replacement fan cause any issues with any sensors? (I do not know if this PJ has sensors which detect if a fan has failed)


Question 2
Also do you really have to take everything out of the the chasis and disassmble it completely (like the pictures on your website) to enlarge the hole for the 120MM fans?

For more air-flow, did you consider adding fans where you made 4 holes (on the top of the case?)

I just fired it up and to my dismay all the convergence I did last night is gone!!

Is there some SAVE button somewhere? I cannot find any reference in the manual. I do see a CODE to "validate and protect..."

Is this the SAVE settings option?

-RM

Thanks tse,
I just ordered the battery from Allied Electronics.
https://www.alliedelec.com/Search/Pr...&DESC=LTC%2D7P

Around $15 + shipping. Strangely their website does not show the shipping costs. I even called them up, the lady told me that even she has no way to know the shipping costs!

Hmm, as the power supply already has issues with heat and possibly overloading, I may want to hook up the 12 volt fans to the existing 20 V wires. I will just use a 7812 on a tiny PCB OR maybe a simple power resistor will do too.

About taking it apart...
Well, I am REALLY worried about all those connections and me leaving one disconnected by accident and ruining the tubes or the electronics

Plus all the time involved in dismantling and putting it back CAREFULLY.

I will think of another way, but I have to do the glycol too...
Do you really have to take out the tubes for changing the glycol?

About changing the glycol
Yes, I do need to change to glycol. I found a doc with some pretty elaborate instructions. I doubt if all this needs to be done to just change to glycol. Please have a look at the attachment here and let me know how it compares with what you did to change to glycol.

(I am really concerned about all the cutting described in the doc)

I am assuming all we need to do is to open the screws and drain out the glycol and put it back it, right?
Why the Silicon caulk and all that cutting??

 

CRT fluid change.doc 29.5k . file