Epson NX User Manual

EPSON

Service Manual

Printed on Recycled Paper.

Revision Level

All rights reserved. No portion of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electric, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of Epson America, Inc. No patent liability is assumed with respect to use of the information contained herein. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Trademark Information

EPSON is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation.

Other product names used in this manual are for identification purposes only and may be

trademarks of their respective companies.

Epson NX Service Manual

FCC Comdiance Statement for American Users

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Subpart B of Part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in

a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful

interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the

equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more

of the following measures:

Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.

a Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

The user may find the following booklet, prepared by the Federal Communications Commission, helpful: How to Identify and Resolve Radio-TV Interference Problems. This booklet is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402, Stock No. 044-000-00345-4.

You can determine whether your computer is causing interference by turning it off. If the interference stops, it was probably caused by the computer or its peripheral devices. To further isolate the problem, disconnect either the peripheral device or its I/O cable.

These devices usually require a shielded cable. For Epson peripheral &vices, you can obtain the proper shielded cable from your dealer. For non-Epson devices, contact the manufacturer or dealer for assistance.

Warning

This equipment has been certified to comply with the limits for a Class B computing device, pursuant to Subpart B of Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Only peripherals (computer input/output devices, terminals, printers, etc.) certified to comply with the Class B limits may be attached to this computer. Operation with non-certified peripherals is likely to result in interference to radio and TV reception. The connection of a non-shielded equipment interface cable to this equipment will invalidate the FCC Certification of this device and may cause interference levels which exceed the limits established by the FCC for this equipment.

Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the manufacturer could void the user’s authority to operate the computer.

Epson NX Service Manual iii

FCC Compliance Statement for American Users

DOC Compliance Statement for Canadian Users

This digital apparatus does not exceed the Class B limits for radio noise emissions from digital apparatus set out in the radio interference regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications.

Conformation á les normes d’émission radioélectriques

Canadiennes

Le présent appareil numérique n’ émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites

applicables aux appareils numériques de la classe B prescrites dans le règlement sur le

brouillage radioélectrique édicté par le Ministère des Communications du Canada.

Other Agency Approvals

Application for approval of this equipment has been made to the following agencies:

United

States:

UL,

FCC Class

Canada:

Europe:

CSA, DOC VDE

Class

B, CISPR

Class

B, TUV, NEMKO, SEMKO, SETI

Epson

Service Manual

About this Manual

This manual is designed to be used with the Epson NX system. Chapter 1,

System Description,

includes the overall system specifications, subassembly

descriptions, and the locations of all major components.

Chapter 2, Troubleshooting, describes the steps you need to take to troubleshoot and service

the computer.

Chapter 3,

Removing and Replacing Subassemblies,

describes the disassembly and assembly

of the computer to its replaceable components.

Appendix A, Reference

Materials,

provides supplemental information that you may need

when servicing the computer. Appendix B,

System Utilities,

provides a summary of the SETUP program, the System

Diagnostics, and other utilities on the Reference diskette. Appendix C,

Schematics, provides

a series of system schematics.

A detailed Contents is provided at the beginning of each Chapter and Appendix. A complete list of Tables and Figures is

also

provided in the

Contents.

A comprehensive Index is provided at the back of the manual.

Epson

NX Service

Manual

System Description

Contents

System Description

System Overview.

GeneralFeatures

FrontPanel RearPanel

Options

Upgrades Document Sources Emissions and Safety Agency Information Environmental Specifications

Subassembly Descriptions

Case

SystemBoard Connectors and Jumpers

Power Supply.. Memory.

Mass Storage

Keyboard

.........................................................

........................................................

............................................................

Connectors Jumpers

.......................................................

Standard Memory. BIOS ROM CMOS RAM Video DRAM Memory Expansion.

Diskette Drive and Tape Drive Options. Hard Disk Drive Options..

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1- 1 l-2 1-3 l-4 l-5

l-5 l-6

l-6 l-7

l-8 l-9

1-9 l-11 l-11 1-12 1-13 1-15 1-16 1-16

1-16 1-16 1-17

1-18

l-22

Epson NX Service Manual

1-i

Figures

Figure l-l

Figure l-2 Figure l-3 Figure l-4 Figure l-5

Figure l-6 Figure l-7 Figure l-8 Power Supply Cable Layout Figure l-9 System Memory Map Figure l-10 Jumper Placement for HDDs. Figure 1 - 11

System Overview. FrontView Rearview CPU Upgrade Path System Level Assemblies

System Board Components.

Power Supply

101-Key Enhanced Keyboard.

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Tables

Table 1- 1 Table l-2

Table l-3 Table l-4 Table l-5 Table l-6 Table l-7 Table l-8 Table l-9 Table l-10 Table l-11 System Board Jumper Settings (J9-J15).

Table 1-12 Table 1-13 Table 1-14 Table 1-15 Table 1-16 Table 1-17 Table l-18 Quantum LPS525S 525MB SCSI HDD Specifications. Table 1-19 Table l-20

Physical Description. Front Panel Features Rear Panel Features.

Emissions and Safety Agency Data Environmental Specifications Case Specifications

System Board Component Functions System Board Connectors System Board Jumper Settings (Jl-J4). System Board Jumper Settings (J5-J8).

Power Supply Specifications Memory Configuration Diskette and Tape Drive Options Hard Disk Configurations.

Conner CP30174E 170MB IDE HDD Specifications Quantum LPS240AT 240MB IDE HDD Specifications

Quantum LPS525S Jumper Settings. Keyboard Specifications.

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1- 1 l-3 l-4 l-5

l-8 l-10 1-13 l- 14 1-15 l-20 l-22

l-2 l-3

l-6 l-7 l-9

l-9 1-12 1-12 1-12 1-12 1- 14

l- 17 l- 18 l- 18 1-19 l- 19 1-19 1-21 l-22

1-ii

Epson NX Service Manual

System Description

System Overview

The Epson NX desktop computer is an advanced, high-performance desktop system fully compatible with Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) at the hardware and software level. This computer has the capacity for installation of up to three storage devices and addition of four option cards. The system comes standard with a 3½-inch, 1.44MB diskette drive. There

are four configurations, giving you a choice of no hard disk drive, a 170MB IDE, a 240MB

IDE, or a 525MB SCSI hard disk drive. Systems with hard drives come with the

NeXTSTEPTM operating system preinstalled A 16-bit Ethernet adapter card also is installed.

Figure l-l shows the main system unit and components that are packaged with the product

(monitor not included; the configuration without a hard drive does not include software).

Figure l-l System Overview

Epson NX Service Manual

1-1

System Overview

General Features

The following features are standard:

Intel i486DX2/66 CPU PGA CPU-type ZIF socket that can also contain a future OverDrive processor

8KB CPU Cache and Epson VirtualCacheTM (secondary)

C&T WingineTM 64200 video display driver

Diskette drive (3%inch)

0 cl

A choice of no hard drive, a 170MB Conner IDE hard disk drive, a 24OMB Quantum IDE hard disk drive, or a 525MB Quantum SCSI hard disk drive

20MB of on-board memory in the 170MB or 240MB HDD configurations or

36MB of on-board memory in the 525MB HDD configuration; expandable with

SIMMs to 128MB

2MB of on-hoard video DRAM Texas Instruments RAMDAC

A 16-bit Ethernet adapter (either an Intel EtherExpressTM16C or an SMC EtherCard PLUS Elite16 Combo)

Selectable shadow RAM for system BIOS and video BIOS

Two RS-232C serial ports and a Centronics standard bidirectional parallel port

PS/2compatible mouse and keyboard ports

Built-in VGA video port

Four full-length, horizontal, 16-bit, ISA option slots (three available)

cl cl

Keyboard with mini-DIN type connector

100-240 VAC worldwide power supply with switch-selectable input; 145 watts.

Table 1-l describes the overall physical dimensions of the system.

Table l-l

Physical Description

1-2

Epson NX Service Manual

System Description

Front Panel

Figure l-2 shows the features on the front panel of the system. Table l-2 describes the front

panel features.

Figure 1-2 Front View

Table 1-2

Front Panel Features

Epson NX Service Manual

1-3

System Overview

Rear Panel

Figure l-3 shows the features on the rear panel of the system. Table 1-3 describes the rear panel features.

Figure 1-3 Rear View

l-4

Epson NX service Manual

Options

In addition to the standard configurations, the following are available:

System Description

cl ci cl

An optional 3½-inch or 5¼-inch diskette drive 3½-inch 8OMB, 12OMB, or 240MB IDE hard disk drives

1, 4, 16, or 64MB (when available), 36-bit, 70-ns SIMM option kits

VGA, Super VGA, and multi-frequency color monitors

Epson 25OMB tape backup drive

Media Vision Spectrum

Labtec CSS-550 speaker option kit.

16 multimedia sound card

Upgrades

Figure l-4 shows the possible CPU upgrade paths for the standard system configurations.

You can find instructions for removing and replacing CPUs in Chapter 3.

Figure 1-4 CPU Upgrade Path

Epson NX Service Manual

1-5

System Overview

Document Sources

Emissions and Safety Agency Information

The Epson NX in a typical configuration meets or exceeds the requirements of the emissions and safety agencies listed in Table l-4.

Table 1-4

Emissions and Safety Agency Data

l-6

Epson NX Service Manual

Environmental Specifications

Table l-5 lists the. environmental specifications for the Epson NX.

Table l-5

Environmental Specifications

System Description

Epson NX Service Manual

1-7

Subassembly Descriptions

This section gives descriptions and specifications for the following subassemblies:

Case

System board along with connectors and jumpers

Power supply

Memory

Disk drives

ci 0

Keyboard.

Figure l-5 shows the major subassemblies of the computer.

1-8

Figure 1-5 System Level Assemblies

Epson NX Service Manual

System Description

Case

The multi-piece case unit is shown in Figure l-5 and described in Table 1-6, below.

Table 1-6

Case Specifications

System Board

Figure l-6 shows the major components on the main system board. The functions of these components are described in Table l-7.

Table 1-7

System Board Component Functions

Epson NX Service Manual

1-9

Subassembly Descriptions

1-10

Figure l-6 System Board Components

Epson NX Service Manual

System Description

Connectors and Jumpers

This section describes the connectors and jumpers on the main system board. The location of

each connector and jumper block is shown in Figure l-6.

Connectors

Table l-8 lists the connectors on the main system board. You can find a description of all connector pin assignments in Appendix A.

Table 13

System Board Connectors

Epson NX Service Manual

1-71

Subassembly Descriptions

Jumpers

The location of each jumper is shown in Figure l-6. A jumper’s setting is determined by

where the jumper is placed on a set of pins. The jumper connects either pin A and the middle pin or pin B and the middle pin. The jumper settings are defined in Table 1-9, Table l-10, and Table l-11.

Table 1-9

System Board Jumper Settings (51-54)

Table l-10

System Board Jumper Settings (JS-J8)

Table l-11

System Board Jumper Settings (J9-515)

1-12

Epson NX Service Manual

System Description

Power Supply

The computer has a 145-watt power supply with switch-selectable AC input voltage. The power supply is a totally self-contained module that connects PS1 and PS2 to the main circuit board via a 12 pin connector (CN13). In addition to the normal power supply circuitry, the

module also includes the following components:

Power on/off switch

D cl

115/23OV input select switch AC input connector for detachable power cord Cooling fan.

All minimum load requirements for the power supply are met by the standard configuration

of the main circuit board.

To prevent damage from excessive temperature inside the computer, the power supply includes sensors and a detection circuit that shuts down the power supply when an excessive operating temperature is detected. To restart the computer, you must identify and correct the problem that caused the system to overheat (such as a blocked fan), turn off the power

switch, wait at least thirty seconds, and turn the power back on.

The power supply is shown in Figure l-7. Specifications are given in Table 1-12.

Power-on/off switch

Fan

Voltage

switch /

Power inlet

Figure 1-7 Power Supply

Epson NX Service Manual

1-13

Subassembly Descriptions

Table 1-12

Power Supply Specifications

Figure l-8 shows the power supply cable layout and connectors.

1-14

Epson NX Service

Manual

System Description

Memory

The 170MB and 240MB HDD configurations for this system have 4MB of memory soldered on the system board and one 16MB SIMM installed, for 20MB total memory. The 525MB HDD configuration has 4MB of memory soldered on the system board and two 16MB SIMMs installed, for 36MB total memory. The DRAM on the system board consists of eight high-performance 512KB, 70-ns chips. The system supports 1, 4, 16, or 64MB (when

available), 70-ns SIMMs; two SIMMs may be installed for a maximum of 128MB Memory

is controlled by a custom ASIC designed by Epson that permits burst cycles from standard

DRAM. The system memory has the following features:

Standard memory includes cache and shadow RAM

ROM BIOS and CMOS RAM

Video DRAM

Zero wait state memory access

32-bit data access

LIM 4.0 EMS compatiblity.

Figure l-9 shows the system memory map.

Epson NX Sevice Manual

1-15

Subassembly Descriptions

Shadow RAM

128KB of the remaining first 1MB of DRAM is used to shadow the system BIOS and VGA

BIOS. Shadow RAM is address selectable through SETUP.

Cache Memory

8KB of internal cache is built into the microprocessor. Cache address control is selectable through SETUP and testing is available through the system diagnostics.

The system also supports a new feature designed by Epson called VirtualCache. VitualCache is a dynamic DRAM memory cache that functions like cache SRAM. VirtualCache utilizes the burst-mode capabilities of the 486 CPU to minimize memory access time. In addition, look-ahead circuitry attempts to predict where the next memory access will be, and access that region before the CPU needs it.

BIOS ROM

The system uses a BIOS that conforms to the ISA IEEE specifications. The BIOS supports all applications that run on PC XT/AT systems and supports all ISA option cards.

The system board contains a 128KB EPROM in Ul for the system and video BIOS plus the code for the SETUP utility. The 64KB EPROM in U113 contains the Nanguage text messages for SETUP

The current BIOS version is shown during system start up. Installing a new version of the BIOS requires replacement of the EPROMs in Ul and U113. See Chapter 3 for details.

CMOS RAM

The CMOS RAM is contained within the 82C206 and power is provided via the lithium backup battery. The CMOS memory supports the standard 64 bytes of battery-backed RAM:

14 bytes for clock and control registers and 50 bytes of general purpose data. All CMOS RAM is reserved for BIOS use and can be set to specific values or cleared to system default values using the SETUP program.

Video DRAM

The system comes with 2MB of video DRAM consisting of eight 256KB chips soldered onto the main system board in sockets U84-U87 and U92-U95.

1-16

Epson NX Service Manual

System Description

Memory Expansion

The system board has two SIMM sockets, SIMM1 and SIMM2. The SIMMs that you install should be single- or double-sided 70-ns, 36-bit fast-page-mode SIMMs with gold connectors. Table 1-13 shows the possible memory expansion configurations.

Table 1-13

Memory Configuration

SIMM positions can be reversed to achieve same total

memory.

20MB of RAM is

configurations;

HDD

configuration.

The standard

both SIMM sockets are populated with

standard

36MB of

4 MB of

for 170MB

RAM is standard for the

and

240MB HDD

525MB

memory is not accessible when

64MB SIMMs.

Epson

NX service

Manual

1-17

Subassembly

Descriptions

Mass Storage

The system can support up to three mass storage devices. A hard disk drive can be installed in the horizontal drive bays or outside tape drives can be installed in the horizontal drive bays.

Diskette Drive and Tape Drive Options

The on-board diskette controller directly supports two diskette drives of any of the following: 3½&inch, 72OKB or 1.44MB and 5¼-inch 360KB or 1.2MB drives. The controller can also support one tape drive.

The standard diskette drive is a Mitsumi D-359T3 drive. Optional diskette drives can be

selected from Table 1-14.

Diskette and Tape Drive Options

the drive

Table 1-14

bay on

the

right side. Diskette,

CD-ROM, cx

Hard Disk Drive Options

There are three optional hard disk drive configurations available from the factory: a Conner CP30174E 170MB drive, a Quantum LPS240AT 240MB drive, or a Quantum LPS525S 525MB drive.

Table l-15

Hard Disk Configurations

1-18

Epson NX Service Manual

Specifications for the Conner CP30174E HDD

Table 1-16

System Description

Specifications for the Quantum LPS525S HDD

Table 1-18

Quantum LPS525S 52SMB SCSI HDD Specifications

Epson

NX Service

Manual

1-19

Subassembly Descriptions

Conner CP-30174E

17O MB

IDE

HDD

Master =

Slave

Quantum LPS240AT

24OMB

Master = DS jumpered

Slave

(or if

for

master grounded and

pin 28 is not grounded)

C/D

jumpered

= C/D

not

jumpered

IDE

HDD

= not jumpered

drive is

configured

cab/e

selection

jumper, the drive is a

drive if

using the

28 is

a slave

Quantum LPS525S

525MB SCSI HDD

See

Table 1-19 for jumper

settings.

1-20

Epson

Service Manual

Figure l-10. Jumper Placement for HDDs

Table 1-19

Quantum LPS525S Jumper Settings

bus (to be used when drive is

System Description

Factory default jumper setting

Epson

Service Manual

1-21

Subassembly Descriptions

Keyboard

The system includes a detached keyboard that connects to the computer through a coiled cable. Adjustable legs allow you to use the keyboard at two different heights. Figure l-11 shows the l0l-key keyboard. A 102-key model is also available. Table l-20 provides the

specifications for the l0l-key keyboard.

Figure l-11 l0l-Key Enhanced Keyboard

Table l-20

Keyboard Specifications

1-22

Epson

Service Manual

2 Troubleshooting

Contents

Troubleshooting

General Information................................................

Recommended Service Tools Epson Authorized Replacement Modules.

Power-On Diagnostics and Boot Errors.

Error Beep Codes General System Problems

Power or Lock-up Problems.

Computer Doesn’t Start

BlankScreen ...................................................

Power Supply Shut Down

Keyboard Problems.

No Keyboard Response Sticking Keys

Video Problems ..................................................

Blank Screen ..................................................

Incorrect Images ...............................................

Diskette Drive Problems.

Operating System Error Messages Diskette Drive Noise.

Hard Disk Problems

Newly-installed Drive Problems. Hard Disk Boot Failure

System Software Problems. Parallel Printer Problems

Serial Port Problems ..............................................

Option Card Problems Memory Module Problems. Mouse Problems. Troubleshooting with the NeXTSTEP Operating System

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2-l

2-l 2-2

2-3 2-6

2-7

2-7 2-8 2-8

2-8 2-9

2-9 2-10 2-10 2-11 2-11 2-12 2-12

2- 12 2-13 2- 13 2-14 2-14 2-15 2-16

2-17 2- 18 2-19 2-20

Figures

Figure 2-l Power or Lock-up Problems Figure 2-2 Keyboard Problems.

Figure 2-3 Figure 2-4 Diskette Drive Problems. Figure 2-5 Hard Disk Problems Figure 2-6 Software Problems Figure 2-7 Parallel Printer Problems Figure 2-8 Serial Port Problems Figure 2-9 Option Card Problems. Figure 2- 10 Figure 2-11

Video Problems.

Memory Module Problems Mouse Problems

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Epson NX Service Manual

2-7

2-9 2-10 2-12 2- 13 2-14 2-15 2-16 2-17 2- 18 2-19

2-i

+ 124 hidden pages

Epson NX User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

System Overview

General Features

Options

Upgrades

Document Sources

Emissions and Safety Agency Information

Environmental Specifications

Subassembly Descriptions

Case

System Board

Connectors and Jumpers

Power Supply

Memory

CMOS RAM

Mass Storage

Keyboard