# Ion won't boot up



## Call911 (Dec 9, 2012)

Hey all,

I have an ETC Ion board we purchased this summer. Has been working great until now. Just finished a week long run of a show, and was programming this afternoon for our next show. The main part of the board suddenly shut down (not a power issue, the wings and monitors stayed on), and then restarted by itself. It won't boot fully, it starts up, the faders do their red/green flash, and then the LCD on the console just shows the ION logo. Nothing on the monitiors. Wings just show the basic "Electronic Theater Controls". 

Anyone ever see this issue or have any tips? I called ETC Support, and left a message for a tech to call me back. Didn't want to claim it as an emergeny because I don't need it until tomorrow. Any thoughts would be great! Thanks!


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## techieman33 (Dec 9, 2012)

If you need it tomorrow I would call that an emergency.


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## cpf (Dec 9, 2012)

Tried unplugging it for a few minutes before plugging it back in again? If that doesn't work, you might have a bigger issue on your hands...


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## chausman (Dec 9, 2012)

I'd call it an emergency. If you need to try and get a new board (very possible) and also program the show again, you'll want that fix as soon as possible.


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## LavaASU (Dec 9, 2012)

If your show is tomorrow this is definitely an emergency. That sounds like a a pretty major (probably hardware) failure so there's a good chance you will be looking for a replacement board for tomorrow. Or potentially parts which at this point would probably mean driving to ETC as I don't think you can overnight on a Sunday and get them and it looks like you're semi-close.


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## sk8rsdad (Dec 9, 2012)

Check that nothing is resting on the mouse or keyboard. Ion suppresses some pretty basic errors on boot up.


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## Call911 (Dec 9, 2012)

To put everyone at ease, show is Thursday, rehearsal starts tomorrow. I am lucky to be in a district with 4 ions, and 1 of them is free this week. Would rather fix the one I have before I drag another over, so not an emergency. If I don't get it resolved with etc tomorrow I'll start swapping boards. Just wondering if I was being stupid and missing something obvious.


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## MNicolai (Dec 9, 2012)

If your wings are not all docked directly to the console, you may want to unplug and replug the power supplies where they plug into the wings. I've seen some very interesting behavior before from consoles where it turned out the power supply connector was loose and not plugged in all of the way.


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## NickVon (Dec 9, 2012)

Sounds like a classic HD SATA cable got loose. Do you move it around for tech down into the house or anything?

I had a simliar boot problem with my Element and a buddies Ion.

Call TECH Support, good chance they'll have you open the console and reset the HD connectors. from what i heard find all the screws in the ION is a *****. Definaltly call ETC tech though, hopefully it's simply a loose internal cable.


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## jhochb (Dec 9, 2012)

Good Morning

ETC knows about this. Its a bad hard drive. They had a bad batch.
Call ETC first thing Monday & get a RMA.


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## starksk (Dec 9, 2012)

jhochb said:


> ETC knows about this. Its a bad hard drive. They had a bad batch.
> Call ETC first thing Monday & get a RMA.



To clarify Jack's post:
Yes, some consoles manufactured in 2011 and the early part of 2012 used a hard disc drive (HDD) that we later discovered was from a batch that had been affected by the tsunami in Asia that hit the major HDD manufacturers. _Not all consoles manufactured during this period will be affected by this issue._ The affected drives will generally work fine until they hit a critical number of disk read errors. When that happens, you may see "Blue Screen of Death" errors and/or the console reporting that there is no boot media found when booting the console. *It should be noted that these errors can occur under other circumstances as well, so if you experience these symptoms, please call ETC at 800-688-4116 to troubleshoot. *

---

Call911, in your case, I would actually start with examining and reseating the RAM cards within the console.

Call911 said:


> ...The main part of the board suddenly shut down (not a power issue, the wings and monitors stayed on), and then restarted by itself. It won't boot fully, it starts up, the faders do their red/green flash, and then the LCD on the console just shows the ION logo. Nothing on the monitiors. ...


 If you are seeing nothing at all on the external monitors, including the BIOS, when the console boots and/or you hear three loud beeps from the console, this can indicate either a loose or defective RAM card. RAM can become loose if the console is in a position that vibrates a lot (such as sitting on or above a speaker, on a counter that is constantly bumped, etc...) or if it is moved frequently and/or roughly. Usually, simply reestablishing the connection by reseating the RAM will correct this issue.

NickVon does bring up a good suggestion as well. However, given the symptoms you have described, I would check this as a secondary measure to the RAM.

As others have said, there are very specific instructions for opening an Ion console. *Because of the complexity, and because we want to make sure we are aware of any potential quality issues, please call ETC at 800-688-4116 before opening your console.*

Finally, though rare, USB issues can affect the booting of a console as sk8rsdad mentioned. If the wings are "docked" to the side of the console, you might (while the power is off) disconnect them and try booting the console without any wings attached. Sometimes, when the connection is slightly misaligned, it will prevent the console from booting properly.


To sum: 
Call911, if you have already left a non-emergency message for us to call you back, we will do so in the morning and get you taken care of. 

For others reading this thread in the future, *if you experience any of the symptoms described above, please call ETC at 800-688-4116 when you are near your console to troubleshoot.* Please do not attempt to open the console unless you have already been in contact with us. 

If your console is running with no indications of trouble and was manufactured within the dates specified above, you do not need to call us as not all consoles made during that time period will experience any of these issues.


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## Call911 (Dec 11, 2012)

As an update, called etc, and did a few troubleshooting steps. Opened the console, reseated the ram, reseated the HD, and nothing worked. So today it's taking a UPS trip to Madison, and we're being shipped a loaner. Luckily it's only a few months old so everything is warranty work.


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