CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

Hello!

Last August I got a pair of Ampro 2000 projectors from a former Ampro engineer for $100, along with a relatively small 4:3 screen and a large load of spare parts (all of it barely fit in a friend's Ford Explorer)

I brought them to my friend's house and we were going to repair them (he is better at such things than I am, and has worked with NEC projectors). So we hook one up to 800x600 and fire it up. The raster is pretty small, and we cannot figure out how to make it bigger (with some understanding of the control system). So we power it off and they sit. Time passes, and another friend gives me a Sony G70 that's got issues. I don't have room or the troubleshooting skills, so I give it to my friend. But space is at a premium, so the Ampros have to come home. I seem to have gotten everything back here except the service manuals (d'oh!, but they'll come home soon).

So while my internet is being terrible, I decide to fire up the Ampro that we never did. I connect Composite to it and fire it up. Remote stays blank, but it turns on, input selects, and displays picture. So, knowing how modular they are, inspiration strikes! (ha ha) I swapped over the CPU board from the other Ampro (that talked to the remote), but was rev. 2.00, the original board being 1.00.

I fire it up, and get error codes 1001, 1002, and then Error 20 at 8c. Doesn't turn on, nothing. So I swap the original board back, and it doesn't fire up either. I found the Enter 40981[code] fix for 1001 and 1002 if I need to keep a different revision board in the set I end up using.

So I put both projectors back together and turn on master power for the rev 2.00 unit. All I get is Auto-Restart. Nothing else. I tried re-swapping the boards, but all I get out of rev 2.00 is Auto-Restart and no response from the projector, the rev 1.00 board just stays blank on the remote and does nothing.

Anyway, where do I go from here? I don't have a spare CPU in the parts load (and most of the boards are for a 2600, I think). I'll try Curt's suggestion of power cycling the rev 1.00 blank board 15 or 20 times to see if it starts talking to the remote, but I'm stumped as to the Auto-Restart. Both boards have been in each projector, they perform the same no matter which projector they are in.

Oh Also, I got “Ampro 1700” on the remote when the first projector came up originally. Normal for 2000's?

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

First thought is the batteries are puked out on both CPU boards.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 2:13 pm Post subject:

Welcome! (I'll say more about that in the other post).

First thing you need to know about Ampros is that while the boards look the same, you can't swap many parts between Ampro 2000s due to the stupid software on the CPU boards. The error 1000 and 1001 you can ignore, but the other one is a communication error between teh CPU board and another board. It's looking for some function that isn't in the set, or something like that.

Mac is right, first thing to do is to check the batteries on both boards:

http://www.curtpalme.com/Ampro1500_Layout2.shtm

If they are under 3 volts, you need new ones. I've got them at $25 each incl shipping.

Some boards will probably swap between the sets, but not the reggie board and the CPU. Keep track on which boards go in which set, otherwise you'll probably add problems on top of the originals.

The 1700 is some older version of the 2000. Ampro seemed to change software and revisions every few hundred sets, remember they are pretty old, and changes/improvements happened pretty often. IN good tube shape, they are nice sets, with 1080i or 72-p signals. 800 X 600 is a good resolution to run.

I have every manual if you get them running or want hard copies. I'm liquidating most of my 2000 stuff, and have pitched a lot already. You're the first 'new' Ampro 2000 user in.... 5 years?

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

Thanks guys! I'll dig out the DVM and see what the voltages look like.

The tubes are in great shape, essentially new tubes in both. And I have at least two more sets of tubes in with the parts I got.

I have a full printed manual, but it's still at my friend's house. Just downloaded the manuals from this site.

Everything's back in the original sets now.

I'm not sure that I will even be a "user" per se, as there might be a NEC 9PG+ or XG751 (I wish, but a remote possibility) coming my way, but I'd like to get these working for the moment, the Sony 1042Q is...well....exactly what it is. Not the best, and the 15kHz whine is annoying.

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

Took me far too long, but I pulled the syscon boards and checked battery voltages. 3.5v batteries that read out 3.6 and 3.7v respectively. I tried reseating the IC's with labels on them (13, 14, 15, 11) but that didn't help.

The newer board powers up and then turns off shortly after in the older set (with the 20 at 8c error), but not the newer one. In the newer one it just says "auto restart" and does nothing.

What should I swap over besides CPU and registration boards? Should I try and reseat all the cards? Or do I just have two bad syscon boards with no replacements (there were none in the parts).

Or could the remotes I have be malfunctioning somehow? I have an older rectangular one that looks like the one Curt has in his Ampro pictures and a newer one that says "Ampro Digital" on it with a large LCD.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Are you able to post pics of these 2 CPU boards. And/or numbers off of them also.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 9:27 pm Post subject:

ON the one that is totally dead, no LCD display, does the LCD 'flash' when turning the main power switch on the back of the set on?

If so, that means the CPU board is getting power, as is the LCD display, but no data is being transferred between the CPU board and the remote. Since the remote works on the other set, that's not the issue. It's something on the CPU board.

If the remote doesn't flash at all, then there's no communication or probably power to it, which either has somethng to do with the power supply or CPU board. Sometimes if you flick the master on/off switch back and forth a few times, you can 'shock the CPU board to talk to the remote.

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

On the one that's totally dead, the LCD flashes all-black characters when first powered on and held at an angle.

I've tried shocking them at least 20 times each with a power switch when in their original projectors.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:32 pm Post subject:

OK, welcome to the effed-upped-ness that is the world of 20 year old Ampro technology! Smile

I've spent COUNTLESS, and I mean COUNTLESS hours trying to solve this and other CPU board issues. You have power to it, that's what the flash of the LCD shows, but it's a data communication issue.

One thing I did was spend a lot of time swapping socketed chips between boards. No success. One chip that did seem to make a difference was IC 12 (looking at an empty CPU board as I type this). I've found that taking that chip in and out can bring back the display, but beware, I've swapped IC 12 between boards... and more than once couldn't get the working board to come back to life.

Tse might be able to shed some light here, he worked for Ampro back in the day. I'm posting pretty much all I know, which isn't much. Smile

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

I'll try swapping that chip between the two, as well as shocking them a couple more times. I'll also get the remote we initially used to test them from my friend (it seems to have not come with me when I went to get the projectors).

Would desoldering the battery help?

I am (hopefully) getting an NEC, either a 9PG+ or XG751, so I am not sure how much money I will sink into these.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Man, your all over the place. You need to know which remote works with which CPU board first. If you give me the numbers off those stickers on those chips I can tell you which is which.

Then you need to make sure what those switch settings are at and if any leds are lit on the CPU.

You are connecting the remote to the top (host) connector on the CPU, correct?

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

I have tried both remotes, but the older one is the one I mainly use to try and get these running. The two rightmost LED's are lit on both CPU cards with the remote connected, all 3 pots are at "A" and all 4 dip switches are up. I am connecting to the Host connector.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

All the rotary switches should be at 0. Dips switches should be off.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

LEDs 8 and 9 should be on and 4 should be flashing.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

To verify baud rate of the remote open it up and all 4 dip switches should be off.

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

Well what do you know, I flipped all the DIP switches and then flipped them back, and the newer revision projector (the one I originally tested) turns on and responds. The remote is crap, so I got the remote I originally used back.

I'll bring a video source down to it soon and check it out. It originally had a very small raster size when fed 800x600, but it looked clean. Anyway, progress has been made.

All switches are on and all pots are at 0, I had thought they were at A.

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

I got the projector to display signal, but as I increased the resolution from 800x600@60hz to 1024x768@60hz, the image got far smaller.

Once I figured out the codes (see below) I started playing with the alignment. It needs a LOT of help (alignment is way off), but I am coming from aligning a Sony VPH-1042Q which is admittedly simple. Oh well, more to play with when I am more awake.

The Codes on the Ampro 1700 I have do not match the codes in the 1500/2000 manual.

So I went through them from 1-100.

Here they are, the codes from 1 to 100 on an Ampro 1700 with rom v2.03. Missing ones are not codes in the system:

10: Time
11 Enter Time
12 Alarm Enabled
13 Alarm Disabled
14 Time FF:FF
15 Enter On Time
16 Time FF:FF
17 Enter Off Time
18 Monochrome Mode
19 Remote LCD cycle display test
20 System OK
21 9600 Baud Address 00 1
22 Write Protect On/Off
23 Registration Off/On
24 Remote Backlight Level
25 Null Cancel Are you Sure?
26 Null Reggie AYS?
27 Copy Reggie From
28 Copy Chan From
29 Back Porch Clamp
30 HV Fail 83
31 static R V Shift = 50
32 Static B V Shift = 50
33 Select Frequency? **Went to only green tube**
35 Keys Enabled
36 Keys Disabled
37 Exec Mode ON
38 Elapsed CRT Time
39 Elapsed TOT time
40 Frequency Counter
41 Reg Zone 3
42 Options (RGB 2 installed, Quad installed)
43 Floor Mounted, Front Projection
45 Not enabled
46 Not enabled
47 Not enabled
48 Not enabled
49 Not enabled
51 Rom v 2.03
52 Copy Reggie To
53 Copy Chan to
54 Copy Reggie All AYS?
55 Copy Chan All AYS?
60 Store Memory
61 Recall memory
70 Master H Size
71 Master V size
72 Top Blanking
73 Bottom Blanking
74 Left Blanking
75 Right Blanking
76 Red CRT On
77 Green CRT On
78 Blue CRT on
97??
99 Loading Specials

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 1:22 pm Post subject:

Yup, the 1700 is a lot older than the 2000, and I do remember that, that it's a totally different set of menus. The lack of width is probably normal, as remember, this projector is from about 1988, and 800X 600 was 'super duper' resolution back then. Smile

vinyldavid · Joined: 15 May 2012 Posts: 21 Location: St. Louis, MO

I would have tried to feed it 640x480, but my MacBook Pro doesn't even have that as a standard option for the VGA output converter.

Too bad. I'll try and drag down the Faroudja and see what 640x480 looks like tonight, as well as test the other projector.