MS300 power supply

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by mike175gr

After not using my MS750 for quite some time I thought that I would fire it up...I unfortunately got the red blinking death light...

Swapped out the hard drive with one that I had all preloaded with music and the OS, but not luck... Must be the power supply board. I looked and yes, leaky caps all around.. ugh!

PM sent

[Thedo]

Originally Posted by mike175gr

After not using my MS750 for quite some time I thought that I would fire it up...I unfortunately got the red blinking death light...

Swapped out the hard drive with one that I had all preloaded with music and the OS, but not luck... Must be the power supply board. I looked and yes, leaky caps all around.. ugh!

I myself have two MS750. A few years back when the company that OEM the MS300/MS750 went out of business. I bought a bunch of spare parts from them. Send me a message, I may have what you need, either a Power Supply board, or even the motherboard.

[Masterlu]

Worst case I still have entire units, that I don’t even need/use.

[Thedo]

Occasionally when I have some free time, I am exploring the possibility of using a 1TB Solid State Drive (SSD) in the MS750. If it works 100%, that will be a great news for all MS300/MS750 owners because the SSD runs much cooler, completely quiet, and is much more reliable than the original HD in the MS300/MS750. I need to find a good IDE/SATA adapter that is 100% compatible with the VxWorks 6 Operating system that the MS uses.

[Cohibaman]

Originally Posted by Thedo

Occasionally when I have some free time, I am exploring the possibility of using a 1TB Solid State Drive (SSD) in the MS750. If it works 100%, that will be a great news for all MS300/MS750 owners because the SSD runs much cooler, completely quiet, and is much more reliable than the original HD in the MS300/MS750. I need to find a good IDE/SATA adapter that is 100% compatible with the VxWorks 6 Operating system that the MS uses.

The IDE on the MS300 is very finicky. I tried an adapter on my MS300 with various drives and couldn’t get it to boot. I was planning on trying a different adapter, but just never got around to it.

[sgbroimp]

I just remembered that I did a "Primer" on these units some years ago. May need some updating but the basics are there. I made some contribution to it but mostly i was editor to others experiences so not 100% credit to me. Here goes:




Unit must have had power supply completely re-capped. Otherwise best not to risk even plugging it in until this is accomplished. Ft. Worth Audio is one recommended shop.

Unit should be only run via a quality surge suppressor/battery backup.

Owners should have an install disk copy with 2.0.7.1 software.

Owners should recognize that the Gracenote cover service is no longer available via McIntosh as the servers no longer operate. Some owners have found workarounds.

Owners should be aware that none of the pre-loaded i-Radio stations function and these should best be deleted. Owners can manually load stations if the correct irl is known and the address is compatible with stream requirements listed in the owners manual.

Owners should back up all music files to an external drive.

Owners of the MS300 can benefit from upgrading their Maxtor 300 gb drives to the more robust Seagate 750 gb, (DB35.3 series.) (The maximum size drive the MS300/MS750 will recognize seems to be 1 tb.)

The unit should never be plugged in until all other signal connections are made. Power cable should be first unplugged before removing any connections.

Owner should have two hard drives. One in the machine and working and a backup with software installed, but preferably a cloned version with software and music installed for a “plug and play” setup if the installed HDD fails. Keep in mind that drives from one machine may not be recognized in another unless a fresh software install is accomplished.

After installing new drive and software, the unit may get caught up in a registration loop as it tries to contact the McIntosh servers which no longer operate. To bypass, check your preferred language at the language choice screen and when the next screen appears, press MS1 on the original remote and then the number 5-5-5-5 and the registration sequence should stop and not return unless the unit is re-booted. Important – You must use the original remote (not the keyboard on the MS300) as the 5-5-5-5 must be entered off the alpha-numeric system.

It is best to go into the de-select “enable updates”, but selecting SETUP/UTILITIES/SOFTWARE UPDATE)

If a unit has sat for a long time, it may be seem not to boot when in fact it is organizing files and doing work in background. This may not show on the unit’s display, so best to use TV monitor at the very least when booting up after storage. If a unit still fails to boot, power and data cables should be carefully removed and reconnected as often poor contacts can be the cause.

An upgraded fan such as the SilenX Ixtrema IXP 34-16 should be installed and wired off the CD-ROM for 24/7 operation to enable the unit to run cooler.

Steve

[sgbroimp]

Originally Posted by Thedo

Occasionally when I have some free time, I am exploring the possibility of using a 1TB Solid State Drive (SSD) in the MS750. If it works 100%, that will be a great news for all MS300/MS750 owners because the SSD runs much cooler, completely quiet, and is much more reliable than the original HD in the MS300/MS750. I need to find a good IDE/SATA adapter that is 100% compatible with the VxWorks 6 Operating system that the MS uses.

Member LittleNellie tried this also and came up short. Worked, then not, worked then not.

[mike175gr]

Originally Posted by Thedo

I myself have two MS750. A few years back when the company that OEM the MS300/MS750 went out of business. I bought a bunch of spare parts from them. Send me a message, I may have what you need, either a Power Supply board, or even the motherboard.

This thread is another reason why this board is so wonderful! Folks willing to help others out!

Thank you!!!

[little nellie]

Yes, I tried the SSD and still have one unit with the SSD drive installed. It will need a reboot from time to time. That doesn't worry me too much. The part that I have problems with is that I have problem loading files on to the machine. It will transfer for an hour and it will stop. The machine is solid with standard IDE drive. I had try different manufacture SSD, some result. So far, only Star-tech IDE to SATA adapter works. Other manufactures adapter will not. If anyone has better luck than I do, please share as I really like the look and sound of these servers.

[sgbroimp]

I very much agree, Little Nellie. With all the discussion we have had regarding these units, I have not seen anyone complaining about their sonic quality! And since 99% of the issues folks had seemed to have stemmed from the caps in the power supply, I have come to believe that McIntosh maybe threw the baby out with the bath water dropping these. Kind of sad, actually.