4 ms·

I reached out to a few people over a couple of months while testing the scanner, including a couple of third party service/repair shops. There are also dedicate

by leejo 4y ago

I reached out to a few people over a couple of months while testing the scanner, including a couple of third party service/repair shops. There are also dedicated user groups around these scanners that are all happy to help and give tips. They were extremely helpful but the conclusion was indeed that the Firewire port or main board is on the way out. It is possible to fix it, and the third party service/repair shops do have the parts and expertise (some of them are former Hasselblad service employees). The problem is the cost. To quote: "The problem is when the FireWire port dies the only repair that is ever proven to be effective has been to replace the entire main board. I currently have sufficient parts to replace this should you wish. The price to completely refurbish the scanner and replace the main board is 2800+ VAT " So 5,000 Euro for the scanner then 3,500 Euro for the service/repair. That's a little bit more than I'm willing to drop on this project, especially given the other factors - it might need repair/service again in 12months time, the discontinued software and needing old OS/computers to run it.

toyg 4y ago
I think parent poster meant asking them to scan images for you, rather than repairing a scanner. You mention the average cost for that in your post, but maybe going for someone who's doing it as a one-off rather than providing it as regular service could shrink down the price.
londons_explore 4y ago
> when the FireWire port dies the only repair that is ever proven to be effective has been to replace the entire main board You aren't talking to the right person... A circuit board is a set of components and wires... With enough expertise, it's always possible to find and replace the faulty component/wire. Someone who says the whole board needs replacing simply doesn't have the expertise. It would be like hiring a builder to fix a window frame, and them saying "the only fix is to just knock the house down and buy a new one". Sometimes the expert time required to find the fault isn't worth it when a whole new board is cheap... But that isn't the case here.
- Nexxxeh 4y ago
  I agree with the thrust of what you're saying and OP should definitely take the board to someone who will do board rework and see what they say. But I don't agree with: >With enough expertise, it's always possible to find and replace the faulty component/wire. That depends on what's happened. If it's an ASIC or something else complicated and application specific that's died, then the thing is probably toast unless you can find another board that died of a different cause.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    It really depends on what exactly is broken. If it's a BGA chip, it's much easier to just replace the whole board, because almost no one has the facilities or expertise to replace BGA packages on a board correctly. If it's a connector or a capacitor, you can do that with a soldering iron if you have some skill. If it's some little 14-pin SOIC package (with 0.5mm pin spacing) and you have a hot-air rework tool, it's trivial to replace it. Of course, most hobbyists don't have hot-air rework tools (they're not expensive though).
actionfromafar 4y ago
A fair guess is mechanical strain on the port. The first one should do is to implement some kind of strain relief, like putting a donor Firewire port on a separate board or plate, like in desktop PCs.

by leejo 4y ago

toyg 4y ago

I think parent poster meant asking them to scan images for you, rather than repairing a scanner. You mention the average cost for that in your post, but maybe going for someone who's doing it as a one-off rather than providing it as regular service could shrink down the price.

londons_explore 4y ago

> when the FireWire port dies the only repair that is ever proven to be effective has been to replace the entire main board You aren't talking to the right person... A circuit board is a set of components and wires... With enough expertise, it's always possible to find and replace the faulty component/wire. Someone who says the whole board needs replacing simply doesn't have the expertise. It would be like hiring a builder to fix a window frame, and them saying "the only fix is to just knock the house down and buy a new one". Sometimes the expert time required to find the fault isn't worth it when a whole new board is cheap... But that isn't the case here.

Nexxxeh 4y ago
I agree with the thrust of what you're saying and OP should definitely take the board to someone who will do board rework and see what they say. But I don't agree with: >With enough expertise, it's always possible to find and replace the faulty component/wire. That depends on what's happened. If it's an ASIC or something else complicated and application specific that's died, then the thing is probably toast unless you can find another board that died of a different cause.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  It really depends on what exactly is broken. If it's a BGA chip, it's much easier to just replace the whole board, because almost no one has the facilities or expertise to replace BGA packages on a board correctly. If it's a connector or a capacitor, you can do that with a soldering iron if you have some skill. If it's some little 14-pin SOIC package (with 0.5mm pin spacing) and you have a hot-air rework tool, it's trivial to replace it. Of course, most hobbyists don't have hot-air rework tools (they're not expensive though).

actionfromafar 4y ago

A fair guess is mechanical strain on the port. The first one should do is to implement some kind of strain relief, like putting a donor Firewire port on a separate board or plate, like in desktop PCs.