Getting an Iyonix working

I have an Iyonix – but I haven’t used it for at least 12 years. It was in storage together with the Iiyama 20" CRT monitor I bought at the same time. I decided to start up my old machine, but the moment I switched on the monitor blew up. I am not sure whether the Iyonix still works – I have connected it to an LCD monitor, but the display is blank. I do recall that RISC OS had to be configured to use LCD monitors, but I do not recall how to undertake that configuration – especially without a display. Could be that the video card has died, but short of taking it to a dealer (where?) I wouldn’t know how to make the determination. Help anyone?

Thanks in advance.

Neil

Before offering any specific help on getting the Iyo running, I’d suggest that it would be profitable to ask why you want to do it.

It could well cost a significant sum to get it going. You could buy a Raspberry Pi system instead; the computer itself is ridiculously cheap, but you need to add up the cost of all the necessary bits to complete the system before you can do any comparison.

If you get the Iyo going, you can use it and all the apps on it like you used to 12 years ago. A downside is that the Iyo is known to become unreliable as it ages. Along with the unreliability comes ongoing cost.

If you put the money into a modern system, you will have something that is as cheap to maintain as it can possibly be, much faster, and much smaller. You can run all the same stuff, though you may have a problem getting old apps onto the new system (what media did they come from?).

In both cases you can add new apps.

I’m not trying to dissuade you from fixing it, I just want you to go for your chosen course of action with your eyes open as to costs and benefits.

I should perhaps add that I too have an Iyonix that I used to use extensively, but now languishes unused for at least a couple of years since it became intolerably unreliable for me. I use a BeagleBoard XM as my main computer.

I do recall that RISC OS had to be configured to use LCD monitors

That was true of older machines (Archimedes + RiscPC, both of which have their own quirks when using newer monitors), but for the Iyonix if the CMOS is reset it should default to a standard 640×480 VGA mode that will work on pretty much anything.

A few things to check:

• Do any of the LEDs on the keyboard come on, and (more importantly) do they turn on/off as you press the relevant keys?
• Does the HDD status LED show any activity?
• Is the floppy activity LED flashing? If so, this indicates the flash ROM has become corrupt (recovery will typically require transferring a new ROM image via the serial port)
• A few seconds after power on, you should hear a beep from the internal speaker
• Does the LCD monitor give any indication that it’s receiving a signal at all? (e.g. “signal out of range” message)

The Iyonix uses an EEPROM chip for the “CMOS” RAM (unlike the battery-backed CMOS chip used with earlier machines), so if the battery is dead (very likely) the only loss should be the RTC (CJE have replacement batteries). So in theory the only thing that should stop it from booting is hardware failure, rather than corrupt settings, as can be the case with RiscPC/Archimedes machines.

I should perhaps add that I too have an Iyonix that I used to use extensively

I’m sorry to say mine went to the tip yesterday – minus its HD. I already have that imaged on a USB drive attached to a RPi, but I will need to dispose of the HD in an approved manner (sister thread).

A downside is that the Iyo is known to become unreliable as it ages.

I’m afraid it did! Very! Thank goodness that many alternatives have subsequently become available!

And to suit any pocket!

Thank you all for the helpful replies:

@Dave: I just wanted to have a play with the machine to see whether I still find it useful and fun – if so I might buy a new machine. It is only ever going to be a ‘plaything’ as I switched to Mac OS about 10 years ago.

@Jeffrey: I didn’t actually connect a keyboard – I will try this again after replacing the battery. I did think that I saw HDD status LED working, but I need to try again How do I reset the CMOS?No indication from the monitor that it was receiving any signal.

@John: I thought that I might buy an ARMX6.

Regards.

Neil

I have connected it to an LCD monitor, but the display is blank

If it’s not getting past POST, try removing the USB card. Also try booting with nothing but the LCD plugged in. If it still doesn’t post, it’s possibly a faulty flash ROM.

I’m sorry to say mine went to the tip yesterday

You should have offered it around, I’ve been looking for a dead board for ages for a working flash ROM – mine is suffering from bit-rot and fails to start POST.

They are without doubt the most unreliable RISCOS machines, the NIC’s are generally the first thing to go, then USB and the flash ROM.

How do I reset the CMOS?

Hold down the delete key on the keyboard for a few seconds when you turn the power on. I think this might only work if you have the keyboard connected to one of the rear sockets, on the USB card (until a few weeks ago, the code that was responsible for doing the keyboard scan at boot was fairly simplistic).

They are without doubt the most unreliable RISCOS machines, the NIC’s are generally the first thing to go, then USB and the flash ROM.

Surprisingly my one’s holding up “OK”. Apart from a faulty hard disc and a PSU that exploded (par for the course with pretty much any computer), the only problems I’ve run into are a slightly dodgy solder joint for the speaker/headphone connector, and one of the serial ports doesn’t always initialise correctly (which might just need a software fix)

and one of the serial ports doesn’t always initialise correctly (which might just need a software fix)

I wonder if there’s an issue during the POST/boot sequence as both the NIC and the USB randomly fail to initialise on mine when first powered on.

If you need any Iyo spares, we (R-Comp) have the last of the Castle spares and components. I think we have a couple of fulll, working machines, and a box of graphics/USB cards etc. Am willing to break things up for parts if ncessary. There’s also a board on a wooden test rig as well – never did quite decide what to do with that!

Alternatively, since you mention ARMX6, if you’re interested in a new system, and your old HDD is still viable, we’d be happy to transfer your old stuff from the drive onto any of our newer systems as part of the service.

As others have said, del-power-on to reset cmos if it works with USB keyboard (this has always been a bit of a sore point due to where/how USB inits).

If you can’t get a picture, try hitting return/escape a few times, followed by return again, then F12 (all to just try and ensure the computer is at a “blind” * prompt). Then:

*configure monitortype 4
*configure mode 32
*configure wimpmode 32

This will configure a SVGA monitor running at 800×600 in 256 colours, which should be supported by most LCD displaces.

I have just had another try at booting my Iyonix:

Still no image, however, the green and orange lights on the front panel are both lit and I can hear the hard drive, not only spinning but apparently trying (perhaps succeeding) to boot. CD drive also opens and closes via the push button on the drive front plate. I have attached a keyboard, but a Logitech USB keyboard – seem to have misplaced all of my serial keyboards.
Holding down delete had no obvious effect and none of the keyboard lights came on.
@Andrew – I might give you a call tomorrow to discuss a way forward. I have indicated an interest in an ARMX6, but my wife quite sensibly suggested that I first see whether I will make any real use of RISC OS – so I need to get my Iyonix running before I make any such decision.

Thanks everyone for the support

Neil

The cheapest way to try RISCOS is a pi you seem to have a keyboard mouse and monitor just download the image from ROOL

Rob, I also have an Iyonix – and if I can get that to work I believe that it will be cheaper than a Pi :)

A few tips to get the inonix working strip all the cards out of the expansion slots making sure you remember where the graphics card slot is clean all the contacts carefully then reassemble. Then restart with the escape key held down.

I’m sending it to R-Comp – :)

I had a simuler issue but got my Iyonix back to live again.
First text appeared after removing USB card but screen disappeared again when desk was started.
Somehow it still showed boot text after putting the USB card back and I got a desk when I connected a high resolution capable screen and was able to set a lower resolution.

Now it works again and after boot I can get a second screen working by sellecting in Geminus (i have 2 graphical cards). I just need to figure out how to get the 2 screens right after boot.

Had some issues with bad mouses and internet as well but those were fixed by using a better mouse and updating to 5.24.
It took me almost 3 hours but it was fun :)

Thank you for this -

No screen – pressing ‘del’ on boot worked
Then no disk access – opened her up and pressed the disk cables to check the were seated correctly, all working fine.

Anyone (Jaco?) using a later version of RISC OS than 5.24 on their Iyonix with Geminus double screen output working o.k.?
I’m trying to set up an Iyonix for someone with the latest RISC OS and two screens.
The latest Iyonix Geminus I can find is 1.34 2009 it has screen corruption issues with 5.28
https://sendiri.co.uk/geminus/ [No obvious link on the sendiri home page!]

If you scroll the page on the link you posted to the bottom, it seems to suggest (to me at least) that Geminus is now no longer developed for the Iyonix and basically the only version for the Iyonix is the (now free) v1.34 that you already have and that it won’t work reliably on RISC OS later than 5.18

You could always try querying with Adrian Lees via the ‘Contact’ link in the ‘Store’ area of the website https://sendiri.co.uk/store/contact