Groove Coaster doesn't boot

[aerobert]

Hi I have a friend with a Groove Coaster that doesn't start up.
I don't think it ever ran after he bought it. (it did at the seller). The first time he turned it on, the screen became all blue, then he let it sit for a few months before taking it on again.
Now it doesn't seem to start at all. The screen says "power save" in Japanese, I guess it indicates it doesn't get a signal from the Type X at all.

The system has a LED indicator that turns green for a few seconds and then it turns red. I'm as novice on these systems as he is but I figured maybe someone more experienced can point us in the right direction. I don't have all the details but I understand there's a way to select and run it on either Euro voltage or Japanese voltage? Hopefully he checked it before plugging it in.

 

[nem]

I don't have all the details but I understand there's a way to select and run it on either Euro voltage or Japanese voltage?

Not true. The transformer inside is an isolating one, not a step-down. Considering both the monitor and the system are still showing signs of life, it hasn't been connected to Euro voltage. Otherwise you would have blown stuff up.

Anyway, tell your friend to connect the motherboard to a different monitor and something else to the cab monitor. Start by ruling things out.

If the motherboard isn't displaying anything on the replacement monitor either, open it up, re-connect and reseat everything. Then try again.

 

[aerobert]

Ah smart! I'll let him know. I'm pretty sure it was running fine when it was with the seller (importer). Not sure how my friend ran the game at his place but he has a NAC too so I assume he used a step-down converter to get it running.

something likely came loose during transport, but he needs to troubleshoot further.

 

[waiwainl]

Did he check all the cables are still connected? If the GC was partially disassembled, he might have forgotten to re-connect some wires.

 

[aerobert]

I don't think he has followed up yet. But thank you for the hint!

 

[aerobert]

Long due follow up. Suspect that HDD is corrupted somehow. Computer is extracted to swap HDD or reinstall software. Everything looked fine regarding power when we inspected it more closely.

 

[nem]

If the HDD is corrupt, the motherboard would still boot and you would see this on the monitor.

 

[aerobert]

I wasn't there when they fiddled around with it but they managed to go further, and there was a disk error message on the screen.
The plan is now to replace the disk and unlock it to access more features and updates. It's been sent a guy in Sweden who's apparantly a bemani wizard fixer.

 

[aerobert]

Turns out the SATA cable to the HDD was shot.