ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hi,
It looks like my Beomaster 5 mainboard has given up the ghost. I've ordered a new generic main board from China, so is it just a case of swapping the memory, Bios Chip and plugging it all back together or is there something else I need to worry about?
Thanks
I'm afraid that it is quite more complicated than that. Which is a horrible shame. My repair guy quoted me well over $1,000 USD for the repair. I found that it was cheaper just to buy another BeoMaster 5 that had never been used.
beojeff:I'm afraid that it is quite more complicated than that. Which is a horrible shame. My repair guy quoted me well over $1,000 USD for the repair. I found that it was cheaper just to buy another BeoMaster 5 that had never been used.
My repair guy told me that the prices went up quite a lot recently due to scarcity from B&O. It's frustrating that B&O sometimes uses parts (such as a mother board and hard drive) that could be more generic to help the longevity of its products. I literally chucked my old BeoMaster 5 in the bin since it was not economical to have it repaired. I hate that sense of waste.
I just did a search on eBay and found a complete BeoSound 5 with 500GB BeoMaster 5 for $1,061.25 and a BeoSound 5 with 1TB BeoMaster 5 for $1,195.68. As i was saying, it's a shameful waste that it's actually cheaper to just replace the entire BS5 system than to have it repaired.
I also just found a 500 MB Beomaster 5 in the U.S. for $500.
Thanks, but I’m based in the uk.
I see in other parts of the forum, that the motherboard was replaced and the rom chip changed, but I wondered whether there was anyone who had done the repair who could comment.
Hi Frog, i just managed to repair mine.
I actually wonder what replacement board you ordered and where: on my initial search for this board i only found them offered on a Brazillian webshop and not on the known Chinese site(s), we're talking about Via Epia 20000 (the 10000, 15000 and successors are not difficult to find).
What you can do is see if the caps have a bulged top, if so, see if you can find a company or person with the right tools (!!!) to work on these multilayer boards, as replacing is not as easy as in 25 yrs+ electronics.
But then you may be good again for a handfull of pounds :)
BTW: i also heard of crazy prices (1000 euro) but that depends on which dealer: B&O charges 550,- or so for a board but if they ship the unit to another repair place that miraculously seems to double....
If the Main Board part number you're looking for is 8005051, I have not one but two boxed and unused ones for sale!
One of my ex-staff wrongly ordered them last year - and I couldn't send them back for a refund. I did indeed pay around £500 each for them, from memory. :O(
I'd let them go for £275 each, otherwise I'm happy to hang onto them.
Lee
I’ll happily take one if it replaces the existing one - but isn’t there a problem with the serial numbers of the Rom and the hard disk need to be synched using a usb tool?
I have no idea! I never did repairs to BM5 - one of my guys did who was a computer buff!
May be worth asking a B&O repairer.
Ah, OK.
does anyone know how to do it? I read somewhere - but can’t remember where, that it was necessary to swap the ROM over, but I’m puzzled as to whether I need the usb tool to program the bios or whether just the chip change would do it.
There was this old post that said it could be done
https://archivedforum2.beoworld.org/forums/p/14870/130383.aspx
I did get a spare motherboard to try this but still have not got round to doing this as I brought a second life BS5.
Don't know if this is any help!
Is it correct that this VIA EPIA-EX15000G mainboard is used inside the Beomaster 5?https://www.ebay.de/itm/VIA-EPIA-EX15000G-1GB-DDR2-Motherboard-Mainboard/253082834419?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649According to our beloved forum you need the Beomaster service tool to flash some serialnumbers.
ipaul: I actually wonder what replacement board you ordered and where: on my initial search for this board i only found them offered on a Brazillian webshop and not on the known Chinese site(s), we're talking about Via Epia 20000 (the 10000, 15000 and successors are not difficult to find).
To be more specific, it was the Epia EX series.
B&O used a 2Ghz clocked processor. A special ordered version from Epia. For the mainstream there was the 1,2 and 1,5 Ghz board.
To program the ROM you needed to use the (USB)servicetool, otherwise no softwareupgrades could be downloaded because of the missing serialnumber.
Swapping the ROM has the same result.
Hi, Yes, I got a 15000 main board. There was an article about retrofitting it into the bombaster 5 (I think in the thread suggested by badgersurf) but it wasn't that clear as to whether it was actually done or not.
Interesting that swapping the rom doesn't work. AVS Services do have the tool, so they could reprogram for me - but I'm getting to the point of thinking that a complete unit from ebay at about £800 is easier than a new motherboard at £250 plus the risk that maybe the problem isn't on the motherboard after all!
I'd appreciate hearing from someone who has actually done the change though (using the 15000 board. I see that new pins need to be added to get the SP/DIF cable connected for example.
Serialnumbers are stored on both the Rom and harddrive. Swapping the board with the old original ROM will work. A new harddrive is more difficult.
I have for the past 7 years already a 15000 board which works fine till today.
Indeed you need to rewire the digital spdif out from the mainboard. The B&O lacks the RCA socket and has different connector onboard.
Great! Thanks.
Odd though that the cable connecting the SP/DIF comes off the optical out connector - is that what you found too?
Well thanks Beobuddy - I swapped the ROMs over, installed the new motherboard and reconnected the memory and cables etc - and it fires up fine! Didn't even need a reset!
Saved me a lot of cash and trouble there!!
Congrats Frog, are you willing to sell me your old, broken board ?
My interest is to explore and learn...i will PM you.
Ugh, the BM5 started to stop working (power on, but no image out after a while) so I did a software rebuild, and now the radio stations have gone. Suspecting an issue with the bios serial number, I had a look in maintenance menu and as suspected, I have a blank serial number. Looks like the tool is needed after all!
I’m holding onto the old motherboard just in case.
The radio stations need one or two days 2 pop up after a software rebuild.
Really? Well that’s something to look forward to. I suspect though it won’t because it says that the unit isn’t registered at the bottom of the n.radio screen.
The software rebuild has made the beomaster stable now though.
Oops - looks like I managed to mix up the BIOS chips - changing the chips DOES work!
If I remember well, you have to reprogram the BIOS with the Epia tool, so then you will have the B&O startup logo when booting.
I didn’t need to do that, the logo came up straight away.
Hi, is of these boards still available? I might need one as my BM stopped working. Only blinking red light :-(
Yes, I still have some of the 1500 boards available. As I have 4 beomaster 5s, I couldn’t take the risk! Are you able to handle the SPDIF connector removal and connection?