MFDBB Blue Screen of Death - Hoping For Resurrection

[Alyeska]

Hi, all. I have an MFDBB (2008 vintage Kontron processor) that suddenly went inop while underway recently, showing the infamous Windows Blue Screen of Death message "Page_Fault_In_Nonpaged_Area". There was no warning of any problems with this unit during my past four years with this boat and system. I'm hopeful that the problem might be resolvable by replacing the HDD with a freshly cloned HDD/SSD with an appropriate ISO image from a working MFDBB HDD. Is the image file available? Is anyone willing to make a copy for me?

Thanks in advance fo any feedback!

 

[Titanic II]

This error could be hardware (memory) or software (corrupt files). The OS actually resides on a CFAST card installed on the bottom side on the unit. Not totally ruling out the HDD but, I would not start there as the system should boot most of the way even if the HDD was disconnected. I recommend re-flashing the software. This is useful because the MFDBB will boot off of a Linux formatted USB flash drive and if the system cannot be re-flashed most likely a hardware issue.

Do you happen to know the update history on the unit or what version software it is at now?
Once I know that I can put the links to the proper software files for you.

 

[Alyeska]

This error could be hardware (memory) or software (corrupt files). The OS actually resides on a CFAST card installed on the bottom side on the unit. Not totally ruling out the HDD but, I would not start there as the system should boot most of the way even if the HDD was disconnected. I recommend re-flashing the software. This is useful because the MFDBB will boot off of a Linux formatted USB flash drive and if the system cannot be re-flashed most likely a hardware issue.

Do you happen to know the update history on the unit or what version software it is at now?
Once I know that I can put the links to the proper software files for you.

Thanks so much for your quick reply. I believe that the BB is updated to 2.13, but I'm not positive. Is there a way that I can check the version while the OS is unable to start up? I've been able to boot the machine from a WinXP bootable USB stick and can at least see the directory trees and filenames on the C and D drives. Would I be able to confirm software version from that info? This BB is also networked to an MFD12 unit that is still working. Would the two units necessarily have the same software version? I'm not familiar with Linux OS, but if booting from a Linux Live USB stick would make diagnostics easier, I'm willing to learn.

Edit: I checked on my connected MFD12 and found that it's running version 2.11. I'll plan to update both the MFDBB and MFD12 to version 2.13 at the earliest possible time.

 

[Alyeska]

The OS actually resides on a CFAST card installed on the bottom side on the unit.

Aha, there it is! Though, perhaps a minor distinction, the card appears to be of the earlier Compact Flash (IDE) variety rather than the later CFAST (SATA) type, and identifies as a Turbo Industrial fixed disk as Secondary Master. Might it be a good idea to replace this card with a new industrial CF card and then flash to that card?

Also, I was able to find and download the MFDBB_1950052_0213_Kontron.zip file from the Furuno website. If I prep a USB Jump Drive from that file per the 2.13 update instruction and then run it with the new CF card installed, would that reflash the full OS to the CF card, or do I need a separate or additional flash file (or ISO image file) in order to get back to a functional OS?

 

[Titanic II]

The CFAST card is partitioned by Furuno and has the windows OS and the APP sw on it. It comes from us formatted that way. the update only updates the APP part of it.

I suggest trying the sw update and if that doesn't work then please let me know and I'll check to see what repairs can still be attempted on the older Kontron units.

We do have the programmed CFAST cards but unless we know that one is bad if would be iffy buying it and it turns out to be memory or something else.

 

[Alyeska]

The CFAST card is partitioned by Furuno and has the windows OS and the APP sw on it. It comes from us formatted that way. the update only updates the APP part of it.

I suggest trying the sw update and if that doesn't work then please let me know and I'll check to see what repairs can still be attempted on the older Kontron units.

We do have the programmed CFAST cards but unless we know that one is bad if would be iffy buying it and it turns out to be memory or something else.

Thanks for that. I booted from the jump drive and ran the downloaded 2.13 software update on the box per the 3.2 update instructions. It ran normally up until reboot, and then after the White Navnet screen appeared it went back to the same blue screen of death as before, so it never reach the "Make Auth File" stage.

I then replaced the Compact Flash card in the motherboard socket with a new formatted CF industrial card of the same size and then booted from the jump drive again and ran the same software update onto the blank CF card. Just as before with the original CF card, the update appeared to load successfully, but after reboot the OS crashed after the first white NavNet screen.

I then removed the new CF card and ran a comparison check of the new card against the original card. The two cards appear to have the exact same file and folder contents, which surprised me as I was guessing that the original card would have more or differing files. Would it be possible for you to upload an ISO file of a programmed CFAST card to my Dropbox account so that I can burn it to a new CF card and try running that on my machine? I'll send you a link in PM. Thanks!

 

[Titanic II]

I'm afraid I can't help you on that. We don't program those cards here and when we did have issues (very rare) the CFAST card simply was replaced with a preprogrammed card. The part number of for the Kontron preprogrammed card is: 001-025-930. List price is $455. I looked on the site we have access to for the Iso file and it is not there, only the update files are listed.

 

[Alyeska]

I'm afraid I can't help you on that. We don't program those cards here and when we did have issues (very rare) the CFAST card simply was replaced with a preprogrammed card. The part number of for the Kontron preprogrammed card is: 001-025-930. List price is $455. I looked on the site we have access to for the Iso file and it is not there, only the update files are listed.

Understood. If I could be sure that swapping in a fresh CFAST card would solve my system crashes, I'd jump on buying a new programmed card. But it's hard to just gamble on it. You mentioned "the update files." Would those be the same ones that are available for download on the MFDBB support page?

MFDBB_1950052_0213_Kontron.zip is the one that I've been using to try and reflash the OS.

 

[Alyeska]

Well, it turned out that the source of woe in my MFDBB was THE VIDEO CARD. I acquired a working used box on ebay, pulled the video card (ELSA Gladiac GD776-256EBGS-B1) and installed it in place of my existing card with the same model designation, and it returned the machine to normal function.

While waiting for this box to arrive I examined the OS files on the machine's CF boot drive, noticed that they were all NVidia files, and noted that the ELSA video card in a variant of the NVidia Go-Force 7600, so I acquired a used EVGA Go-Force 7600 card to try out, but with that one my machine never even made it to the point of booting the OS, so not even a Blue Screen notice.

I would love to hear from anyone else who hads success replacing their MFDBB's video card with generic card, and if so then which model number(s) worked for them. It would be great to find an inexpensive compatible video card to have on hand as spares.