Motorola Astro VHF Problem

ffjwhite

Member
May 21, 2010
1,082
Bombay, NY
Ok, well my department decided to move our VHF radio to another spot and messed something up. I am not sure what it is as everything looks right, however on power up the radio go into a self check mode and then says Fail 01/90. Anyone know what this means? We can call our local radio guy but its 90 bucks for them to just look at it. I normally do all the lights and radio in the department but someone decided to do the move without telling me first and I am sure they messed something up on there own. If anyone can help me that would be great. Thanks
 

GSPD

Member
May 21, 2010
159
NY
FAIL 01/90


We must point out that we do not claim this will work every time especially if you are trying to alter an MLM for extra features.


While reprogramming a Spectra, power accidently got killed to the radio. You know what happened next... FAIL 01/90.


The next day, we decided to do some programming on a VHF Syntor X9000. Well everything was on the bench, including the Spectra that got toasted. Not paying attention to what we were doing, everything was hooked up, and when we turned on the 9000 control head, some weird fail codes appeared.


After tracing the cable from the head, we realized it was connected to the Spectra. We had accidently put the Syntor X9000 head on the Spectra. More importantly, we noticed that the radio was no longer the the dreaded FAIL 01/90. Being curious, we put the A7 head back on the Spectra, and sure enough got the FAIL 01/90 cycle.


We put the 9000 head back on and went through the standard procedures like re-entering the serial number and reprogramming the radio. Well it worked. The radio came back to life.


This was tried on a couple different radios (scrambling them and recovering them). Each time when putting the Syntor X9000 head on the radio, it would cause the radio to stay on so that we could refresh the MLM back to its original state.


Again, we do not recommend this practice for modifying an MLM, only to as a last resort to try and restore it.


There are some other things to check if you are getting a FAIL 01/90. These are listed below:


If you are using it as the second head, change it to the primary and see if it still fails. If it works, you need a new dual interconnect port for your remotes.


If that is not the problem, then check all the pins on the head. Make sure all of them are getting continuity on the board and through the cable. I have had some that had bad pins and I ended up flowing some solder on them to get them to make better contact when the cable was hooked up.


You might also check the solder connections on the control head board, and trace them through out the head. You might have a failed SMD somewhere that is keeping a signal from getting through. I recently picked up a 1066 that would not key up. I ended up putting a jumper across the PTT pin at the mic connector to the PTT line on the cable connector. I found that alot of the A9 heads start to go bad at the pin connectors and the layered boards because to much flexing and pressure applied when constantly removing or cheap installation.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Here's some information from Batlabs .........and more listed in the following post!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

GSPD

Member
May 21, 2010
159
NY
Spectra and Astro Spectra Error and Fail Codes:


This list was extracted from the Astro Spectra Basic Service Manual. There is some duplication and redefinition of codes due to extra circuitry in the Astro Spectra radios.


Error Code Description Corrective Action


ERROR 01/02 External EEPROM checksum non-fatal error Reprogram the codeplug


ERROR 01/02 FLASH ROM Codeplug Checksum Reprogram the codeplug


ERROR 01/12 Security Partition Checksum Reprogram the security partition


ERROR 01/22 Tuning Codeplug Checksum Reprogram the tuning partition


FAIL 01/81 ROM checksum failure Reprogram the FLASH memory


FAIL 01/81 FLASH ROM Checksum Reprogram the radio firmware


FAIL 01/82 External EEPROM checksum failure Reprogram the codeplug


FAIL 01/82 FLASH ROM Codeplug Checksum Reprogram the codeplug


ERROR 01/84 EEPROM is blank Program the EEPROM


FAIL 01/88 RAM failure, not a checksum failure Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 01/88 External RAM Fail Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 01/90 General hardware failure Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 01/92 Internal EEPROM checksum failure Reprogram the codeplug


FAIL 01/92 Security Partition Checksum Reprogram the security partition


FAIL 01/93 Flashport AUTHENT CODE Failure Replace the VOCON board


FAIL 01/98 Internal RAM Failure Replace the VOCON board


FAIL 01/A2 Tuning Codeplug Checksum Reprogram the tuning partition


ERROR 02/10 DSP support IC checksum non-fatal error Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 02/81 DSP ROM checksum failure Reprogram the FLASH memory


FAIL 02/81 DSP ROM Checksum Reprogram the DSP firmware


FAIL 02/82 DSP RAM 1 failure Replace the VOCON board


FAIL 02/84 DSP RAM 2 failure Replace the VOCON board


FAIL 02/88 DSP RAM failure, not a checksum failure Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 02/90 General DSP hardware failure


(DSP startup message not received correctly) Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 02/A0 ADSIC checksum failure Replace the VOCON board


ERROR 05/10 Control head not communicating with radio Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 05/81 Control head ROM checksum failure Replace the control head


ERROR 06/10 Aux Control Head Hardware Error Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 06/81 Aux Control Head ROM Checksum Error Replace the aux control head


ERROR 08/10 Siren/PA not communicating with radio Turn the radio off, then on


ERROR 08/10 Siren Hardware Error Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 08/81 Siren ROM Checksum Error Replace the siren


ERROR 09/10 Secure option not communicating with radio Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 09/90 Secure Hardware Fatal Error Replace the secure module


ERROR 12/10 VRS Hardware Error Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 12/81 VRS ROM Checksum Error Replace the VRS


ERROR 1C/10 TRC Hardware Error Turn the radio off, then on


FAIL 1C/81 TRC ROM Checksum Error Replace the TRC


Here's a list and possible causes........
 

SoloRTP

Member
May 22, 2011
144
NV, USA
ffjwhite said:
Ok, well my department decided to move our VHF radio to another spot and messed something up. I am not sure what it is as everything looks right, however on power up the radio go into a self check mode and then says Fail 01/90. Anyone know what this means?

Yes, it means that someone forgot to PULL POWER PRIMARILY, FIX FUSE FINALLY. That is, the first thing you do is disconnect power, and the last thing you do is connect power.


When you disconnect a multi-pin connector, they don't all break circuit at the same instant. This is like randomly jumping various pins, singly or in combination, and it only takes a microsecond or two to cause problems. This was an annoyance in the days of tube radios (imagine the relay pulling in to XMIT through a cold tube), but can be disastrous in a microprocessor-controlled radio.
 

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