Hasselblad Flextight X5 Help

[Louis Little]

Hi All,

I work for a busy photographic studio in London, UK and have recently run into a problem with the Hasselblad Flextight X5 we use. Normally I'd go to Hasselblad direct but since its only been a few weeks since its last service and these services take between 4-6 weeks I thought I'd try an alternative way of self-diagnosing the problem. I'd like to point out that the scanner is well beyond it's warranty.

We recently took on a scanning job for another photographer who needs 60-70 3f's made. As I sat down with him to process the first couple we, rather embarrassingly, ran into an unusual problem. I wondered if anyone on the forum had experienced this themselves and if they had found a way to fix the issue? I've included some screen grabs to help illustrate what I'm talking about here. The scanner seems to run into trouble processing the preview which comes through incredibly mixed up. this usually results in the holder not being ejected or Flexcolour crashing completely halfway through the preview. The only way around the problem is to shut the scanner down completely, usually with the negative halfway through, along with Flexcolour. I then have to re-boot the scanner and Flexcolour only for the problem to re-occur one or two scans down the line. As you can imagine working like this is incredibly frustrating and I can't find any fix online.

I wondered if anyone on the forum has any extensive knowledge of the X5 or Flexcolour that might be of use.

Here are some attachments:




Thanks very much in advance,

Louis

[Rolfe Tessem]

It sounds like the scanner needs to recalibrate itself. I've had this happen after it eats a holder due to operator error.

The solution in my case (on a 949) was to open the bottom and retrieve the holder. Doing that somehow forced the scanner to recalibrate and all has been well since. Since this only takes a few minutes, it might be worth a try...

Rolfe

[PhotoToyo]

Did you, by chance, have any other firewire peripherals plugged into the computer while scanning (say, a hard drive for example)? FlexColor is notorious for freaking out when firewire hard drives are plugged in while scanning and this often results in strange artifacts or "scanner not found" errors.

Just a thought.

[Michael Rosenberg]

I have not had this problem with my Imacon 848, but I did have an issue that turned out to be the firewire card. Try getting a new firewire card (less than 25 USD), but make sure it is a powered firewire card.

Mike

[grahamcase]

Louis, did you ever solve this issue? This is the only example of this problem I've been able to come across, so I thought I'd check in with you (and hope that you will read this!) Thanks!

Graham

[Don Dudenbostel]

I have a similar problem with my 848. I bought it refurbished from Hasselblad USA. It worked perfectly for a period but while under warranty it would start scrambling scans and or previews after about 30 minutes of operation. It would lockup the software and sometimes the scan. As above I had to shut it down and restart but all scans would fail after that. Some came out blank, some scrambled and some incomplete. It even rearranged parts of the image.

I tried everything Hasselblad tech suggested. I got a new power supply, FireWire, repaired permissions and updated as well as downgrades firmware. I installed different versions of their software on three different computers with different OS. One was Windows xp and two were Macs with different OS. I bought new FireWire cables as well. No luck with anything.

when I shut the scanner down and would let it sit for several hours it would operate properly for 30-45 minutes again then fail. While still under warranty I sent it to Hasselblad USA. They kept it for a couple of weeks and ran it with an auto feeder for a full day and said it worked perfectly. They sent it back and again after 30 minutes or so of use it failed.

I wasn't able to pin Hasselblad down and get any answers. Funny thing, after it was out of warranty Hasselblad said it was most likely the mother board which is $2000 ( at that time).

I rarely scan now so I just use it until it fails then scan more later.

In researching I found other instances of this. One took his scanner to a computer tech that had the proper equipment to do precise soldering on circiit boards. It turns out that the heating and cooling of the motherboard components can cause some of the solder joints to fail after heating up.

Careful examination with a high power magnifier might reveal a poor solder joint or crack in the board. What I'm thinking of doing is remove the motherboard and do a high res X-ray. I own the X-ray equipment to do high res inspection X-rays on electronic circuits. This would reveal a microscopic crack in a circuit and possibly a bad solder joint. If I find a problem I'll locate someone that can resolved it if I feel I can't.

About 20 years ago I used to rent A Dycomed scanning back. After a period of running it would go crazy and do about the same as the 848. Several trips back to the service tech revealed nothing but after put of warranty it was discovered there was a bad solder joint. How amazing!when it heated up it would expand and lose continuity.

[bridget]

Hi, everyone,
I'm currently having the same issues as Don Dudenbostel, and Louis Little.

I've had my machine (x5) (2nd hand) for only 1 year, it's only done about 1200 scans in that time and it's having some serious issues. Images coming in corrupt and it sometimes stops scanning during a scan.
I've taken it to CR Kennedy in Melbourne, Australia (where I bought it from initially) and they are now telling me that I need a new mainboard. The mainboard is going to cost $4000, and the machine was purchased for $10,000 just over a year ago.

It's a pretty bad situation to be in, as I feel like CR Kennedy have basically sold me a lemon of a machine.
I'd be happy to get someone else to check it out, if anyone else has had a similar issue? Any advice would be excellent.
Thanks!

[Tim V]

It’s hard in NZ and Aus with this stuff, I feel for you. Service costs are crazy compared to our US and EU friends. I recently had a main board replaced I think... I’ll see if I can find the receipt, but it wasn’t anywhere near that money. I have a 949 and X1.