How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

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christophe
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:58 am
Casablanca Unit: Casablanca Prestige
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How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

Post by christophe »

Hello everybody,
First of all, excuse me for the faults, because I'm french (sorry for my english).
My father is working (on a daily basis) with a Casablanca Prestige (provided with a 160 Gb Maxtor hard drive with Smart Edit 9.1).

He bought this system in 2011 @ Macrosystems France. Unfortunately, the subsidiary company company no longer exists.
The SmartMedia card was not provided when the Prestige when purchased.
The traditional hourglass is visible at startup (at the upper left corner), and shortly after, I have a perpetual black screen ; the OS is stuck (black screen visible with SCART, VGA, composite out). I must shutdown the unit with the power button.

According to windows, the hard drive seems to be in a perfect shape. (under Crystal Disk Info ; no errors or delays with HDD Regenerator).

I've already tried to :

- Burn a new CD (ISO : http://www.macrosystem.de/uploads/tx_bm ... lation.zip)
The DVD-Burner doesn't boot at startup. The DVD provided with my Casablanca doesn't boot either.
- I've bought a 64Mb smartmedia (FAT formatted ; brand : Olympus), and I've copied-and-pasted the content of the ISO on the smartmedia card.
Unfortunately, the smartmedia card is not recognized (red cross at startup = wrong smartmedia card). The FAT filesystem is correct ?
Which files must be copied on my smartmedia ?
- I've bought a new ATA cable, the hard drive remains stuck on the black screen.
- I've made a clone of my Maxtor hard drive with Acronis True Image.
The cloned hard drive in not recognized (Casablanca is asking for the smartmedia at the upper left corner displaying a flashing arrow indicating that the
Smartmedia should be inserted).

I'm really stuck ; If it's possible, could someone send me the files needed to reinstall the OS. If so, I will copy/paste theses files to my Smartmedia card.
It would be greatly appreciated.

If needed, i can provide the S/N of my Prestige and my original invoice (printed by Macrosystems France in 2011).

Thank's a lot :D
Christophe
CKNewman
Posts: 604
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:56 am
Casablanca Unit: Windows computer with Bogart SE 13.3, Arabesk 7, Audio Effects Pack v1.2b, Motion 3D XL-1 Pack 1, Sentry HD-Backup, Disk Juggler, Power Key, Aspector, Chromit, Effects Pack 8, Effect Pack 9, PiP Studio 3, Time-X, Ultimate Spice Box HD, Slivers, PIP Studio 4 ; Older windows computer with Bogart 8.4, Arabesk 7; Kron Plus with SE 8.3, most Generation 2 software except for CB Paint, Columbus, titling add-ons, and graphics symbols. Various TVs and a Kenner Give-A-Show Projector
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

Post by CKNewman »

You might try this using the disc that was supplied when you purchased the machine:

1) Power up the Prestige

2) Insert the CD with the ISO files of the operating system and software on it in the DVD drawer, close the drawer, and immediately turn off the Prestige.

3) Wait a few seconds and then turn the Prestige back on. If this works, the Prestige will boot from the CD or DVD in the drawer.

I would suggest a couple of things here; make a copy of the disc that was supplied by Macrosystem France, and backup your projects to tape.

The Prestige was introduced in 2002 and discontinued after a few years, so even if your machine was refurbished when you purchased it, it won't last forever. The stand alone Casablanca editors that came out after the Prestige have been discontinued. The Casablanca software has been ported to run on computers running Microsoft Windows and steadily updated. It is called Bogart for Windows and now works with both standard definition and high definition video. If your father is familiar with using Windows computers you may want to consider making the switch. There is a company in England that may be able to help you (and closer than the U.S.) called Dalco; their website is http://www.dalco.co.uk/index.html

Best of luck!
Craig Newman
christophe
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:58 am
Casablanca Unit: Casablanca Prestige
Contact:

Re: How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

Post by christophe »

Hi,
First of all, thank you for your quick response.

I've tried your technique (several times) without success. I've read that my Prestige won't be able to boot from a CD (same remark for Avio, Kron...). On the opposite side, Prestige Plus and the latters models (Renomeee, Solitaire) are able to do so. The smartmedia is the only solution to restore the system. To my mind, programs stored on the Macrosystem France CD are only usable with a working OS.

I've also tried to :
- Change the DVD drive (same problem, no boot).
- Move the location of the RAM - slot 1 to slot 2 (doesn't work)

If I was able to collect :

- The list of the files needed on the smartmedia
- The filesystem of the smartmedia (FAT, FAT32 or Vxworks DOSFS ?)
- The name of the volume of the smartmedia (descriptive name that you assign to disk).

... I'm pretty confident I could reinstall the OS on my new harddrive (200Gb Maxtor ready for installation, instead of my old 160Gb Maxtor)
I'll try to contact Drako, thank you ;) I am aware that the Prestige system is outdated, but it would work flawlessly with a new installation (and a new hard drive).

Thank you for your help, greatly appreciated :)
Christophe
CKNewman
Posts: 604
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:56 am
Casablanca Unit: Windows computer with Bogart SE 13.3, Arabesk 7, Audio Effects Pack v1.2b, Motion 3D XL-1 Pack 1, Sentry HD-Backup, Disk Juggler, Power Key, Aspector, Chromit, Effects Pack 8, Effect Pack 9, PiP Studio 3, Time-X, Ultimate Spice Box HD, Slivers, PIP Studio 4 ; Older windows computer with Bogart 8.4, Arabesk 7; Kron Plus with SE 8.3, most Generation 2 software except for CB Paint, Columbus, titling add-ons, and graphics symbols. Various TVs and a Kenner Give-A-Show Projector
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

Post by CKNewman »

Another thing you could try is leaving the unit unplugged for a couple of days. It works sometimes with some machines. :idea:

I have no idea how the Smart Cards with software were formatted.

I am wondering if the power supply is the problem; can you hear the hard drive spinning? :?:

The most recent Pioneer DVD drives that were used in the U.S. were the 116D or 117D. It had to have the letter 'D' ..... not 'L'. I do not know if this was the case in France.

I am wondering if there are other Casablanca users in France that perhaps were members of a video club or organization when the Prestige came out. If you can locate one of these people they may be able to point you in the right direction. You might look into a second hand store, or a video equipment store that has a used equipment section. I am sorry I can't shed more light on a solution for your Prestige.

There were Generation 2 models that came out after the Prestige that also ran the Smart Edit software. Those models ran faster too. Perhaps you can locate one that your father could use.

I wish you good luck! :)
Craig Newman
christophe
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:58 am
Casablanca Unit: Casablanca Prestige
Contact:

Re: How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

Post by christophe »

Thank you again for your message. I've contacted Michael Dyson from dalco.co.uk.

He told me : "You can’t boot a Prestige from a DVD start-up disc and ‘you’ can’t write the special v9.1 system file to a Smart Media card. The card has to be written on a special machine, here, to make it bootable - as long as the hard drive is ok (which it sounds like it is)."

Just as I feared, the smartmedia was dosfs formatted (Vxworks specific format, but FAT compatible). He will send me a smartmedia w/ Smart Edit 9.1 (for 25€). I'll keep you informed in a few days ! It should work, fingers crossed :)

The drive is spinning at startup.

One last question : The prestige CPU is a Celeron PGA 370 850Mhz (lol :D ) / 128Ko cache / FSB : 100 Mhz - 1.75V / sSpec number : SL54Q
Would it possible to upgrade the CPU ? :
cf : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_I ... 8180_nm.29

A Celeron 1100 Mhz would fit perfectly (same characteristics, same voltage / consumption). The CPU cooler is small and noisy, but it should be compatible with the motherboard. A Pentium Coppermine may work, and it would be much faster ;)

See you soon :)
CKNewman
Posts: 604
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:56 am
Casablanca Unit: Windows computer with Bogart SE 13.3, Arabesk 7, Audio Effects Pack v1.2b, Motion 3D XL-1 Pack 1, Sentry HD-Backup, Disk Juggler, Power Key, Aspector, Chromit, Effects Pack 8, Effect Pack 9, PiP Studio 3, Time-X, Ultimate Spice Box HD, Slivers, PIP Studio 4 ; Older windows computer with Bogart 8.4, Arabesk 7; Kron Plus with SE 8.3, most Generation 2 software except for CB Paint, Columbus, titling add-ons, and graphics symbols. Various TVs and a Kenner Give-A-Show Projector
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Re: How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

Post by CKNewman »

I certainly hope that Smart Card will get you up and running again :!:

I am not sure that replacing the processor in your father's Prestige is such a good idea. Generation 2 Casablanca editors were not PCs; they were dedicated computers running Smart Edit software. They were designed and built from the ground up to work with the software. The software itself was written very efficiently using the available system resources. :ugeek:

I would be concerned that upgrading to a faster processor may not increase the speed all that much due to the speed of the other parts of the system like the memory, motherboard, graphics processing, and more. Speed bottlenecks may arise that could disrupt the system or worse. :o

I believe that if your father knows how to use a PC then it would be a better idea to start using Casablanca Bogart software. What kind of video is your father editing :?: ? What will he do when he wants to edit HD video :?:
Craig Newman
christophe
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:58 am
Casablanca Unit: Casablanca Prestige
Contact:

Re: How to revive my Casablanca Prestige ?

Post by christophe »

Hi,

I've received the smart card yesterday, and my casablanca is up and running again :D
Just as I suspected, the 160Gb maxtor hard drive (provided by MacroSystem France) was the weak point of the system.

I've inserted the smart media, the Maxtor 160Gb asked me for an update & the machine rebooted... and the problem remained (black screen after the prestige logo).

2nd step : I've swapped the hard drives... for my 200Gb Maxtor (never used / blank drive). The installation was flawless. Perfect & quick boot.
Last step : Installation of Arabesk 4 via the DVD-ROM provided by Macrosystem France.

Casablanca repaired :)

As expected, the SM card is not recognized by Windows... Therefore, I cannot make a backup copy (tested without success with Acronis 2018, DriveImage XML, HDD Raw Copy). Vxworks Dosfs is not widespread, too bad.

For the processor, I'll ask the question to Mr Dyson.
My father isn't computer savvy, he browse the internet with a PC (he's 78 y. old). The learning curve is consequent with Windows, even if Bogard seems familiar.

Thank's again for your help !! I would'nt have contacted dalco.co.uk without your indications.
Best regards :)
Christophe
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