Astro Saber programming issue

[mbnv992]

All of a sudden I cannot program any of my Astro Sabers anymore. Same cable and RIB that I’ve been using for 10 years or so. When I go to read a radio ( does this on ALL of my Astro Sabers ) - the RIB “data” red light flashed very briefly, then says “cannot communicate to the radio” but the radio itself beeps and says “ 1 CSQ” on the display like it wants to work but just stays there. I’ve never had this issue before. The RIB is hooked up to a Serial Port connector via USB. I took off the RIB and hooked up my MTS/XTS3000 cable and it reads and writes fine so it’s not that cable. I’m thinking my RIB has gone bad ?
I have the RIB hooked up to a power source from the wall like I always do, no battery.
When I get more time I’ll use my ancient laptop with a real serial port and see how the RIB does with that just to see if it still works.
As of now I’m at a complete loss why I can’t read or write to any of my Astro Sabers.
Funny enough, I’m getting this same error with my Astro Specreas as well on my RibLess cable ( cannot communicate with radio ) and getting a brief Fail 01/90 message.
My setup has worked flawlessly in the past with all of these said radios now everything is going wonky. My laptop has not had any software updates or anything ( it’s a 2007 Thinkpad T61 running Windows Vista 32 BIT )

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nokones]

All of a sudden I cannot program any of my Astro Sabers anymore. Same cable and RIB that I’ve been using for 10 years or so. When I go to read a radio ( does this on ALL of my Astro Sabers ) - the RIB “data” red light flashed very briefly, then says “cannot communicate to the radio” but the radio itself beeps and says “ 1 CSQ” on the display like it wants to work but just stays there. I’ve never had this issue before. The RIB is hooked up to a Serial Port connector via USB. I took off the RIB and hooked up my MTS/XTS3000 cable and it reads and writes fine so it’s not that cable. I’m thinking my RIB has gone bad ?
I have the RIB hooked up to a power source from the wall like I always do, no battery.
When I get more time I’ll use my ancient laptop with a real serial port and see how the RIB does with that just to see if it still works.
As of now I’m at a complete loss why I can’t read or write to any of my Astro Sabers.
Funny enough, I’m getting this same error with my Astro Specreas as well on my RibLess cable ( cannot communicate with radio ) and getting a brief Fail 01/90 message.
My setup has worked flawlessly in the past with all of these said radios now everything is going wonky. My laptop has not had any software updates or anything ( it’s a 2007 Thinkpad T61 running Windows Vista 32 BIT )

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe the external power supply took a dump. Put a 9V battery in the RIB and see if that helps.

Also, you might want to try a Blue Max 49ers RIBless cables with the DB9 for the Astro Saber. Give them a call and consult with them. They are always willing to help.

I believe the "Fail 1/90" is a fatal error and it is very possible that your radio may be a paper weight now.

Where in Arizona do you live. You can come buy and see if I can program your radio.

 

[mbnv992]

Thank you for your help - but my RIB definitely crapped the bed. I did a process of elimination and hooked up my RIB direct to a serial port of one of my super old laptops that always works and the RIB isn’t getting any communication with that laptop either even with a real serial port.
I think one of the issues with this RIB is I do something I never did before with it - attached a battery to it for power ( a 9V ) since I had to run in the garage to program an Astro Spectra in the trunk of a car and didn’t want to run the power cable out there.
Putting the battery in it must have messed up the internals somehow because weather on battery power or AC power it’s not communicating to any computer now. The “power” green light is on on the RIB and it’s making that high pitched noise it usually makes when there’s power going to it but - nothing. It’s not communicating with any radio.

 

[mbnv992]

Not sure how often RIB’s fail - but this one is from Kawamall and is at least 10 years old. Still have no clue why it just randomly stopped working. I inspected all cables to make sure they were all on tight, tripple checked my AC power supply and that works great ( same one I’ve always used on it ). So - something internally must have fried so it doesn’t want to communicate with the computer.

I ordered a new RIB from BrokenStolenRadios.com so hopefully this new RIB solves the issue.

 

[nokones]

I'm not sure I would want to risk turning my Motorola radios into paper weights with non- Motorola RIB boxes. My 35 year old Motorola RIB box is working just fine on my 30-40 year old radios and I'm sure I'll get my more years on it.

 

[wa8pyr]

I'm not sure I would want to risk turning my Motorola radios into paper weights with non- Motorola RIB boxes. My 35 year old Motorola RIB box is working just fine on my 30-40 year old radios and I'm sure I'll get my more years on it.

I've got an original Moto RIB which still works great except for a flaky power switch. Also have the kit RIB that was on eBay years ago that has both the DB25 connector for use with normal programming cables, and the RJ45 connector for the Maxtrac/Radius/Etc radios, which you can select with a switch. Both work just fine, had both for years.

At one job I did use for awhile one of the el-cheapo RIBs like the one from Kawamall, and it got flaky after awhile.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Components age in computers, too, and eventually they go far enough out of spec that they may no longer meet specifications. You could lose the RS232 serial bus functionality when certain capacitors age, for example.
Even the Motorola RIB box has components in it that can be affected by age, but it would be a minor effort to replace the capacitors in an RLN4008 RIB box. Just a little time and a few dollars for the parts.

 

[mbnv992]

I ordered another RIB should be here tomorrow. I’ll let everyone know if that was the issue. ( it should definitely be - I checked every other possibility ).

 

[FFPM571]

I'm not sure I would want to risk turning my Motorola radios into paper weights with non- Motorola RIB boxes. My 35 year old Motorola RIB box is working just fine on my 30-40 year old radios and I'm sure I'll get my more years on it.

I used non OEM for years never had an issue..

 

[mbnv992]

Update to my original post -
Got the new RIB in the mail today - and - everything works 100% as it should again. My Astro Sabers read and write to the CPS with zero issues. So - my RIB took a dump. Lasted me 10-11 ish years so not too bad for an aftermarket RIB. Let’s see how long this one lasts ( this one is a “MaxtonData” RIB off the famous eBay ). The old one that took a dump I think I also bought off eBay but it was a KaWaMall branded one.

 

[N4DES]

The on/off switch on the OEM RIB's are an issue where the connection to the circuit board becomes intermittent.
10 minutes with a soldering iron and solder will usually bring it back to life.

 

[mbnv992]

Also for what it’s worth - both Astro Spectra’s that were giving me “Communication With Radio Failed” error as well with my RIBless cable. Tried it with the new RIB and DB25 programming cable and it reads and writes just like new again.
I find it odd that both my RIB AND RIBless Astro Spectra programming cables took a dump at the same time.
Needless to say - I promptly threw the old RIB and old Programming cable in the nearest trash bin.