Nitsuj

CE5000

Recommended Posts

Bought a CE5000-24 from US Cutter about 3 years ago. The unit has performed well as a hobbyist machine. Recently, I turned it on, and it won't respond to anything. The display reads "NOVRAM INIT". Any ideas? I tried calling Graphtec, but they just told me to call a local service center, of which there is one, 40 miles away in another state, and he's not home at the moment. I tried US Cutter's live chat, but it keeps disconnecting me. 

 

I'm really glad I decided to spend the extra money on the Graphtec, rather than buy one of the much less expensive machines. Sure, it's more money, but what you're really getting is the longevity and fabulous customer support. ;-) 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Really? A $350 motherboard? That's a bummer. I'm sure I'm out of warranty, and I don't expect things to last forever. But gosh, I spent the extra money to supposedly get a "good" machine. I got 3 years out of it, and when I tried to call their customer service, I got a guy who was zero help, and he directed me to call a third party, who has also been zero help. I think I'll spend the $350 on one of the no-name machines. At least I know up front those may only last 3 years, and I won't feel like such a chump for spending the extra money for a name brand with the illusion of "you get what you pay for". 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Pm me if you decide to unload it and maybe we can come to terms. I have a qe60+ in need of donor parts.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Until I decide for sure what I'm doing and until I get a final repair price, I'm going to hang on to it. If I decide to get rid of it, I'll let you know. Thanks for the offer. 

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

defiantly worth fixing jay or for parts = either way.  curious if you had a surge suppressor on it as they almost never go bad - I have maybe heard of 3 in the last 8-9 years

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

No surge :( and it happened at night. My thought was that a surge would of got the pc or some of the other electronics but it's definitely a possibility. I have the repair manual courtesy of a forum member just need to find the time to troubleshoot it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Figures it's a rare problem and I'd be the one it happens to! I did have it plugged into a surge protector, actually, and didn't suffer any other equipment failure of anything plugged in my office. Must be a fluke. I imagine I'll just end up fixing it. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but logically, it would make more sense to fix a $1200 (or whatever, I don't remember) rather than buy a $400 one to replace it. I'm just a little miffed that it needs done, and more upset about the reaction of the guy at Graphtec I talked to about it. He didn't seem too concerned about helping me get it fixed. It was like I was calling a Honda dealer with a Toyota problem. I told him my issue and he just told me to go to their site and look for a service facility. I realize it's not a warranty item and I'll be out of pocket, but I'd have hoped to talk to someone a little more informative. Oh well, customer service isn't what it used to be. Thanks for the help gents.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Message me your email and I'll do it in the morning when I get to the store. I think mines a cam position sensor but haven't have time to go through the tests yet

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you want bad service call signwarehouse tech support. Told me all the arms stickers on my cutter don't mean crap and it's 500 to get it put on. Also said that their techs have a 1 in 20 success rate at getting it working. Funny thing is you plug it in and calibrate, not thst complicated.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

jay sw's support went to h#ck a couple years ago - and i think their business slowed about the same time

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

They told me to call Graphtec which is funny because the first thing Graphtec will say is Signwarehouse handles all support for the Vinyl express models. Also a bit odd a tech will tell you they have a 5% chance of success at something that is plug and play. I much prefer the knowledge on here and uscutter tech support.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So closest repair facility to me returned my call this morning. He said my error is common, and is one of 4 things. 3 cheap things and an expensive thing. (his words) The three cheap things add up to $300 with labor. (sheet switch, flexible cable, and panel relay) The expensive thing is $700 with labor. (main board) Trouble is, there's no way to diagnose it. So I have to pay the $300 to find out if I need to pay the $700. So it most likely will cost $1000ish to fix. I'm beyond disgusted right now. 

 

 I'm not paying someone $300 to guess if I need to spend $700.  I'll take a look at that repair manual and see if it has enough info to diagnose this myself. I have enough to a technical and electronic repair background to do my own labor. I just need a little bit of info. I'll post up updates in case it can help anyone else. 

 

Jaybird, my email is duc1098desmo at gmail dot com

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Got it, thanks man! When I get some time I'll see if I can possibly trouble shoot this myself. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

got a board for a roland gx24 once - think it was about $100 more than the graphtec.  sad part is you  know they make them for a few bucks.  read of people frying boards on roland printers $2,000 to $4000 for the mainboard.  usually they are trying to replace heads themselves

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now