Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!ames!pasteur!cory.Berkeley.EDU!witt
From: witt@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Wolf Carsten Witt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Help! My 386 is dead.
Message-ID: <15154@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 4 Jul 89 17:47:59 GMT
Sender: news@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU
Reply-To: witt@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Wolf Carsten Witt)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 48

Hello.

Today my trusty 386 PC died, and I don't know why. If anybody out there has
any idea about what the problem might be, I'd greatly appreciate any help I
could get.

My system configuration is (was?) as follows:
*	Micronics 20 MHz 386 system board revision A
	(80386 chip is only a 16 MHz chip)
*	20 MHz 80387 installed on Micronics 387 adapter revision D
*	2 MByte of 32 bit, 80 nsec static column RAM installed on Micronics
	memory board
*	1.5 MByte of 16 bit, 120/150 nsec DRAM installed on AST Advantage
*	Paradise VGA Professional with NEC Multisync II
*	Western Digital WD1006V-MM2 floppy/hard disk controller (1:1)
*	TEAC 1.2 MByte, 5.25 in floppy drive
*	Sony 1.44 MByte, 3.5 in floppy drive
*	Maxtor XT1085 hard disk (first physical hard disk)
*	Seagate ST251-1 hard disk (second physical hard disk)
*	Logitech hi-res mouse
*	Logitech ScanMan
*	Serial/parallel I/O card

I had been working on the machine for about half an hour without any
problems when I left it alone to go to dinner. Approximatly two hours later
I returned and noticed a weird clicking sound coming from the Maxtor drive.
In addition, the screen would not reactivate after a key stroke to wake up
the screen blanker. Ctrl-Alt-Del and the reset button had no effect. I shut
the machine down and powered it back up... no dice. The machine did not
display the BIOS start-up message, didn't beep, nothing! The Maxtor also did
not make its usual power-up buzz (for those who have heard a Maxtor XT1085
start) but just kept clicking. The ST251-1, however, seemed to be resetting
properly.

Since, there seems to be something wrong with the Maxtor, I disconnected the
hard disks and tried to restart the computer. After that failed, I removed
all non-essential boards from the machine, checked the power supply,
replaced the video board and disk controller with two others I had, but
still there was no sign of life from the computer. I also noticed that the
CMOS battery pack was very low, and therefore replaced the batteries, but,
of course, that didn't fix anything either.

If I can't get the 386 to work again, I'm in trouble, so if you have any
suggestions about what I could do to try to fix it, please send me e-mail.

Thanks.

Wolf Witt, the desperate