Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvca!abrown From: abrown@hpcvca.CV.HP.COM (Allen Brown) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: system lockup problem continues Message-ID: <18770003@hpcvca.CV.HP.COM> Date: 24 Jan 91 20:03:44 GMT References: Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, Oregon Lines: 40 > Furthermore, the problem gets much worse when the system has been on > for a while and has heated up. Keeping a fan running to cool the > system helps a lot. The second suggestion also didn't seem relevant, > because the fan was blowing on the system rather than on the power > supply. That doesn't eliminate the power supply. You have stirred up the air all around the system. The power supply benefits along with the rest of the system. And the fact that starting up the floppy triggers it strongly suggests that the power supply is involved, since that involves a surge of power. > Does anyone know what the next step should be? To repeat the problem, > my A500 locks up totally when I try to use the floppy drives after the > system has been running for about an hour. (When it's cool, it's > fine.) > -- > Jim Shaffer, Jr. | amix.commodore.com!vanth!jms | endless compromises Depends on how adventurous you are. I think that you have demonstrated that the problem is temperature related. So the next step is determining what device(s) are vulnerable. If this was a TV, you could wait until it fails and then use a spray coolant to find what needs to be cooled to make it work again. That probably won't work with a computer. So you could use the opposite approach. Use a heat gun (such as a hair dryer) to heat sections of your computer. When you heat the weak part the system should fail pretty quickly. Now a hair dryer is very poor at directionality. So once you have isolated the problem to perhaps a tenth of the system you can do the same test again with a soldering iron on individual components. #define DISCLAIMER The procedure described above may be capable of damaging your system. Use at your own risk. If you don't know what you are doing, pay a professional to fix it. -- Allen Brown abrown@cv.hp.com or abrown%hpcvca@hplabs.hp.com or hplabs!hpcvca!abrown or "Hey you!" Not representing my employer. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. ---G. K. Chesterton