Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Chris_F_Chiesa From: Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Re: Heat problem ??? Message-ID: <13760@cup.portal.com> Date: 21 Jan 89 00:20:51 GMT References: <19890115205251.7.JRD@MOA.SCRC.Symbolics.COM> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 34 Hm, since we're all discussing heat-related problems... My 800 began experiencing problems several years ago that gradually got worse and worse. First, most things ran fine EXCEPT AtariWriter -- THAT would run fine MOST of the time, but would OCCASIONALLY go crazy, scrolling the LEFT HALF ONLY of the editing screen (or, sometimes, popping up one or ano- ther of the menu screens, and scrolling half of THAT) when any key was hit. The problem was originally confined to occurring only at the main menu or in the editing window, and only happened about 10% of the time. A friend with an 800XL experienced NO trouble running the SAME AtariWriter entity (i.e., MINE in HIS machine worked fine). Over the next few years the prob- lem gradually got worse, until last summer when the temps were 100+ degrees, when I found nearly EVERY program going visually insane after a certain time of continuous machine operation. Finally, even a short (2-sector!) graphics demo of my own writing, would randomly bomb out, eliminating my early worry that maybe something was wrong with the other, larger software packages I had... I took it to a service place that handled Ataris, but (gee, this sounds fa- miliar) they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Of course, they were looking at it in an air-conditioned shop, whereas the problem occurred in my un-AC'd apartment... My solution? I bought a used 800 XL from a friend, and mothballed the 800 against future hopes of diagnosis. And my only gripe: found out several MONTHS later, that the service place had neglected to re-install the five screws in the underside of the 800, that hold the case together... went back, they were nice about giving me screws, but those turned out to be the WRONG ONES. This all happened right before I moved 600 mi. away, so I'm still short on those screws... sigh... Good luck to y'all with YOUR problems.