philip@hazel.stl.stc.co.uk (Philip Hobson) (01/19/90)
I have an Amstrad 2086 single floppy drive machine with a 12" HRCD. Connected to it I have a 5.25 external disk drive and a 32 Megabyte hardcard. What has happened is that the base unit has powered itself off 3 times now. The first time was after about 1 hours use when no disk accesses were taking place. The second time was just after the C> prompt had appeared after switching on the computer. These incidents were over a month apart. Other symptoms include a slight dimming in contrast on the screen every now and again and a variation in fan noise, which again is intermittent. After the second power down I became concerned and had an engineer come and replace the computers power supply unit. However after leaving just the base unit on overnight with only a C> showing on the monitor (before switching the monitor off) I woke up to find the base unit powered down. (Powered down meaning the base unit it in effect off although the power switch is on - the fan is stopped and the power light is off). Another test was leaving both the monitor and unit on with a program running. This was successful for 12 hours when I decided I would switch the computer off. The screen dimming is still occurring intermittently and the last power off described above was after the power supply unit had been replaced. Does any body have any idea what it could be? - The monitor drawing to much power? (Why so intermittently?) - Dodgy power supply unit? (HAd it changed) - Dodgy motherboard? (Every thing works?) - Mains supply dodgy (lights and TV don't cut out when computert did) - Hard card drawing to much power? ( No access or use of hardcard made on over night test) - Power supply wattage to low? ( They are meant to handle these things? Any way someone else I know has a similar setup and has had no problems) Apart from these intermittent faults everything works fine. Last time the screen had a bout of dimming I think I saw the power light on the base unit flicker ever so littlely? Any help or suggestions a.s.a.p would be most appreciated Please e-mail me personally. Thankyou Phil Hobson
emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) (01/24/90)
In article <2608@stl.stc.co.uk>, philip@hazel.stl.stc.co.uk (Philip Hobson) writes: > > (before switching the monitor off) I woke up to find the base unit > powered down. (Powered down meaning the base unit it in effect off although > the power switch is on - the fan is stopped and the power light is off). > [deleted] This is the power supply's safety overload cutout. Given that you've had it replaced, either you've got more add-ons than it can handle, or one of them is trying to self-destruct, but being saved by the PSU. Although accessing the drive does require more power, it's a thirsty beast even when unused, and personally, I doubt that Sugar allows his designers to build in more than the bare minimum of spare PSU capacity. Bear in mind too, that the electricity supply in many areas may vary by up to 20% of nominal between on-peak and off-peak times. This may be in violation of regulations, but it happens just the same. try removing one board each night to isolate a faulty one before you switch to a higher wattage PSU, or you might come down to a heap of cinders.. Good luck, you may need it! Dave E.