witt@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Wolf Carsten Witt) (07/05/89)
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