tremblay@cg-atla.UUCP (Ken Tremblay) (01/06/89)
I have an 800XL that seems to have a heat problem. When the
system is on for an hour an a half the screen starts giving me
multiple characters flashing randomly. Has anyone else seen
this kind of problem ? Could it be the RAM chips ? The RAM in
my system are NEC D4164C-15 and -3. I can replace them if I knew
what to replace them with, any ideas ?
Thanks for any help.
--
Compugraphic cg-atla!tremblay
200 Ballardvale
Wilmington, Ma. ...but you knew that.ajy2208@ultb.UUCP (A.J. Yarusso ) (01/08/89)
Ken, Are you sure the problem is in the computer? I had a similiar problem with one of my 800XL's a while back, and the solution was to get a new power supply. Now it works fine, and I never had to open the computer (although it's been opened for other things... :) ) Albert Yarusso Bitnet: ajy2208@RITVAX.bitnet Usenet: ajy2208@ultb.RIT.edu "Any smoothly functioning technology will have the appearance of magic"
bkbarret@sactoh0.UUCP (Brent K. Barrett) (01/08/89)
In article <6418@cg-atla.UUCP>, tremblay@cg-atla.UUCP (Ken Tremblay) writes: > > I have an 800XL that seems to have a heat problem. When the > system is on for an hour an a half the screen starts giving me > multiple characters flashing randomly. Has anyone else seen > this kind of problem ? Could it be the RAM chips ? The RAM in I've seen exactly what you describe (provided you have an accurate description, of course). I'd be willing to bet it's the 800xl power supply, since that is what failed in my old system. They are hard to come by in the Sacramento, CA area, but they may be easier where you live (BTW, the 130Xe and 800XL power supplies are identical in output). -- "Somebody help me! I'm trapped in this computer!" Brent Barrett ..pacbell!sactoh0!bkbarret GEMAIL: B.K.BARRETT
RCH@cup.portal.com (Ric C Helton) (01/08/89)
In reference to the question on the 800XL heating up and flashing
random characters on the screen... I own an old 800 that no one can figure
out what is wrong with. I had it serviced by American Technavision
(not a good experience) and they replaced all the RAM chips and
claimed to have it in tip-top shape. It had been struck by lightning.
Well, the RAM cards had all jarred loose in shipping, so I plugged them
back in (remember that the 800 has multiple boards... XLs and XEs are all on
one board). It seemed to work fine, but after it had warmed up (say,
about 15-20 minutes) the screen started displaying horizontal rows of
seemingly random characters, then switched graphics modes, and finally
went black all together. After letting the 800 cool off, I turned it back on.
It worked fine for 10 minutes, then the same thing happened.
Our best guess was that a power transistor was going bad, or that some
screen RAM was bad. We had it checked and reserviced... They couldn't find
anything wrong. Then I had an idea.
I asked them what sort of power supply they were using. They said they had a
special bench power supply that they used to test all equipment. I was
unable to get any specs on it. The 800 uses the same power supply that the
1050s and 810s (disk drives) use, with power rating given as 31 VA. I
was thinking that possibly the overheating power transistor was drawing
more current than the power supply was
rated at, and that the special power supply used at the service place was
capable of delivering more amperage. But I have been unable to determine
exactly how much current it would take, or to find a power supply that
was rated at higher than 31 VA (34, maybe? It is a weird rating, according to
a local electronic supply house.)
If you find anything out, and if indeed this is the same problem you are havin
having, let me know what happens via mail.
-Ric RCH@cup.portal.com
Freestyle BBS 404/546-8256njd@ihlpm.ATT.COM (DiMasi) (01/10/89)
In article <611@sactoh0.UUCP>, bkbarret@sactoh0.UUCP (Brent K. Barrett) writes: > In article <6418@cg-atla.UUCP>, tremblay@cg-atla.UUCP (Ken Tremblay) writes: > > > > I have an 800XL that seems to have a heat problem. When the > > .... > .... > supply, since that is what failed in my old system. They are hard > to come by in the Sacramento, CA area, but they may be easier where > you live (BTW, the 130Xe and 800XL power supplies are identical in > output). > According to a transcript of a conference I read (or an article, I'm not entirely sure which of umpteen places I read this), the older XL power supplies were not rated (in terms of current) as high as the newer ones and XE power supp. This apparently caused some supply burn-out problems for people with memory-upgraded XL/XEs who also had P:R: Connection devices (which draw power from the %V SIO line), etc. The upshot was that the newer power supplies put out enough current to cure the problems. (1.5A vs. 1A ratings as I recall...) Nick DiMasi njd@ihlpm.ATT.COM ...att!ihlpm!njd DELPHI: TURBONICK Uni'q Digital Technologies (Fox Valley Software subsidiary; ^ working as a contractor at AT&T Bell Labs in Naperville, IL) ( | this is an accent mark, supposed to replace the dot over the 'i')
jrd@STONY-BROOK.SCRC.SYMBOLICS.COM (John R. Dunning) (01/16/89)
Date: 7 Jan 89 19:07:00 GMT
From: rochester!rit!ultb!ajy2208@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu (A.J. Yarusso )
Are you sure the problem is in the computer? I had a similiar
problem with one of my 800XL's a while back, and the solution was to get
a new power supply. Now it works fine, and I never had to open the
computer (although it's been opened for other things... :) )
I had a similar experience. My girlfriend's 800XL was acting very
peculiar; screen changing brightness, random funny characters displayed,
wedging up for no apparent reason. It turned out to be the poser supply
connector, it the little DIN plug that plugs into the back panel of the
machine. Replacing the plug solved the problem.csabrkap@ariel.unm.edu (Analog Daemon) (01/20/89)
> Date: 7 Jan 89 19:07:00 GMT > From: rochester!rit!ultb!ajy2208@cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu (A.J. Yarusso ) > > Are you sure the problem is in the computer? I had a similiar > problem with one of my 800XL's a while back, and the solution was to get > a new power supply. Now it works fine, and I never had to open the > computer (although it's been opened for other things... :) ) There is another problem that will do this sometimes. For some reason Atari forgot how to solder for awhile (wave broke or something). Some machines have the most atrocious soldering ever and this will sometimes break free and make a real mess. It will often masqurade as a thermal intermitent problem If changing P-supplies fails to solve the problem then check the solder joints at the power socket, then on the ram chips (specially if you have an upgrade) then the processors... Be seeing you ___________________________________ _________________________ / They're growing mechanical trees \/ csabrkap@ariel.unm.edu \ | they grow to thier full hieght, /\_________________________/ | then chop themselves down... \/ The Analog Daemon \ \___________________________________/\_________________________/
Chris_F_Chiesa@cup.portal.com (01/21/89)
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.