david@kessner.denver.co.us (David Kessner) (05/12/91)
I have a 25mhz 386 computer with just about everything in it. There
is also an IIT 387 compatable FPU, 12 meg RAM, two half height 5.25"
Microscience drives, lots of cards, etc.
The math chip dies every once in a while, and turning the computer off
for several hours (it runs 24 hours a day) seems to fix the problem for
a while. For the past several days I have had the case off with a fan
blowing the CPU/FPU without any crashes. Rebooting the machine, or
turning it off and back on does not help.
Granted, I have not tested everything-- but it _seems_ to be a heat problem.
Is this reasonable? What else could I try, test wise (keep in mind
that it takes about a week of running to have the problem pop up).
If it is a heat problem, what can I do? Here is a little background
on my machine...
The hard drives run very hot, IMHO. I can hold my finger on them, but
it is very uncomfortable. The air going into the computer is 70 deg F.
While the air going out the back is 80 deg F.
It is in a tower case that is (internally) very much like a full sized
desktop case. In the rear-top is the power supply. In the front-center
are the hard drives. Below the power supply and behind the drives
(back-center) is the CPU/FPU. Now, right below the drives is a full
sized RAM board that makes a sort of "WALL" between the CPU/FPU and the
rest of the cards (at the bottom). Air is sucked in at the bottom front.
What I am wondering is: Is the RAM board messing up airflow enough to
keep the CPU/FPU too hot? (I know, impossible question).
Assuming Yes... How might I go to fix the problem? I thought of placing a
fan at the front-bottom that would blow air in (and filter it too) but I
don't know if this would make a big difference. I also thought of placing
a heat sink on the chips, but don't know how to do that to a PGA package.
The last option was to place a small fan over the chip, a fan that's about
1.5" square and 1/4 inch thick-- but I cannot imagin how to mount the thing.
Opinons? Am I barking up the wrong [binary] tree? Help!
--
David Kessner - david@kessner.denver.co.us | do {
1135 Fairfax, Denver CO 80220 (303) 377-1801 (p.m.) | . . .
If you cant flame MS-DOS, who can you flame? | } while( jones);