perkins@bnrmtv.UUCP (Henry Perkins) (01/29/86)
I've been having some problems lately with my DeskPro. The symptoms are
that every few hours the machine will lock up, or blank the screen, or
give a divide overflow or parity error. Occasionally I will get another
error immediately after power cycling from one of these conditions.
There is no evidence to suspect a single memory chip, although I have
tried replacing several. Running the standard diagnostics shows
everything to be working properly.
I had a winchester problem recently and took the machine to the local
Businessland for servicing. They diagnosed the controller card as being
defective, but found no other problems. I have since replaced the disk
controller and processor chip (taking out the V30 and putting in a new
8086-2), with no improvement (except for the disk problem, of course).
I have a humidifier and negative ion generator, so I can probably rule out
variations in humidity or static charge. (I'm not completely convinced
of the latter, as the standard IBM color display I use sits atop the
system box and generates quite a lot of static electricity on the screen.)
The machine is about 15 months old, and my next step will be to get some
solvents and clean the boards in case dirt is causing an occasional short
somewhere.
I'd appreciate any helpful suggestions as to how I might diagnose and
correct this annoying chronic malfunction.
--
{hplabs,amdahl,3comvax}!bnrmtv!perkins --Henry Perkinsscott@ubvax.UUCP (Scott Scheiman) (01/31/86)
> I've been having some problems lately with my DeskPro.... > > I have a humidifier and negative ion generator, so I can probably rule out > variations in humidity or static charge. (I'm not completely convinced > of the latter, as the standard IBM color display I use sits atop the > system box and generates quite a lot of static electricity on the screen.) This may not apply to your actual situation, but I don't think using an ion generator near computer equipment is a very good idea at all. Those things GENERATE charged particles, most of which dissipate their charge on nearby objects. Ion generators may be used to cancel a static build-up, but only if the generator produces the opposite charge and only if it is turned off when neutrality is reached--otherwise, it will then build up its own charge on the device being neutralized (eg., those ion-generating "guns" used on phonograph records). I tried a negative-ion generator at my office once. The situation was made worse by the fact that all my furniture was made of metal. Little sparks jumped around regularly, and it definitely freaked out my terminal (just a terminal, mind you--not a full-fledged computer). I have no idea what's a safe distance between a computer and an ion generator. Good luck with your problem. -- -- "Ribbit!" Scott Scheiman (Beam Me Up, Scotty!) Industrial Networking Inc. `/\/@\/@\/\ ..decvax!decwrl!sun!megatest!ubvax!scott 3990 Freedom Circle _\ \ - / /_ (408) 496-0969 Santa Clara, CA 95050