wdh@holos0.uucp (Weaver Hickerson) (11/15/90)
My old NCR Tower 1632 is now refusing to boot, preferring to say Bus error - Address 00001665 In order that I might be able to get it running again, and still retain my arms and legs, I'd love to be able to fix it myself or enlist the aid of one of the more hardware oriented acquaintences. It is not on maintenance, so would be expensive to have NCR's field engineers look at. I know that is probably the best route, but I'm looking for a workable, CHEAPER, alternative. Does anybody have any advice as to what this particular error might be telling me. I've contacted NCR about getting a hardware service manual. That should shed some light if I'm able to get one. Any help will be appreciated. I have a sentimental attachment to this old box. Weaver -- -Weaver Hickerson Voice (404) 496-1358 : ..!edu!gatech!holos0!wdh
vause@cs-col.Columbia.NCR.COM (Sam Vause) (11/15/90)
In article <1990Nov14.200733.4827@holos0.uucp> wdh@holos0.uucp (Weaver Hickerson) writes: >My old NCR Tower 1632 is now refusing to boot, preferring to say >Bus error - Address 00001665 > >In order that I might be able to get it running again, and still retain my >arms and legs, I'd love to be able to fix it myself or enlist the aid of >one of the more hardware oriented acquaintences. It is not on maintenance, >so would be expensive to have NCR's field engineers look at. I know that >is probably the best route, but I'm looking for a workable, CHEAPER, >alternative. Does anybody have any advice as to what this particular error >might be telling me. I've contacted NCR about getting a hardware service >manual. That should shed some light if I'm able to get one. > >Any help will be appreciated. I have a sentimental attachment to this old >box. Well, this machine is really starting to show it's age--the first model appeared nearly 7-1/2 years ago! Some suggestion: 1) Remove *ALL* components from the machine--drives, cables, etc. Make sure that you make *CAREFUL* notes on the placement of components, device placement, strapping, etc. The only thing that you will end up leaving in the frame is the power supply cabling, and the Multibus 1 backplane. *MAKE SURE THAT YOU FOLLOW PROPER STATIC PRECAUTION GUIDE- LINES!!!!!!!!* You may consider dis-assembling the Power Supply; I cannot say one way or the other whether this is a good idea. If you look into the sides of it, and notice too much accumulates, you may opt to take it apart. From memory, I think that all of the internal boards connect to edge connectors on a main backplane of some sort, so there might be only slight problems with dis-assembly/re-assembly. Good Luck! 2) Thoroughly re-seat all socketed components on their respective boards, and vacuum the boards to free them of any heat-retentive dust. Clean all Multibus edge connectors with a product similar to "Gold Wipe"; check Radio Shack for something like it... 3) Vacuum the frame and cables to remove any loose dust, hair, etc. The fans are pretty good, and the machine will accumulate a *LOT* of unpleasant remainders of previous entities over the course of a couple of years! Concentrate a lot of vacuum efforts on the Multibus backplane: there is a lot of nearly-invisible dust and other accumulates on the mating surfaces of the pins, and they will contribute to the errors you are reporting... In fact, "Gold Wipe" might not be too bad of an idea here, also. 4) Re-install all of the components into the frame, making sure that you are careful with the disk drives, etc. Sometimes, they have components that are not within the normal confines of the 5.25" requirements. 5) When you have completed all components re-installation, make sure that things look like they did originally, and power the machine on. When the SUS (Start-Up Subsystem) menu appears on the system console, choose the "Test" selection, and run all available tests. If everything is okay, great! If everything is not okay, bummer... You will get to make an executive decision: do you call NCR Field Engineering (pretty good idea at this point), or do you try to unload all boards from the Multibus, and add them one at a time until the problem appears again? If you go through all of these steps, but still have problems, you will need to call NCR. Good Luck! --sam +---------------------------------------------------------------+ |Sam Vause, NCR Corporation, Customer Services - TOWER Support | |3325 Platt Springs Road, West Columbia, SC 29169 (803) 791-6953| | vause@cs-col.Columbia.NCR.COM | | ...!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!cs-col!vause | | ...!ucbvax!sdcsvax!ncr-sd!ncrcae!cs-col!vause | +---------------------------------------------------------------+