[comp.sys.amiga.hardware] A500 locking up, cause still unknown

jms@vanth.UUCP (Jim Shaffer) (03/18/91)

Once again I've tried to solve my A500 problem and had no luck.

For those who haven't heard it already, the system locks up entirely when
it's been running for half an hour or so and I try to use both floppy
drives at once.

The first thing I tried was replacing both CIA chips.  No change.

The second thing I tried was running a friend's A500 from my power supply,
since it had been suggested both on the net and in person that the system
was drawing too much current when it heated up (although I only have an
A501 and one external drive.)  My power supply, unfortunately, drove 2.5
meg of RAM and *two* external drives for nearly an hour, with heavy drive
use!

So the problem is obviously in my A500 (though I didn't have time to try
running it from my friend's power supply), but where?  Bad solder joints
come to mind, although it could take a long time to find one.  Before I
look (or in case I don't find anything), is anyone aware of any chips that
could be at fault?

In case it matters, running a fan behind the unit keeps the problem from
happening 99% of the time, though the noise bothers me and I don't know if
it will be enough in the summer.  Also, the system is only two years old,
it worked flawlessly for a year and then the problem started happening very
intermittently.  It has only become easily and rapidly repeatable in the
past few months.

PLEASE E-MAIL RESPONSES; I don't even *get* this group!

--
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Jim Shaffer, Jr.      | amix.commodore.com!vanth!jms | universe, Thinking is
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