klimperi@uafhp.uark.edu (Kurt Limperis) (05/20/91)
Sometimes my machine hangs for no apparent reason. This has happened in windows, at the dos prompt, in the middle of a floppy read, on the 11th disk during the borland c installation program, etc. Immeadiately after the hang I have to power off/on sometimes up to 10 times to get it to come back. During the power cycling, my keyboard lights will flash and the harddrive light will come on for a second and go out and I'll be staring at a blank screen. Even the reset button will not work during these episodes. I checked all the connections. I sent my motherboard back to have it checked out (and cache replaced - another story). It came back with no problems found (sent it directly to AMI). Could it be the power supply? If so, how do you check it? Or... I noticed that the power connector (the one that's attached to the motherboard) is a little loose. It will rock back and forth with no effort. My system: Touche AMI 386-33 w/64k cache 4 meg RAM 200 Meg Maxtor IDE Orchid Prodesigner II and Sony 1304 HG 1.2 Meg and 1.44 Meg floppies Thanks in advance. Kurt Limperis University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
skipm@dorsai (Dorsai SysOp) (06/01/91)
klimperi@uafhp.uark.edu (Kurt Limperis) writes: > Could it be the power supply? If so, how do you check it? Or... I noticed > that the power connector (the one that's attached to the motherboard) is > a little loose. It will rock back and forth with no effort. > There should be (2) power connectors labeled P8 & P9. From the left edge of the power connector with the connector facing you with the pin side unexposed, P8 goes first followed by P9. Check the rating of your power supply -0 it should be at least 200W. Best way to check a power supply is to use a multimeter, and look at the readings off of one of the drive power cables. On most power connectors, black is ground, yellow is +5VDC, and red is +12VDC. You can accept values for anything up to +/- 0.5VDC on the power supply - anything else than that, you could be runnning into problems. Also make sure that there's nothing "random" rolling on the bottom of the case between the bottom and the solder side of your motherboard. Also ensure that your power supply is properly grounded via it's power cable to the wall. Skip ************************************************************************** ** SkipM@DORSAI.com - The Dorsai Embassy / Dorsai Diplomatic Mission ** ** (Systems Manager) - Consulate : (212) 431-1944 ** ************************************************************************** ** "The difference between a good man, and a bad man, is the choice of ** ** cause." - Unknown ** **************************************************************************
mstr@vipunen.hut.fi (Markus Strand) (06/02/91)
In article <e7eV34w163w@dorsai> skipm@dorsai (Dorsai SysOp) writes: >klimperi@uafhp.uark.edu (Kurt Limperis) writes: >off of one of the drive power cables. On most power connectors, >black is ground, yellow is +5VDC, and red is +12VDC. You can accept ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ NO. On most power supplies is red +5VDC and yellow is +12VDC. Markus Strand mstr@vipunen.hut.fi
roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail) (06/03/91)
skipm@dorsai (Dorsai SysOp) writes: > Best way to > check a power supply is to use a multimeter, and look at the readings > off of one of the drive power cables. You should remember that most switching power supplies will not output anything if they are not loaded. This means you need to have _something_ drawing power from the supply, or it will shut down. A floppy drive will do the trick. I've seen people fooled by this effect several times. > On most power connectors, > black is ground, yellow is +5VDC, and red is +12VDC. It's best to check this carefully. I remember a Tandy supply that was exactly the opposite! (quite embarrasing to my ex-business partner, who hooked up a drive using the standard colors... in front of the customer who wished to buy the drive) -- Roy M. Silvernail -- roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu - OR- cybrspc!roy@cs.umn.edu perl -e '$x = 1/20; print "Just my \$$x! (adjusted for inflation)\n"' "What do you mean, you've never been to Alpha Centauri?" -- Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz