Apollo 060 Hot - Is it broken?? :-(

[paul1981]

If I plug the Apollo in tho, even after a few minutes waiting no insert disk screen comes up and after removing the Apollo card, I noticed that the 060 is very warm especially after only being turned on for a couple of minutes.

What could be the cause of the problems? Could it be the oscillator or voltage regulator?? Is my Apollo card broken :-( (I am hoping to heck it isnt & its a simple fix).

Any help greatly appreciated.

All accelerator cards get hot. The king of heat is the 68040 however. It sounds to me like it's just the corrosion from the leaked battery, so send it off to someone who has an extremely good reputation with Apollo cards and these types of repair. And yes, you ought to think about cooling the CPU in the future. Even a case fan is better than nothing, but usually people tend to direct air onto the CPU  or fit a heat sink. I have an Apollo 1240 which has a fan directly on the CPU (that was factory).

[paul1981]

From looking at that photo AmiBoy, it looks as though a clean up and replacement of the jumpers could get the card working again, but there are some traces which might have been damaged through the leakage in and around that IC area. If you're sending the card off for repair anyway then obviously let them remove the battery themselves as they would have had plenty of practice with this. To be honest it doesn't look all too bad so I'm positive you'll have it up and running again with some TLC.

[paul1981]

@Brian Hoskins

I do use the vinegar/lemon juice, mostly on leaked battery terminals. When you apply it you can hear it sizzle as it neutralises. It may bubble slightly too I can't remember.

[paul1981]

If memory serves, you only really get the slight bubbling and sizzling with a more recent leak. I think the longer it's been spilt then the weaker the reaction. This makes sense as the alkaline substance gets weaker as it dissolves whatever it can, and the air will carry some of it away too (and spread it in the vacinity unfortunately). If you wash the board without first neutralising it then you risk spreading the leakage onto other areas of the board (rinsing for example).

So, it would be your second option, but I suppose if there's no sizzle then the alkaline leakage isn't so strong and you could wash it away thoroughly with a clear conscience. I like to use a toothbrush and plenty of running water. I live in a hard water area though... you can't win 'em all I suppose! IPA to then clean the area again and also remove the sulphites from the water. Then I'd probably rinse it again with my hard water even though I shouldn't. I don't take it too seriously to be honest, as long as I know it's clean and I have washed away the leakage and the board is clean then I'd be happy. 

Plenty of dry time too before power on due to moisture under IC's etc. We just have to be sensible and I don't think you can go too far wrong. Don't use a hair dryer or similar because that would induce static. Just be sensible about things and it'll be fine.

[paul1981]

I wouldn't use the toothbrush unless the area is very wet or there is actual running water (due to static concerns).
As for the hair dryer, I didn't mean the hair dryer itself but the object that you are pointing it at. A flow of air causes friction which can build static on the object.

[paul1981]

I just want to add that all the 68K CPU's run hot in my experience. Even the 68000 (7MHz) in my A500 does. As does my 68020 in my A1200 (14MHz). I know there's varying levels of 'hotness' but put it this way, you could easily melt some cheese on them. The 68040 could easily fry some bacon and eggs.