Blizzard PPC Crisis

[kgrach]

I have suffered from the same problems on my PPC card. The problem with mine was some of the caps were starting to go and "leak" not physically but electrically. Solved the problem by replacing some of the caps and I replaced the Lithium battery on the board that too had gone dead.

Now the onboard clock which turned flakey awhile back has now gone completely dead. Time for me to fix the dang thing again. I also loaded the dumb thing with heatsinks on anything that got hot including the SCSI chip. placing a heatsink on the SCSI chip almost doubled the Hard drive transfer rates.

feel the board while it is on chips should get warm not the Capacitors if they are warm or hot they are bad and should be replaced. Or you could buy a cap checker.

here are two pictures that I just took of my PPC card.

640x480 picture of my ppc

Big picture of my ppc with arrows pointing to what capacitors that I am talking about.

[kgrach]

That about the speed I get now 8-9 depends on the partition and the drive. The speed used to drop to 3.1~3.5 after being on for an hour or so.
The heat sink helps keep the speed consistant nomatter how long or big the transfer.

touch the scsi chip after doing a partition tranfer it do get hot.

Heat kills chips degrades and reduces the life span of components. keeping things cool really will prelong the life of your hardware.

[kgrach]

@lempkee

Same speeds you get 8-9 depending on drive and partition. The problem was after an hour or so of usage the speed used to dump to 3.1~3.5 and after prelonged usage in the summer start to give errors.

I think it was Amiga format who once suggested putting a coin under the heatshink so that it extended to the SCSI chip and help cool it down.

[kgrach]

@lempkee

The SCSI chip only gets hot when it is worked. Lots of large file transfers burning CD's and such. CD burning was my major reason for putting the Heatsink on the chip I remember having to burn 250 CD's one night and I had the case open and a big fan blowing on the chip so as not to get frisbee's.

No don't glue a coin to the chip. The Magazines idea was to wedge a coin under the original heat sink so it connected to the scsi chip the idea was so it would tranfer heat to the original heat sink and be disapated. Brrrr!

Me I would just glue a stand alone heat sink on it using thermal epoxy. Or you could use the double sided heat sink tape. I once had a bad experience using double sided heat sink tape on the SCSI chip during one demonstration at a local users group in the middle of the demo there came a tinkling sound from inside the case like someone droped a pair of keys. The machine froze and reboots resulted in nothing. The thing fell off and shorted things out as it tumbled down the inside of the case.

I now use Artic Silver Epoxy on all my heatsinks.
Thermal tape works good too mine held on for years but my computers spends a great deal of time on the road and NY potholes are a killer.

So I like using the epoxy.

Kgrach

one of the hottest chips on the PPC board one that will remove skin is the one on the opposite side of the PPC down by the connector. If it gets hot put a heat sink on it.

one more to add to this marathon post don't use crazy glue. The heat will evaporate it and the heatsink will fall off.

Use only glue or tape made for heatsinks.

you know what would work good buy one of those chipset cooling sets they cost under a tenner they come with three heat sinks and a fan inludes the proper tape and stuff. The southbridge cooler is a perfect fit for the SCSI chip.

[kgrach]

@CU_Amiga

probaly too late but buy an AT power supply if thats what you originally had in the tower.
AT has two six pin power connectors labled P8&P9
make sure you have all the black wires facing each when you reconnect it. Example!
 org red yel blu blk blk blk blk blk white red red red

ATX has one twenty pin power connector.

Worst case come back here and we can show you how to make an ATX adapter that will work with your setup.

Or you can buy one from Elbox or Me I make a few different ones.

[kgrach]

@lempkee

I got an Voodoo 5500 in my A1200 havn't really tried any 3D games with it other than Wipeout 2097 and heretic II. It works great as far as I can see. Havn't tried it with Freespace or Quake II yet

KGrach