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Author Topic: [Solved][A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot  (Read 4610 times)

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Offline rodney37

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« on: November 18, 2008, 12:46:21 AM »
Hi Gilloo,

It sounds to me like there are some problems when your A2000 warms up resulting from the raised temperature.

If you feel confident you could carefully try these things, but if unsure better ask someone professional who is very careful by nature with your vintage computer and knowledgeble about electronics:

It might be some chip or transistor overheating(like inside your power supply) or a loose connection somewhere which gets looser over higher temperature.(heat makes everything expand)

Make sure there is not a lot of dust inside your power supply preventing it from cooling properly, and feel with your hand behind the power supply's exit ventilator when it's turned on to make sure there is a reasonable wind coming out of the power supply. An A2000 original power supply has a reasonable airflow coming out, more wind than for example the average PC would blow out. If you see a lot of dust inside the power supply you could use an air compressor to blow it out (somewhere outside, not indoors). If you have to take out some dust make sure not to let too much air pressure go into the power supply, but instead only blow just enough air in to let the dust clear out, and not holding the air blowing tool's nozzle too close to the power supply. Too much pressure can damage a power supply's sensitive components which sometimes reveals itself a few months later. I always blow the air from about 10-15 cm distance into a power supply to make sure it's not too strong.

If that didn't help you could try to pull and replace each IC one by one from your mainboard's IC sockets. Make sure you are very carefully putting them back in their sockets, take your time for this job. By pulling and replacing the ICs which are socketed you can eliminate any problems from loose connections to the IC sockets. Again, especially only do this last procedure if you are confident with this kind of work, otherwise get some help from a professional. [edit: I didn't see that you already are planning this, good idea! :-) ]

If both of these previous points didn't improve anything I would suspect some bad solder joints. It's difficult to localise and you only can do it by resoldering the suspicious pins and testing afterwards. I would start with the bus buffer ICs and then move on with Buster (if any) and the Zorro slot connectors, finishing off with (if present) the small capacitors and resistors which are put in to stabilize the Zorro bus signals.

Use good judgement if you feel you can do something I mentioned yourself or if you might need help. If you do it yourself, just carefully take your time and make sure to use good lighting and the right tools for the job.

By the way, if it's the other way around (only at higher temperature your computer works well) then my suspicion would go to defective elco capacitors.

 

Offline rodney37

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2008, 07:42:30 PM »
Quote
Is it the end of my A2000 ?

I would not say so until you checked all the possible causes because I think the A2000 is very durable. The chips are of good quality, they don't really get that hot to have a limited lifespan because of high operating temperature, and there is a good airflow in the case to keep things cool.

I believe it's either overheating of your power supply causing the voltages to become unstable or a loose connection somewhere. In many cases this can be remedied. When electronics become old they sometimes need some maintenance such as reseating ICs and reflowing(resoldering) some solder contacts. Also remember to check the airflow of your power supply, perhaps the fan needs to be replaced. If it does, don't use a standard PC fan but a fan which makes more RPMs, remember, the power supply fan is also responsible for the airflow inside your A2000 case.

Another thing to check would be your buster chip since it is now identified which one it is and that your A2000 indeed has one. Keep the A2000 on for half an hour with the cover on without the screws, then after half an hour turn it off, take off the cover and try to feel the buster chip with your finger to see if it gets really hot.

I'm curious to know your findings, is there a lot of dust inside the power supply, do you think the dust might cause some overheating when you look inside through the back?