Re: DS10L hanging problem, tracking it down


bob.birch@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
Rich Jordan wrote:
JF Mezei wrote:
Rich Jordan wrote:
ends up warmer outside, I might also turn on the A/C and duct air
directly to the DS10 inlets. This is the last shot, may as well do a
thorough job of it before spending real money to replace it.

If it is an not-obvious problem like a failed fan etc, then the odds are
that one or more chips are getting near their death and any warming up
causes flakieness. If the only way to keep the system running is to
constantly pour liquid nitrogen on the unit, it may satisfy your hobbyists
curiosity, but it wouldn't result in a viable system.

Note: Once my old mac failed to boot. Not even some sad mac icon on the
display. Pretty scary. Turns out that removing the CPU daughterboard and
putting it back in fixed the problem. No idea what would have caused it to
fail between the time I turned it off and the time I turned it back on the
next day. Random glitch caused by the alignement of Venus with regards to
Alpha Centuri.

So sometimes, there are things that can be done to "permanently" fix some
glitch. But other times, it is a lost cause.

A powercycle is by far the most common time for hardware failures to
occur. Could be thermal, could be a capacitor or other component
failing when the output voltage upsurges, etc. Machines left on tend
to last longest. unfortunately this DS10L was left on all the time,
but failed anyway.

Have you looked at the caps on the mobo ?
Found this at sci.electronics.repair with some pics
of bad caps....maybe, maybe not...
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30328/article.html

Motherboard Capacitor Problem Blows Up
Faulty electrolytic capacitors could be a ticking time-bomb in
your PC. Here's how to identify the problem Symptoms
When these capacitors fail, the signs are generally quite obvious.
The top of the case may be split open or "bulged" upward and/or
the can may be dislodged from its base (the rubber seal). There
may also be an unpleasant smell and signs of electrolyte leakage
nearby.
Even more obvious is the muffled explosion followed by the blank
screen.
Thankfully, we've heard that this failure mode is quite rare!
However, before catastrophic failure eventuates, all kinds of
annoying symptoms can occur. These can range from intermittent
boot failures to lock-ups in Windows. Eventually, the affected PC
will refuse to boot at all, perhaps even before the culprits have
showed themselves!


Not a fan, and all removable parts/cables/connectors have been removed
and reseated. The cold test will tell the rest, although even if that
passes its still time to replace the box. Its just nice to know the
cause when things break.

Rich

I remember the story from a few years ago. No sign of burnt
components, blown caps, etc, on the motherboard, and it passed the
sniff test easily. No discoloration of the motherboard, power
connection points, etc.

Thanks for responding.

Rich

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: DS10L hanging problem, tracking it down
    ... Once my old mac failed to boot. ... A powercycle is by far the most common time for hardware failures to ... Motherboard Capacitor Problem Blows Up ... Here's how to identify the problem Symptoms ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: DS10L hanging problem, tracking it down
    ... Once my old mac failed to boot. ... A powercycle is by far the most common time for hardware failures to ... Motherboard Capacitor Problem Blows Up ... Here's how to identify the problem Symptoms ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: PC wont turn on after adding new cpu
    ... purple 5, green 5 grey 0 ... Pressed the front power switch, ... could blame the motherboard for this, ... With the incident with the capacitor, you can break where the wire ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: Low ESR Tantalum Failure due to Power On- Design Fix?
    ... have found a lot of pages on Tantalum Capacitor failures, ... It is connected to a DC to DC power supply board with a number ... I am using 47 uF 35 volt Tantalum Low ESR ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: A7V8X startup problem
    ... > I have an Asus A7V8X motherboard in a machine that is mostly used to ... > powered by a 350 watt power supply. ... I would perform a cold boot and the monitor would usually ... That prevents the capacitor ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)