[ale] Losing stability

[Charles Shapiro]

Aha. Looks like the motherboard fell victim to the Capacitor Plague (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague ) all right.
Out of about 40 electrolytic can capacitors on the board, 26 of them show
signs of bloating or have actually burst.  I pulled the motherboard and got
a new one at MicroSeconds, but it appears DOA. When I plug it up in minimal
boot configuration (processor, 1 memory stick installed, power, reset, front
lights, monitor, keyboard plugged in), and hit the power switch, I see the
fans come on, hear the drives power up, and hear a single very soft click
from the speaker -- but nothing comes up on the monitor and I hear no
diagnostic beeps. I'm gonna go wrassle with the clerks today. What fun.

-- CHS


On 11/2/06, Charles Shapiro <hooterpincher at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I figure I'll return the stuff I don't install.
>
> -- CHS
>
> On 11/2/06, Calvin Harrigan <charriglists at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> >
> > Charles Shapiro wrote:
> > > Hmm. Welp, a couple nights ago I tried running memtest86+ on it (after
> > > several failed boot attempts) and it looked good for the 30 minutes or
> > > so I had to run it. Looked like a full run would take 2 hours or more.
> >
> > >
> > > Last night, I was actually home long enough to try again. This time I
> > > had no failed boots, but memtest86+ failed consistently.
> > >
> > > So my current operating plan is to go to MicroSeconds Saturday and buy
> >
> > > another stick of memory, a power supply, and a Socket A motherboard.
> > > Then I'll easter-egg 'em in starting with the memory until I'm
> > > convinced I've  found the trouble.
> > >
> > > -- CHS
> > >
> > >
> > > On 10/30/06, *Charles Shapiro* <hooterpincher at gmail.com
> > > <mailto:hooterpincher at gmail.com>> wrote:
> > >
> > >     My main box at home is having Serious Troubles.  On startup it
> > >     often will hang (no screen output) with the CD light lit steady
> > >     until I press & hold the "off" switch to retry. Other behaviors
> > >     include appearing to start up and then emitting random beeps
> > >     through the speaker with no screen output, or giving random core
> > >     dumps on various scripts in /etc/init.d.  I've also experienced
> > >     spontaneous reboots and random hangs/program failures in X
> > >     windows.  The "memory speed" number given in the initial startup
> > >     screen sometimes changes from boot-up to boot-up as well.  The
> > >     system is a home-brew about 4 years old and lightly used; leadtek
> > >     WinFast K-series MB, athlon chip, cheap simple video card, single
> > >     512 MB DRAM stick. Processor temperatures appear to be within
> > >     acceptable ranges, at least according to the "syshealth" part of
> > >     the BIOS. I've enabled the full memory test in the POST, but so
> > >     far that hasn't picked up any problems.
> > >
> > >     I'm thinking that the problem is either memory or motherboard.
> > >     I've removed, air-blasted, and re-seated the memory stick in a new
> > >     slot without change in behavior. At  this point I'm considering
> > >     getting some new memory and, if that doesn't change the behavior,
> > >     replacing the motherboard.
> > >
> > >     Does this seem reasonable? The clock appears steady, so I'm
> > >     assuming the BIOS battery is OK, but perhaps that's a factor?
> > >
> > >     -- CHS
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Ale mailing list
> > > Ale at ale.org
> > > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> > Seems like an expensive route.  Why not just start with the memory?
> >
> > Calvin...
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> >
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...