Instead of buying compressed air: Take your well used machine, cover
off,  to your local service station, having gotten approval ahead of
time to apply, for 15 seconds,  the same compresed air the mechanics use
to dry or blow dust out of auto parts.  

said Harry, stirred by:
     rallee2{at}comcast.net's message of:
     Wednesday 14 Feb 07 at 09:30 PM,
     On: Re: [OS2HW] Too many cords on outlet
     [echoed below, in part<=1]
                      -oOo-

Hello
  Hope it's OK to top-post on this one as I hope to keep my reply
fairly short and I see no need to reply to any series of items.  While
Power Supply problems especially on a machine this old (likely not even
ATX style PS) are quite common especially if the then common
mediocre-at-best quality was/is used, your problem sound more like a
heat problem.  Incidentally overloading a circuit can cause low
voltages which conversely increases amperage as long as the breaker
holds, increasing both thermal and system instability. Incidentally, it
is not impossible to acquire AT PS's for free if other avenues fail or
you determine the PS is faulty.
  There are numerous things one can and should do to maintain thermal
stability.  Starting with the CPU if it doesn't have a fan-cooled
heatsink one should be created even if all that means is robbing a 12v
fan out of a defunct PS or the like and installing an additional case
fan.  If the heatsink came with that ridiculous "thermal" tape between
the hs and cpu body I highly recommend razoring it off (it sux brand
new and dries out to worse over time even as will proper thermal grease
although that works substantially better and lasts longer) cleaning it
up (even "lapping" for best fit if he or you are industrious) and
installing new silicone grease (might cost a dollar or so and should be
good for several applications since only BB sized "pellets" should be
administered) and properly seating for re-install checking for square
fit.  They often sit "cattywhompus" offerring almost zero contact
surface due to off-centered spring clip which can be rectified by
wiggling it around a bit t o compensate and center the downforce.  

  If he has a video card from a newer era, even of the TNT2 type, it is
helpful to utilize an old 486 fan to whisk away the considerable heat
from the GPU an video ram. In any case make sure the vidcard is  free
from dust bunnies.  Obviously and as someone else mentioned it is
imortant to clean and verify function of any other fans including the
one(s) in the PS.  If he can't/won't afford a can of compressed air it
really isn't hard to disassemble most PS's and employ an old paint
brush to whisk away the bunnies..  You might be surprised to know that
those wide ribbon cables can cause a system to overheat and especially
in a seasonal way ie winter where the PC might be near a house heating
source and/oe summer if one doesn't use AC.  If the heat source can't
be separated from the PC it can be very helpful to wrap and/or route
cabling so as to minimize airflow restriction within the case.

 There are websites devoted to "how to's" for improving thermal
conditions in PCs so either ask here or google away at your discretion,
since thermal considerations are as high or higher on the list of
likely causes as compared to gone dead components, especially given the
intermittent nature of his system's failure.

Hope this helps
Jimmy


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: os24u{at}wisdomtree.info
>  Worked on friend's old Pentium 166 running Warp 3 on weekend.  Box
will freeze 
> each day, sometimes in half an hour, the next 3 hours.
> No discernible time frame.   Screen remains displayed at whatever activity it 
> was at.  Warm reboot unavailable.  Only solution is kill power
> switch.   Until it appears to cool down nothing displays when rebooting.  No 
> hard drive activity, no bios display, screen blank.  No peripheral
> drives function.  Cpu and hard drive function as normal once cool down period 
> has passed.
> 
>  Appears one of 3 possibilities:
> 
>   1. A chip on board is failing.    Throw away board
>    2. Power supply is fluctuating/failing.   Have multimeter to test voltage.  
> Is that sufficient?  How much voltage variance is normal?
>   3.  Computer in an old house attached to 2 power bars on 1 electric
outlet.    
> There must be 6 to 8 plugs attached to the same outlet.
>         Would the computer freeze from too many power attachments on
power bars?
> 
>  Fellow is a pensioner who worked on military electronics thirty years ago and 
> informs me that the draw from all these cords from 1 outlet
> would not exceed capacity.  Am skeptical of that as I do not believe
he realizes 
> the sensitivity of computers to voltage.
> 
> Can other electrical devices attached to same outlet disturb the computer?   
> There is the computer, monitor, printer, cable modem, router,
> cordless telephone, some type of household battery charger and
perhaps another I 
> can not remember.  Further the cordless phone base
> which is an old model (maybe 20 years) sits right beside the computer.  
> 
>  I suspect interference from another device but the old fellow thinks he knows 
> all about electronics compared to myself and will not change
> anything on my speculation.  He cannot spend even $20 replacing parts at 
> present, therefore best option appears trying to remove
> interference sources first.   
> 
> Am I on the right track?
> 
>         Cal
> 
> 




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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HPT
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DemostiX
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