Steven Hirsch

I'm experiencing a rash of motherboard failures and am now down to my last
working Rom3 GS. If anyone has a Rom3 motherboard they'd like to part with at
a reasonable price, please contact me in private e-mail?

Thanks.

I wish this old stuff would last forever, but that's plainly not the case.

Steve

ict@ccess

On Jan 10, 7:12*am, Steven Hirsch <snhir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm experiencing a rash of motherboard failures and am now down to my last
> working Rom3 GS. *If anyone has a Rom3 motherboard they'd like to part with at
> a reasonable price, please contact me in private e-mail?
>
> Thanks.
>
> I wish this old stuff would last forever, but that's plainly not the case..
>
> Steve

What exactly are you doing that the rest of us should avoid doing?

Rob

Bill Garber

"Steven Hirsch" <snhirsch@gmail.com> wrote in message news:U6udnYbTpa2vpJHSnZ2dnUVZ_rednZ2d@giganews.com ...
> I'm experiencing a rash of motherboard failures and am
> now down to my last working Rom3 GS. If anyone has a
> Rom3 motherboard they'd like to part with at a reasonable
> price, please contact me in private e-mail?
>
> Thanks.
>
> I wish this old stuff would last forever,
> but that's plainly not the case.

Steve,

Are these happening with NO cards in the board,
everything set to default?

If so, what are the failures exactly? I'd offer
you a ROM03, as well, but, I have the same 2 that
I've been using for several years, and could use
a few extras myself. Maybe I can get you to send
them to me for analysis and possible repair.

Bill

Steven Hirsch

On 01/10/2012 12:57 PM, Bill Garber wrote:
>
> "Steven Hirsch"<snhirsch@gmail.com> wrote in message news:U6udnYbTpa2vpJHSnZ2dnUVZ_rednZ2d@giganews.com ...
>> I'm experiencing a rash of motherboard failures and am
>> now down to my last working Rom3 GS. If anyone has a
>> Rom3 motherboard they'd like to part with at a reasonable
>> price, please contact me in private e-mail?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> I wish this old stuff would last forever,
>> but that's plainly not the case.

> Are these happening with NO cards in the board,
> everything set to default?

This particular ROM3 has been slowly, slowly getting flakier over the past few
years. Now it's down to the point where I can pull all the boards out of it,
including the memory card, and it will boot from a floppy. If _any_ other
board is installed, it crashes midway through the boot.

The first thing I swapped out was the power supply (for a Little-Power unit),
so that wasn't the problem. The unit originally was running:

Applied Ingenuity Innerdrive
ZipGSX
Uthernet
Ramfast Rev. D
Chinook Ram 4000 w/ AE Ramkeeper

But, again, I started pulling things out one by one (I did put the original
65816 CPU back in) and it wouldn't boot even from a floppy drive until
_everything_ was out.

This is definitely a motherboard failure.

> If so, what are the failures exactly? I'd offer
> you a ROM03, as well, but, I have the same 2 that
> I've been using for several years, and could use
> a few extras myself. Maybe I can get you to send
> them to me for analysis and possible repair.

No worries, Bill. I smoked the ROM1 with my own stupidity (too embarrassing
to talk about). This one died on its own.

Steve

Kevin Dady

On Jan 10, 7:08*pm, Steven Hirsch <snhir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 01/10/2012 12:57 PM, Bill Garber wrote:
>
>
>
> > "Steven Hirsch"<snhir...@gmail.com> *wrote in messagenews:U6udnYbTpa2vpJHSnZ2dnUVZ_rednZ2d@gigan ews.com...
> >> I'm experiencing a rash of motherboard failures and am
> >> now down to my last working Rom3 GS. *If anyone has a
> >> Rom3 motherboard they'd like to part with at a reasonable
> >> price, please contact me in private e-mail?
>
> >> Thanks.
>
> >> I wish this old stuff would last forever,
> >> but that's plainly not the case.
> > Are these happening with NO cards in the board,
> > everything set to default?
>
> This particular ROM3 has been slowly, slowly getting flakier over the past few
> years. *Now it's down to the point where I can pull all the boards out of it,
> including the memory card, and it will boot from a floppy. *If _any_ other
> board is installed, it crashes midway through the boot.
>
> The first thing I swapped out was the power supply (for a Little-Power unit),
> so that wasn't the problem. *The unit originally was running:
>
> Applied Ingenuity Innerdrive
> ZipGSX
> Uthernet
> Ramfast Rev. D
> Chinook Ram 4000 w/ AE Ramkeeper
>
> But, again, I started pulling things out one by one (I did put the original
> 65816 CPU back in) and it wouldn't boot even from a floppy drive until
> _everything_ was out.
>
> This is definitely a motherboard failure.
>
> > If so, what are the failures exactly? *I'd offer
> > you a ROM03, as well, but, I have the same 2 that
> > I've been using for several years, and could use
> > a few extras myself. *Maybe I can get you to send
> > them to me for analysis and possible repair.
>
> No worries, Bill. *I smoked the ROM1 with my own stupidity (too embarrassing
> to talk about). *This one died on its own.
>
> Steve

sounds like caps

Steven Hirsch

On 01/10/2012 12:57 PM, Bill Garber wrote:

> If so, what are the failures exactly? I'd offer
> you a ROM03, as well, but, I have the same 2 that
> I've been using for several years, and could use
> a few extras myself. Maybe I can get you to send
> them to me for analysis and possible repair.

Ok, here's the best part of it (almost forgot):

With no cards at all installed, running the stock 65816, you can hear the Disk
3.5 coming out of the system speaker! (No, I do not have a microphone
installed :-)). All seeks and motor speed changes are emitted. I thought I
was imagining things, but this is for real.

After it gets to the desktop, you can hear a rhythmic ticking.

Steve

Steven Hirsch

On 01/10/2012 08:15 PM, Steven Hirsch wrote:
> On 01/10/2012 12:57 PM, Bill Garber wrote:
>
>> If so, what are the failures exactly? I'd offer
>> you a ROM03, as well, but, I have the same 2 that
>> I've been using for several years, and could use
>> a few extras myself. Maybe I can get you to send
>> them to me for analysis and possible repair.
>
> Ok, here's the best part of it (almost forgot):
>
> With no cards at all installed, running the stock 65816, you can hear the Disk
> 3.5 coming out of the system speaker! (No, I do not have a microphone
> installed :-)). All seeks and motor speed changes are emitted. I thought I was
> imagining things, but this is for real.
>
> After it gets to the desktop, you can hear a rhythmic ticking.

It just keeps getting better.... I did say I pulled all the cards from the
unit. The one thing I didn't do was pull the Appletalk phonenet adapter out
of the rear. When I did that, the unit came to life.

Now here's the bizarre part: If I had the adapter plugged into the unit, it
hung during boot. EVEN WHEN NOT CONNECTED TO THE NETWORK! I tried four
different adapters - same thing. I tried my last Rom3 - same thing.

Just when I was convinced I was losing it completely, I pulled the
Little-Power and put in a stock GS power supply. It booted immediately and
the audio weirdness and instability is gone.

Can anyone make sense of this? I'm going to have a beer...

Steve

mwillegal

Could be a ground or power supply issue. Check input voltage levels. Withpower disconected, compare resistance between power and ground for each power supply input with a good board and your board - don't expect exact match, but it should be in similar range. Check power off resistance between various ground points on the motherboard and power supply ground.

Steven Hirsch

On 01/10/2012 09:26 PM, mwillegal wrote:

> Could be a ground or power supply issue. Check input voltage levels. With
> power disconected, compare resistance between power and ground for each
> power supply input with a good board and your board - don't expect exact
> match, but it should be in similar range. Check power off resistance
> between various ground points on the motherboard and power supply ground.


Both the primary system AND my backup GS (mis)behaved in the same manner with
the LittlePower connected. The voltages look fine, but I'm thinking it may
not provide a solid ground reference. That would account for the Disk 3.5
current waveform emerging from the speaker, and may also explain the freezeups
with the Phonenet transformer. I'll bet that looks like a relatively
low-impedance load and may push the ground-bounce over the edge.

When I'm a little fresher tomorrow, I'll put a scope on the rails and find out
what's going on. This is all just speculation at the moment.

All of this merriment is peripheral to the original instability of the first
GS, which happened with the Innerdrive power supply... Probably two unrelated
issues.

Fun stuff!

Steve

Bill Garber

"Steven Hirsch" <snhirsch@gmail.com> wrote in message news:EtydnV9istmxaJHSnZ2dnUVZ_tOdnZ2d@giganews.com ...
> On 01/10/2012 09:26 PM, mwillegal wrote:
>
>> Could be a ground or power supply issue. Check input voltage levels. With
>> power disconected, compare resistance between power and ground for each
>> power supply input with a good board and your board - don't expect exact
>> match, but it should be in similar range. Check power off resistance
>> between various ground points on the motherboard and power supply ground.
>
>
> Both the primary system AND my backup GS (mis)behaved in the same manner with
> the LittlePower connected. The voltages look fine, but I'm thinking it may
> not provide a solid ground reference. That would account for the Disk 3.5
> current waveform emerging from the speaker, and may also explain the freezeups
> with the Phonenet transformer. I'll bet that looks like a relatively
> low-impedance load and may push the ground-bounce over the edge.
>
> When I'm a little fresher tomorrow, I'll put a scope on the rails and find out
> what's going on. This is all just speculation at the moment.
>
> All of this merriment is peripheral to the original instability of the first
> GS, which happened with the Innerdrive power supply... Probably two unrelated
> issues.
>
> Fun stuff!

Ain't it though??? 8o)

Now try putting back the rest ( minus the AppleTalk PhoneNet ) one at a time
until something kills it. Sounds like you could have a short in the Primary
serial port ( printer port ) if that is from where you were PhoneNetting.

I agree with the Caps theory.

Bill