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  • Commodore 128 problem, help?

    From Dan Fisher@danfisher@nospam.kc.rr.com to comp.sys.cbm on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 20:32:06
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.cbm

    Can someone point me in the right direction...


    One of my Commodore 128's has started doing something odd. After being on
    for anywhere between an hour or two it will just go to a white screen and freeze. If I turn it off and let it sit about 10 minutes it will come back
    on and repeat the process.


    Anyone have any ideas off the top of their head?


    Thanks...


    --

    Remove 'nospam' from my address to email me.


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  • From White Flame \(aka David Holz\)@whiteflame52@y.a.h.o.o.com to comp.sys.cbm on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 14:10:41
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.cbm

    "Dan Fisher" <danfisher@nospam.kc.rr.com> wrote in message news:aZ_Oa.192202$Xl.3216768@twister.rdc-kc.rr.com...
    One of my Commodore 128's has started doing something odd. After being on for anywhere between an hour or two it will just go to a white screen and freeze. If I turn it off and let it sit about 10 minutes it will come
    back
    on and repeat the process.

    Anyone have any ideas off the top of their head?

    Heat. Make sure it's getting air around it (ie, don't have it sitting on carpet or anything), and maybe think about adding some heatsinks or even a
    fan.

    --
    White Flame (aka David Holz)
    http://www.white-flame.com/
    (spamblock in effect)


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  • From Ray Carlsen@rrcc@u.washington.edu to Dan Fisher on Wednesday, July 09, 2003 19:33:54
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.cbm

    One of my Commodore 128's has started doing something odd. After being
    on for anywhere between an hour or two it will just go to a white screen
    and freeze. If I turn it off and let it sit about 10 minutes it will
    come back on and repeat the process.

    Dan,
    The only time I've ever seen a white screen is because the top
    oscillator U28 failed or the VIC died completely. Does it do that in both
    64 and 128 modes and in both 40 and 80 columns? If it's just in 40 columns
    and the 128 screen is blank, it might be the 8564 VIC at U21. It runs
    pretty hot but should be heat sinked inside the tin can in the center of
    the motherboard. Make sure that can is firmly seated, and while you're at
    it, make sure the metal fingers in the can and on the shield are touching
    all the chips. Sometimes they get bent back a bit and don't make contact.
    The heat sink grease helps, but good contact is essential. Take the covers
    off and bend all the fingers forward so they -all- make contact when the shields are put back. Chips do go heat sensitive sometimes. The only way to diagnose an intermittant is with a chip swap. I would reseat it first, then
    try a swap if that doesn't help.

    Ray

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  • From Rick Youngman@wlbbs@citlink.net to comp.sys.cbm on Thursday, July 10, 2003 12:06:17
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.cbm

    My old "flat" 128 used to do all sorts a weird stuff too when it got hot
    , thats why I reverted back to the C=64 for the BBs.... the 64 was on
    24 - 7 for like 5 years and never over-heated.

    I remember seeing all sorts of hardware hacks for adding a fan to the
    128 , because of the problem... maybe Arnold or some one still has some "blue-prints" so to speak..... If your handy at all , I'd just go to
    your computer store and get one of those add-on cards for a PC that is
    spose to cool down the Pentium processors.... those fans are very small
    and run on 5 volts.... which the 128 has availaible in a number of
    spots..... I would think you should be able to figgure out a way to use
    one or two on the 128.

    --
    ******************************************************
    3000 + C=ommodore Games, Utilities and More
    now on CD from the Commie Kazez BBs collection
    * Satisfaction Garanteed *
    Click here for info http://users.commspeed.net/wlbbs ******************************************************


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  • From Sam Gillett@samgillett@msn.com to comp.sys.cbm on Friday, July 11, 2003 01:37:58
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.cbm


    Dan Fisher wrote ...

    Hi Rick... that may be an idea. I could probably pull that off if >necessary with a tutorial.


    Ray gave me some ideas to try first, I'm going to go through that and >possibly swap a chip or two and see if that fixes it. If not, I'm going to >see about putting a fan in.

    If this is a flat C128, while you have it open, check for cold solder joints where the power connector mounts to the motherboard. A bad solder joint
    there can make a C128 do all sorts of strange things. And sometimes only
    when warm.

    Best regards,

    Sam Gillett aka Mars Probe @ Starship Intrepid 1-972-221-4088
    Last 8-bit BBS in the Dallas area. Commodore lives!





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  • From Rick Youngman@wlbbs@citlink.net to comp.sys.cbm on Thursday, July 10, 2003 22:29:52
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.cbm

    Just read Ray's response.... and he's absolutley right about those heat
    sinks making good contact.... it might appear to be a "little" thing to
    most people..... in fact a lot of people think that "cage" is some kind
    of a shield to avoid interference with TV's and stuff and even throw it
    away thinking the computer will run cooler.

    Even if you DO get all the heat sinks working 100%..... it won't hurt
    at all to put a fan in there anyway..... trust me..... the chips will
    like a cooler temperature a WHOLE lot better than a hot one..... and
    they will thank you for it


    --
    ******************************************************
    3000 + C=ommodore Games, Utilities and More
    now on CD from the Commie Kazez BBs collection
    * Satisfaction Garanteed *
    Click here for info http://users.commspeed.net/wlbbs ******************************************************


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