CompuServe Thread

#LW crashes machine II

6 messages in this thread
#122383From: Wayne ColeSep 13, 1995 7:17 PM
Chuck, I think it may be time for a new Flyer board again. It now happens that every time I try to cold boot my machine I have to first open it up, remove the FLyer card then re-install it. (It used to only happen after I used LightWave and rendered to a clip.) When I try a cold boot the machine will not boot (hangs on a black screen) after it sounds like all the HD's do their spin-up and wake-up on the bus. With the cover off, I watched the Flyer LEDs. None of them come on for even an instant. The only way to "reset" the situation is to shut down, remove the board from the computer, boot the machine, turn it off, and reinstall the Flyer board. After reinstallation I get a sequence that is something like: 1. LED 8 momentary 2. LED 3 (about 10 secs) 3. LED 5 (about 2 secs) 4. LEDs 2,3 and 5 (bout 1 sec) 5. LEDs 1,2,3,5 (momentary) 6. 2 Hz (approx) flash sequenentially from LED 1 through 5 and back to 1. (There are some other quick sequences in between 1 and 4, but they were too fast for me to actually catch.) This is all at machine power-up, not Flyer invocation. When I invoke Flyer software, no change in the above flashing patter occurs although there is one momentary "no -lights" when I first click the Flyer Start icon. When I render a clip from LightWave, the LEDs hesitate momentarily with just LED 5 on right at the point where the "Adding Frame to Animation file" message is displayed on the Lightwave screen just after the frame is rendered to the Program Out. Then when LightWave finishes rendering the clip, and goes back to the Layout screen, the LEDs hesitate for a moment on LED 3, then immediately resume the flashing sequence. If I then select to quit the FLyer, the LED's hesitate for a moment on either 3 or 4 (too fast to tell which) and then continue the flashing. Turn the machine off, wait 3-5 mins and turn it on. No LEDs light and the machine is stuck at a black screen. Note, all the HD's (Flyer and otherwise) seem to go through there normal rattle purr and sputter cycles at power-up. We just never get to the HW diags before startup-sequence is run. If I try a warm boot when it is hung like this, the only response is a blink on the caps lock key light. I tried putting the card in a different slot. No change. The only thing it did prove is that the power-up with the card removed is not necessary. I doulbe checked the capacitor. The "problem" location has the 16 volt part in it with a 6 volt part right next door, which I understand, is not a problem. There is a possibility it is a Thermal problem on the Flyer board, since one time it recovered when I let it sit powered down for 4 hours. 1) Am I the only one reporting this? 2) Why did this only appear only after running LightWave 4.0 for the first time? 3) Why me, anyhow? wmc – via Autopilot!
#122404From: Gary KleinerSep 13, 1995 10:07 PM
Wayne, Have you considered having an exorcist come by your place? <g> Regards, Gary
#122427From: Wayne ColeSep 13, 1995 11:16 PM
Oh wonderful! Then the monitor will spin around while spewing multi-colored phosphors and glass bits all around the room…. wmc – via Autopilot!
#122426From: RAD Moose @ NewTek, Inc.Sep 13, 1995 11:14 PM
I'll check with engineering, and give you a call tomorrow (may also cross-check with Test on the further GVP-related fixes we've had to make). Chuck.
#122461From: Nick RahalSep 14, 1995 9:01 AM
PMFJI: This may be way off — but we have had a number of A2000 systems in which the mother board connector (into which you plug the Flyer or the GVP Accelerator) is not making contact reliably. The symptoms have been exactly what you describe i.e. the system will not work unless you power down, pull out and re-insert the board. The problem is that the the spring contacts in the mother board connector have been spread a little too far apart and may even have lost some of the springiness. We have used a twofold approach to fix units in which this happens. (1) use a good spray contact cleaner and (2 Even More Important) pull out the board and using a small pointed tool, very carefully, work the contacts of the connector toward the center. One clue that helps point toward this being the problem is that it is not difficult to insert the board in the socket. — As I said in the beginning this may have nothing to do with your problem but it has worked a number of times for us — And it doesn't cost anything to try it. Nick Rahal – Infotronics Inc One of Newteks Top Ten Dealers
#122464From: Norman AustinSep 14, 1995 9:28 AM
PMFJI Wayne, I experienced the symptoms you described and found that disabling the AlphaPaint libs switch cured my problem. I put a semi-colon in front of all references to the AlphaPaint fix, problem went away, along with access to Jerry's fonts. :^( I liked those fonts too. Regards, Norman Austin 70743,1535