OK...now someone tell me how the hell a busted capacitor just happened to be inside your S900 case and where the heck did it come from AND how would it NOT cause problems if it did in fact come from the S900!!! I'm dying to hear the final sequel to this mystery. :) George
--- Bart Prine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>I popped the side and... there on the floor was > one of the little > round > >capacitors the motherboard seems to have a zillion > of. Original > >location, unknown. After lots of tinkering, PRAM > resets, power > >offs/ons, and cursing...it booted. AH! it works! > Relief! The next > >morning....boot up, and. It hangs again. > <grumble...and 2 choice > >words in Algerian I know> > >Anyone ever seen this behavior, lost a capacitor? > Any uber-techs > know > >what that cap may be and where I could get a > replacement (Radio shack?) > > >to solder back on if possible? I have some > experience there and can > >probably figure where it came loose...if I pull the > motherboard and > >>spends some time looking.. > > >You probably won't be able to get the capacitor at > Radio Shack as it > is probably a surface mount component and RS doesn't > sell those. You > can almost certainly order it from Digi-Key (but > they have a $25 > minimum) or from other on-line places such as > Mouser. > > However, the cap is very unlikely to be the cause of > your problem and > is probably just coincidental. If you are managing > to boot part way > and then hanging, you most likely have a software > problem with the > files on your hard drive. I would try booting from > a CDROM and see > if the problem persists. If the machine boots > properly for a CD, > then you have some problem with the system software > on your hard > drives, such as an extension conflict or even > data/file corruption. > > If the machine also freezes while booting from the > CDROM, I would > then examine your SCSI cable configuration very > carefully, as > freezing while booting can also be caused by an > improperly configured > but *almost working* (SCSI is fairly tolerant of > errors) SCSI chain. > The best way to test this is to remove all your SCSI > cables and just > connect one internal SCSI cable. Plug your CDROM in > at the end of > the cable furthest from the motherboard and make > sure that > termination is enabled on the CDROM. Then attempt > booting from the > CDROM (only choice at that point other than the > floppy, as the hard > drive won't be connected). > > If that doesn't work, I would try a different SCSI > cable in the same > test. > > Only if all that fails would I suspect the > motherboard, despite the > missing capacitor. In digital electronics, which a > motherboard is > until you get to the sound in and out ports, the > capacitors are just > there to filter the power supply. There are a bunch > of them and > losing a few won't appreciably affect the quality of > the power. > > It may be a good idea to locate the position from > which the capacitor > was removed and check for other damaged components > in the vicinity. > It is possible that the cap was removed in a > motherboard gouging > incident and you could have some other damage, but a > simple missing > capacitor is exceedingly unlikely to cause the > symptoms you are > experiencing. > > >Jeff Walther > > Thank you Jeff and last night I did one final bit of > tinkering and > figured it out and: you are almost ABSOLUTELY > right! > This in particular: "examine your SCSI cable > configuration very > carefully, as > freezing while booting can also be caused by an > improperly configured > but *almost working* (SCSI is fairly tolerant of > errors) SCSI chain." > The problem was on the VST IDE card. I pulled that > card, booting from > SCSI and...it worked fine. So, I pulled all drives > on the VST, put it > back in, and...it booted fine. So, I put the 1st > pair of drives back on > the VST and...it died on boot. AH HA! > I looked carefully at these drives and saw both > were set to cable > select. Instead, I put them to Master/Slave config, > booted and..it > booted fine. Eureka! that was it! > The S900 sees that VST as a SCSI card and I guess > the improperly sensed > master/slave relationship on it was detected as > improper SCSI > termination. > Thanks again for the Help. > > > > -- > SuperMacs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> > and... > > Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | > Refurbished Drives | > Service & Replacement Parts [EMAIL PROTECTED] | > & CDRWs on Sale! | > > Support Low End Mac > <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> > > SuperMacs list info: > <http://lowendmac.com/supermacs/list.shtml> > --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; > Send list messages to: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To unsubscribe, email: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For digest mode, email: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subscription questions: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/supermacs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > >The Think Different Store > http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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