Hi All,

My 15ry old's PC was due for an upgrade (won't play SIM's 2 smoothly
shrug) and I have been collecting the upgrade bits over a while for
her.[1]

As she built her last PC I asked her if she would like to do the same
with this and she said she would ;-)

So, anticstaic mat, wristband, parts screwdriver and away we went.

When we came to the magic moment (mobo, cpu, ram, wires all in) we had
power (front panel led, cpu fan etc) but no POST beep? We fitted the
video card and still nothing (in case there was a problem with the
speaker etc).

I rechecked all the basics with her (I was especially careful when she
fitted the brass mobo standoff pillars) but couldn't see anything
wrong.

I told her I would sort it out for her (assuming something was 'dead')
and left it for another day.

Yesterday I took the mobo out and ran it on the bench, all was fine!
(starting it with small screwdriver, so psu, mobo, cpu, ram, video all
ok).

Re checked the case standoffs and even fitted fibre washers on them,
re-fitted the board into the case and the front panel wires (power /
hdd led, power and reset switches) turned on .. nothing? ;-(

I pulled all the front panel wires off again, started it with a
screwdriver and it ran doh!

Hmm, re-fitted the 'reset' switch .. won't start thinks, 'they have
wired the reset switch wrong' so held the reset switch in and power
cycled .. still nothing?

Measured the resistance across the reset switch wires and it was
'short' no matter what you did with the switch sigh.

Pulled the front panel and switch out and there was a nice solder
splash across the reset pair ... I have seen a few incorrectly wired
switches in my time but can't remember seeing this before. I was just
annoyed we missed it at the time, assuming something was duff (some of
the bits weren't brand new etc) and I didn't think to check for
something so obsure (the case at least was new) ... ;-(

The strange thing was the heatsrink covering the solder joints on the
back of the switch would have to have been added *after* the solder
joints were made, so you would have thought they would have seen the
'splash / whisker' at that point?

I have since told her what the fault was and she's looking forward to
finishing the build off soon. I wished she had soldered the switch on
herself .. the last project she made had over 100 led's and that
worked first time!

All the best ...

T i m

[1] 'Mum' is having her old PC ;-)

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 16:01:28 GMT, T i m wrote:

Hi All,

My 15ry old's PC was due for an upgrade (won't play SIM's 2 smoothly
shrug) and I have been collecting the upgrade bits over a while for
her.[1]

As she built her last PC I asked her if she would like to do the same
with this and she said she would ;-)

So, anticstaic mat, wristband, parts screwdriver and away we went.

When we came to the magic moment (mobo, cpu, ram, wires all in) we had
power (front panel led, cpu fan etc) but no POST beep? We fitted the
video card and still nothing (in case there was a problem with the
speaker etc).

I rechecked all the basics with her (I was especially careful when she
fitted the brass mobo standoff pillars) but couldn't see anything
wrong.

I told her I would sort it out for her (assuming something was 'dead')
and left it for another day.

Yesterday I took the mobo out and ran it on the bench, all was fine!
(starting it with small screwdriver, so psu, mobo, cpu, ram, video all
ok).

Re checked the case standoffs and even fitted fibre washers on them,
re-fitted the board into the case and the front panel wires (power /
hdd led, power and reset switches) turned on .. nothing? ;-(

I pulled all the front panel wires off again, started it with a
screwdriver and it ran doh!

Hmm, re-fitted the 'reset' switch .. won't start thinks, 'they have
wired the reset switch wrong' so held the reset switch in and power
cycled .. still nothing?

Measured the resistance across the reset switch wires and it was
'short' no matter what you did with the switch sigh.

Pulled the front panel and switch out and there was a nice solder
splash across the reset pair ... I have seen a few incorrectly wired
switches in my time but can't remember seeing this before. I was just
annoyed we missed it at the time, assuming something was duff (some of
the bits weren't brand new etc) and I didn't think to check for
something so obsure (the case at least was new) ... ;-(

The strange thing was the heatsrink covering the solder joints on the
back of the switch would have to have been added *after* the solder
joints were made, so you would have thought they would have seen the
'splash / whisker' at that point?

I have since told her what the fault was and she's looking forward to
finishing the build off soon. I wished she had soldered the switch on
herself .. the last project she made had over 100 led's and that
worked first time!

All the best ...

T i m

[1] 'Mum' is having her old PC ;-)






I once had 250 hard disks that worked when on the bench but not in the
case :-)

Rick

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:41:35 UTC, Rick wrote:

I once had 250 hard disks that worked when on the bench but not in the
case :-)

Not the famed IBM 0661, with screws half a mm too long?

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poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
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On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:41:35 GMT, Rick wrote:



I once had 250 hard disks that worked when on the bench but not in the
case :-)

Oooerr .. did you ever get to the bottom of that Rick?

(wasn't there an issue with some hdd's where the body was isolated
from their chassis as they floated at 5V or summat (till the mounting
screws shorted them out etc)?

T i m

On 28 Aug 2005 15:49:33 GMT, "Bob Eager" wrote:

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:41:35 UTC, Rick wrote:

I once had 250 hard disks that worked when on the bench but not in the
case :-)

Not the famed IBM 0661, with screws half a mm too long?

And other models Bob ... someting I would check before I put the drive
in the case (and sometimes spaced out the scres with washers).

I still have a quick look these days but they seem to have that
covered now ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

"T i m" wrote in message


As she built her last PC I asked her if she would like to do the same
with this and she said she would

You realise that a question about making home made bombs would be more
in keeping with the general run of topics on this group?


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Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 18:58:02 +0000 (UTC), "Michael Mcneil"
wrote:

"T i m" wrote in message


As she built her last PC I asked her if she would like to do the same
with this and she said she would

You realise that a question about making home made bombs would be more
in keeping with the general run of topics on this group?

Hey, I'll try harder next time ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

Rick wrote:
On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 16:01:28 GMT, T i m wrote:
Pulled the front panel and switch out and there was a nice solder
splash across the reset pair ... I have seen a few incorrectly wired
switches in my time but can't remember seeing this before. I was just
annoyed we missed it at the time, assuming something was duff (some of
the bits weren't brand new etc) and I didn't think to check for
something so obsure (the case at least was new) ... ;-(
I once had 250 hard disks that worked when on the bench but not in the
case :-)

I pulled my old Amiga apart several times - each time it was apart it
worked, assembled it did not.

Eventually I guessed it was interference from the monitor that sat on
top of it. I reassembled it with a piece of tinfoil inside and it worked
fine ever since in the same arrangement.

Rem

On 28 Aug 2005 15:49:33 GMT, "Bob Eager" wrote:

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:41:35 UTC, Rick wrote:

I once had 250 hard disks that worked when on the bench but not in the
case :-)

Not the famed IBM 0661, with screws half a mm too long?

Not those disks, but after days of searcing, it was the same problem.

More weird we also had a tapedrive that worked in one 19 inch rack,
but not a different one.

Those were the days when computers were fun, and IT was not a customer
service dept, but a tecnology dept.

Rick

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 08:17:34 +0100, Rembrandt Kuipers
wrote:

I pulled my old Amiga apart several times - each time it was apart it
worked, assembled it did not.

Eventually I guessed it was interference from the monitor that sat on
top of it. I reassembled it with a piece of tinfoil inside and it worked
fine ever since in the same arrangement.

Computers and WiFi .. all witchcraft I tell ye!

All the best ..

T i m

On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 08:20:09 GMT, Rick wrote:


Those were the days when computers were fun, and IT was not a customer
service dept, but a tecnology dept.

sigh I'm with you there Rick.

I moved from a Field Support role to running a 'Help Desk' for similar
reasons at the time .. electronics repair was going out and box
swapping was coming in (similar to board / panel swapping in the TV
game and complete hubs rather than just bearings in the garages .. ).

When I was manning the 'Help Desk' it was still a technical role and
they still exist but you have to get through the 1st line (and
possibly 2nd line) drones to get to them ;-)

As with my daughters PC there was little you could actually get wrong
yourself so building one *might* be something that everyone could do
... however with weird faults like mentioned so far you can see why
everyone doesn't (apart from all the other reasons that is) ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

p.s. She's now got both PC's (old and new) on our network and
migrating all her data across. Then the new will become her current PC
(she can swap the FDD / DVDRW over at that time) and we will see what
stuff (apps / utils / drivers) we have forgotten about!

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 16:30:16 UTC, T i m wrote:

On 28 Aug 2005 15:49:33 GMT, "Bob Eager" wrote:

On Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:41:35 UTC, Rick wrote:

I once had 250 hard disks that worked when on the bench but not in the
case :-)

Not the famed IBM 0661, with screws half a mm too long?

And other models Bob ... someting I would check before I put the drive
in the case (and sometimes spaced out the scres with washers).

The 0661 had a specific provlem - it was in a composition 'frame' and
would not work if the inner casing was earthed. It was'nt a case of
hirtting a vital innard.

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The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://laminateflooring.oncloud8.com