[ On Fri, February 20, 1998 at 11:03:08 (EST), Alex wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: status of ncr 53c810 scsi adapter? 
>
>  Maybe it's the SRM console's fault, even

I have two Multias that have recently also become paperweights.  One
won't even boot a Fail Safe Load floppy, and the other will sometimes
even complete the FSL boot and sometimes even get part way through
trying to reburn the Flash-ROM.  Both had run RHL-4.x for a while (and
one had even run NT for a bit).  Then I ran NetBSD-1.2 on them and it
seemed as though they suddenly became sensitive to a few extra power
cycling events.  We have one remaining live Multia that's still happily
running a very ancient and mostly broken RHL, but as a limited desktop
and mail server it's doing A-OK.

Initially I thought they may have lost or corrupted their Flash-ROM as
they had both also suffered dead batteries, and that's why I was trying
to do the FSL boot to re-burn the Flash-ROM.

My second guess is that the CPU has toasted itself and now as soon as
it warms up (or even sooner on the one), it starts doing all sorts of
crazy things.  Possibly it's another chip....

This idea that the lock-up problem you see might be in the SRM is
intriguing as it could suggest that at least one of my machines may be
not so dead as it first appears.

If anyone has ever had any success at fixing a dead Multia, even if the
solution was to revert to ARC and run Linux, I'd be most interested in
hearing from you!

I am also willing to try a few other silly things to try and determine
if it's a hardware problem, or what, including putting it in the freezer
with a mini-fan directed on the CPU heat sink to keep it very cool while
I test it further (if anyone thinks that such tests would be worthwhile).

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

+1 416 443-1734			VE3TCP			robohack!woods
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets Of The Weird <woods@weird.com>