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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

3369.0. "More Static Problems?" by LEDS::ACCIARDI () Sat Jan 20 1990 00:20

    
    Here's one for Tales of the Unknown... 
    
    My wife has been using my (um, our) Amiga almost constantly lately to
    work at home.  I've always pretty much left the A2000 on continuously,
    so she just fires up whatever she wants to fire up and goes to work.
    
    One chilly morning last week I dialed into work quite early.  I no
    sooner connected when I was greeted by a Guru.  I shrugged and rebooted
    (I go for weeks at a time without a crash) and proceeded to crash and
    burn about a half dozen times before the startup file could even
    execute.
    
    When I finally was able to get to Workbench, the system crashed after a
    few mouse clicks.  A few more reboots got me to a stable operating
    state and I was able to dial in.  I warned my wife to FILE FREQUENTLY
    until I figured out what was going on.  The system ran fine for her
    all day long.
    
    That evening, I ran some extensive memory diagnostics which came up
    fine.  The startup diagnostic screens were also OK (dark grey, then
    light grey) so the hardware looked OK.
    
    I then ran the KV virus checker on all of my executables on the entire
    system and THEY all came up healthy.
    
    Meanwhile the system had returned to it's usual near rock-solid state.
    I was tempted to pretend the whole thing never happened until I
    remembered that I HAD made a significant change recently...
    
    In order to make room for all my wife's legal debris, I had stood the
    Amiga on it's left side (tower style) directly on the carpet under the
    desk, metal resting directly on carpet.  In the cold weather, this
    carpet can build up quite a static charge.
    
    I'm hypothesizing that all this excess charge was finding it's way to
    ground thru my Amiga, wreaking havoc in the process.  I mixed up a
    little anti-static spray from a 7/1 mix of fabric softener and water and
    haven't had a repeat occurance.
    
    Ed.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
3369.1		SMAUG::SPODARYK	Binary Throttle	`Sat Jan 20 1990 01:52`	10
	Probably not related, but my old VS2000 had a lot of problems when standing on it's side. I assumed it had a small crack or break somewhere in the circuitry that surfaced when the weight was placed improperly. The solution - lay it flat. (And eventually replace the motherboard!) Doesn't sound like your problem, though if the anti-static spray has worked so far. Steve
3369.2		MSVAX::BARRETT	Is my PC a PicoVAX?	`Mon Jan 22 1990 15:23`	10
	Re: .0 I run my system as a tower also - no problems (at least, no additional ones). I suggest that you spend a few bucks and get a plastic tower stand - might help the situation a bit. You run without GURUs that long? Is this a benifit of expanding beyond 1meg memory, or did you do a bunch of things? Keith "who-would-leave-the-amiga-on-except-the-fan-is-too-loud"
3369.3	the GURU got loose by moving the box	MQOFS::DESROSIERS	Lets procrastinate....tomorrow	`Mon Jan 22 1990 16:39`	12
	Moving the system could have caused bad connections on the cards to appear, perhaps you could open the system and clean the card contacts with Gold Wipes (tm) and clean the insides of the system at the same time, but be carefull with vacuum cleaners, just the air movement can build up huge static charges especially with plastic nozzles. Jean PS placing the complete system on a carpet should not damage it because in it's steel enclosure (it's a 2000 eh?) it is protected like it was in a faraday cage.
3369.4		YUPPIE::WILSON	Tony, the HOSS TRUMPET	`Mon Jan 22 1990 17:03`	6
	My stupidity will probably show through here, since us po' folks can only afford A500's. Are the air vents obstructed when you stand it up like this? I had a PRO350 a few years back that behaved badly when I stood it up and this was due to overheating in the case. Just a suggestion...
3369.5		LEDS::ACCIARDI		`Mon Jan 22 1990 21:30`	31
	Re: Air vents... The A2000 air slots are on the front of the enclosure, so standing on edge doesn't cause any obstructions. Re: Gurus... The biggest steps in achieving a crash-free environment: 1. Purge your system of buggy utilities, such as older versions of Mach. Also, keep in touch with the publishers of your most used software to see if upgrades are available. Chances are good that a bug-free version IS available, but most publishers will not hunt you down to let you know about it. 2. Upgrade to a Super Agnus chip for a true 1 meg of Chip ram. It's amazing how limitations disappear. 3. Add at least 2 megs of Fast ram. 4. Obtain the patches to the known (and so far, unfixed) Intuition bugs, such as FixScreen (which fixes a problem with running a combination of 2 interlaced screens and one non-interlaced screen. and WTFpatch (Window to Front Patch). These should be available on the e-net. Ed.
3369.6	Lobby for a GURU free system	MSVAX::BARRETT	Is my PC a PicoVAX?	`Mon Jan 22 1990 22:27`	5
	Re: .-1 Thanks, I'm in the process of doing all that now as a matter of fact. I have FTWPatch (it's part of ClockDJ on FF disks), but I have never heard of FixScreen - How do I get it?