Conference wonder::turbolaser

1194.0. "EH? -check backplane pins" by ALBANY::HOLCK () Tue May 06 1997 13:16

    
    I had an insteresting problem with a turbolaser 8400 yestaerday. It has 
    3 e2056-da cpu modules and we had to swap one because of an earlier
    hardware problem. When I swapped the cpu (all the same hardware and
    firmware rev)and powered on the system it dumped out a bunch of
    messages and ended up at the EH? prompt. I thought maybe the firmware
    was a different version than the originals, so I I removed the
    remaining two cpus and tried the new one by itself. Same problem.
    I then installed the 2 original cpu's and left the new one out. 
    Same thing again. I thought the new card corrupted the original cards
    so I called support. They said to check the upper pins on the
    centerplane to make sure they were not bent. Sure enough, in 2 slots
    the top left pin was leaning to the side. When I installed the new cpu
    the pin was pushed over, making a dimple in the cpu edge connector.
    When that module was plugged into another slot it folded the same pin
    over in that slot also.  When I tried the original cards in their
    original slots, the previosly bent pins dimpled the edge connector on the 
    original cpu's. By the time I called support I had 2 slots with bent
    pins and 2 cpu modules that were dimpled.
    I carefully straighted out the pins and, using a small screwdriver,
    pushed the dimple out of the cpu edge connector so the pin will be
    guided into its correct location.
    This was a good call from the CSC and I hope this saves someone else
    from getting burned onsite....
    
    Harry               

    Glad you learned something, But I made this comment before and that
    is were you properly trained how to handle 8400 boards?
    We had some unhappy customers here because of problems like this.
    We train all our 8400 engineers before they touch the system.
    We have here in Silicon Valley now 50+ turbolasers and because of
    our engineers are aware of pin problems we dont have that problem
    anymore. Hope this is a lesson for other branches.
    
      Ben
    Palo Alto CA
    

    I went to 8200/8400 training about over a year ago. I've swapped out 
    many cpu's/memory w/o out problems. I think this cpu may have had a
    dimple in the edge connector before I received it from logisitcs.
    I should have looked at the edge connector carefully before I plugged 
    it in to my system.....
    Harry
    

    Harry I mean nothing personal, it was a general comment. OK you know
    what you are doing. Yes it is always good to check new modules
    before you slide them in. Good point.
     Ben