On the one
hand, my wetware RAM QC department is glad I rememebred
correctly that the problem with that machine was overheating. On the
other, I'm a bit disappointed it wasn't something simple and easily
fixed like a fan not turning properly.
So far I've not been able to find a cause.
I found schematics on bitsavers (thanks Al), but unfortunately they
don't show power (or even most power/ground pins). As far as I can
tell, the CPU & FPU are directly connected to bypass capacitors which
are shown on the schematic as sitting on the 5V rail, so I believe
they operate on straight 5V - The 5V rail is well within spec. Clocks
look good as well.
I have a feeling the FPU is knackered - it seems to be generating more
heat than the CPU (hard to tell as they are mounted side by side and
there is a fair bit of heat trasnfer through the board). Unlikely I
can find a replacement --- Anyone got a VAXstation 2000 or MicroVAX 2000
thats dead for some other reason?
Odd thing is that everything seems to work - if I place a small fan
to keep the CPU & FPU cooled to "just hot", it settles back down and
all seems to work correctly. All self-tests pass (including FPU). It
appears it would run indefinately in this state, but it's obviously
not healthy. It seems unlikely that there would be an internal chip
failure that would cause it to eat this much power and still perform
it's intended function.
This may be a stupid question but bear with me. Is the surface of the
FPU chip getting hotter than the heatsink sitting on it?
Peace... Sridhar