8 Oct
1998
8 Oct
'98
12:43 p.m.
Eric Smith wrote:
Marvin replied:
IMNSHO, there are many troubleshooting techniques, and part of being able to
do effective troubleshooting is knowing when to use what technique. Like
writing robust code, error checking is probably 80% of the code bulk (okay,
slight overstatement) and when I talk about troubleshooting techniques, I
leave out the disclaimers most of the time. I tend to assume that whoever
trys them has the background to know when they are applicable. When I talk
about shorting out a fuse, it is assumed that other common troubleshooting
techniques have failed.
whatever reason, I didn't find with the VOM.
Running it a short time with
the fuse shorted out heated up the chip and I was able to feel where the
problem was. Troubleshooting vs normal operation :).
Not so bad if it was something common and easily replaceable. But how
would you have felt if the problem had turned out to be a $0.05 shorted
passive compenent which caused then caused the failure of a rare or
exepnsive chip? Remember, the fuse isn't to protect the component that
failed and caused the problem, it's to protect the rest of the components
that are still OK (*).
IMNSHO, it is almost criminally negligent to suggest shorting a fuse to
anyone as a troubleshooting technique.