5 Sep
2011
5 Sep
'11
4:18 p.m.
I went to fire up my DEC Personal Workstation 500au the other day and it
doesn't boot up any more :(
I don't get anything out of video or the serial console and the
diagnostic lights all go out (00) rather than displaying an error or
booting message. The battery in it was dead and I replaced it but to no
avail.
Anybody come across this before and know how to fix it?
I don't know much about the DEC Personal Workstation 500au but...
Did the battery leak? I have a VAXStation 2000 which had a leaky battery
which did some damage on the system board. (Fortunately, it was not severe
and it is now repaired.) Check around the battery and near where the battery
is connected to the system board as electrolyte can wick along the leads.
Does it beep? I'm not sure about this one but some alphas will emit beep
codes, if they fail before being able to access the console and some of the
codes may be explained in the manual.
Presumably there are some signs of life such as fans running and/or lights
lighting? The next step is probably to check that the power supply is producing
all the required voltages. Maybe there is a label specifying what they should
be :-) Maybe not :-(
Regards,
Peter Coghlan.