Quadra 660av Troubleshooting

[igor_av]

I'm having some problems with a Quadra 660av I left unused for a few months.

When I turn it on, it crashes after about 15 minutes of use. Sometimes it simply freezes, sometimes I get an error message ("bus error" or an other one) with the "restart" option (clicking restart won't change anything). After such a crash, it won't usually reboot, or if it does, it freezes during startup (sometimes with an "invalid instruction" message). If I leave it unused, it will eventually be able to reboot.

What I tried : change the memory, reformat the HD, change the HD, change the SCSI cable, reinstall the system (OS 8.1), install an other version of the OS (7.5), zap the PRAM, unplug the AC and the battery.

The specs : Quadra 660av, 68 MB of RAM, 18 GB SCSI HD, 50 mhz Quaddoubler instead of the original processor (and since I don't have the proper tool, this one will be difficult to remove).

Any idea?

 

[Forrest]

Sounds like a heat problem. Is the fan on the power supply working? If there's a CPU fan, make sure it's working also.

 

[igor_av]

Sounds like a heat problem. Is the fan on the power supply working? If there's a CPU fan, make sure it's working also.

Both fans are working. I'd be tempted to replace the heatsink/fan on the Quaddoubler, but its somewhat glued on the CPU.

EDIT : I replaced the fan of the CPU heatsink with one twice as powerful. So far, it seems to have solved the problem (no crash for nearly one hour while playing MP3s and copying files). Thanks.

 

[Bunsen]

Sounds to me like your thermal goop has dried out.

 

[igor_av]

The heatsink is glued on the processor. I can't say I'm willing to try to remove it, clean the CPU, and then reattach it.

But, changing the fan seems to have solved the problem. It has been on most of the day without any problem.