Leica Did not suspect the CPU Heat-Sink Paste causing computer to Crash

[Brian]

I have a "favorite old computer" that can dual-boot real-mode and XP, use for embedded system development. It would run DOS reliably, but XP would crash after running 10 minutes or so. Thought it was bad memory- was not. DOS would allow both-fans to kick in, XP- one fan and crash. DOS running at 2GHz is fast.

Read online that someone else had the same problem. They were advised that this was an issue with the Paste used to hold the CPU Heat Sink on. Yup. That was the problem. The paste had flowed off the CPU die and onto the rest of the chip. Put it back onto the die, reseated the heat sink- it's running.

 

[Brian]

Signed on with the CF-51. The 1600x1200 screen on this old laptop is amazing, better than my HP Quad-I7 laptop.

And running Wordstar 6.0 in realmode DOS- even better.

 

[carlb]

Brian, you are the master of ancient tech. Guessing the only reason you're not a true Unix/Linux guy is you won't sport the beard.

I remember being super appreciative of Borland's IDE compared to Microsoft's. I also spec'd and built my own hi-po 486 monster from the pages of "Computer Shopper." Wrestling with "man pages" for Unix truth like they were capricious angels from God.

But, the whippersnappers eventually outran me with their .nets and Java beans.

Still clinging onto a tiny bit of relevance with Python though ... :rolleyes-79:

 

[Brian]

Someday I'll have to learn more about Unix/Linux. I used Xenix/286 on an Intel "Sugarcube", with four Nodes with attached array processors. An 80286 machine with 80MFlops, well over 30 years ago. I used RM Fortran-77 on it, supported the parallel vector processors. I still use RM Fortran-77 and Microway NDP-Fortran-77. Phar Lap DOS screams, and of course- operates at -priv level, allowing full access to the interrupt vector table. After 40 years, still make a living off of Fortran, Macro, DOS, and Wordstar. I also use "C", but only statically allocate memory. I don't like heap cleanup stealing my clock cycles. When necessary- I do my own physical to virtual mapping, in Fortran callable assembly language routines.

 

[carlb]

OK, I had to use punch cards on a Univac with Fortran 77 for first year coding classes. Wait too close to the end of semester, and watch as your batch turn-around time shot into the hours. Try and get a spot at one of the punch-card typing machines, brutal. This was back when the basement computer lab would have the poster-sized ASCII-art printouts of Spock and what-not.

 

[Brian]

We had Hat Chic... Ascii Overpunch.

 

[M. Valdemar]

I'm probably dating myself but I had endless troubles when I was running a publishing office full of PowerMac G3 Towers. Constant reboots, mysterious crashes, weird pixelation on the screens.

It was exactly the same problem. Bad heat sink contact on the processor chip. A $6 tube of Radio Shack heat sink paste and a couple of hours cleaning and repasting the chips cured everything and most of the machines worked like champs for almost another decade.