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Thread: Dead Equipment...

  1. #1
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    Dead Equipment...

    A few days ago, while getting ready for bed, I heard a pop from the other room so I investigated and found a burnt smell emanating from the area that I have my laptop and RBoxes setup. I turned everything off and left it for the night. The next morning when I started everything back up, I got a whiff of the same burnt smell from the night before but it quickly dissipated; however, I noticed that one of the RBoxes wasn't working or at least the blue light wasn't blinking. It did however, have the power light on.

    For two days I have tried everything that I can think of to see if the RBox was actually dead. I have completely unplugged it then plugged it back in, I have rebooted, reloaded drivers, moved it to another computer, reinstalled and let it try and mine a wu for 8 hours that should have taken only 30 minutes. The official prognosis... short of an electronics technician... it is dead.

    Rest in piece little RBox.
    "My god! Do we really suck, or is this guy really that good?" - Mr Hertz - Shoot 'Em Up






  2. #2
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    A "pop" you say.
    You could have blown the top off of one or more of the three round capacitors on the board.



    (Visually apparent by a bulging or split open top.)

  3. #3
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Shurtz View Post
    A "pop" you say.
    You could have blown the top off of one or more of the three round capacitors on the board.



    (Visually apparent by a bulging or split open top.)
    When I took it apart, that is what I expected but nothing appeared to be burned or out of place; however, a strong burnt smell was emanating from the part labeled R47. A resistor I assume.
    "My god! Do we really suck, or is this guy really that good?" - Mr Hertz - Shoot 'Em Up






  4. #4
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    Yep, you let the magic smoke out ... it'll never be the same!


  5. #5
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    Weren't you told that smoking is bad for your health?

    RETIRED. NO JOB. NO MONEY. NO WORRIES!

    Crunched SETI Classic to the end.


    SETI@home classic workunits
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    SETI@home classic CPU time 86,861 hours




  6. #6
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    Quote Originally Posted by Bryan View Post
    Yep, you let the magic smoke out ... it'll never be the same!
    Sure did... and there's no putting it back.

    Quote Originally Posted by c303a View Post
    Weren't you told that smoking is bad for your health?
    I got tired of all my old habits, I thought I would try a new one.
    "My god! Do we really suck, or is this guy really that good?" - Mr Hertz - Shoot 'Em Up






  7. #7
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    Yep, it looks like a power resistor.
    Now the power is all gone.

  8. #8
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    Quote Originally Posted by STMahlberg View Post
    Sure did... and there's no putting it back.

    I got tired of all my old habits, I thought I would try a new one.
    So your new habit is snorting resistors? I can't imagine how you could possibly isolate the smell to a single resistor on a board if you haven't been practicing hard.

  9. #9
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    I think one of my R-Box 32 devices has passed away.
    The USB connection started getting flaky and now has failed altogether.
    Reinitializing it worked for awhile, but it gradually disconnected more often.
    It has now failed completely. I could hear the Windows USB connection tone followed immediately by the disconnection tone and it does nothing and is not recognized by Windows on any USB port. Last several tries have produced no Windows recognition of any sort.

    @STMahlberg
    If I sent the ASICs board, would you be interested in trying to use the power transistor as a donor to your dead R-Box?

  10. #10
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    Re: Dead Equipment...

    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Shurtz View Post
    I think one of my R-Box 32 devices has passed away.
    The USB connection started getting flaky and now has failed altogether.
    Reinitializing it worked for awhile, but it gradually disconnected more often.
    It has now failed completely. I could hear the Windows USB connection tone followed immediately by the disconnection tone and it does nothing and is not recognized by Windows on any USB port. Last several tries have produced no Windows recognition of any sort.

    @STMahlberg
    If I sent the ASICs board, would you be interested in trying to use the power transistor as a donor to your dead R-Box?
    That would be cool but I wouldn't be able to fix it until December sometime until I can afford a reworking station. I still have a RBox 100 that I have to fix as well.
    "My god! Do we really suck, or is this guy really that good?" - Mr Hertz - Shoot 'Em Up






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