Re: Fatal Error Apple 11GS??

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article sfpu@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us (James R. Saleeby) writes...

>I fired up my apple 11gs the other day and I got something on the screen
>that says "FATAL ERROR 0911" what does that mean, oh there was a line
>scrolling accross mid ways of the screen back and forth as usual. e-mail
>replies please as I am trying to get this thing to work. Jim

    That error indicates the ADB microcontroller is unable to 
synchronize with the rest of the system. Usually the cause of 
that problem is temperature related. If you immediately see
the error upon switching on your IIgs, then you'll probably
want to let the system warm up for several minutes before you
trying doing an Apple-Control-Reset. I believe very early GS 
boards came shipped with a very sensitive ADB microcontroller
that frequently had this problem, which is why Apple silently
replaced it with a reivision chip (this is not related to the
newer ADB microcontroller found on the ROM 3, which actually
added new built-in features to the GS).

    If the error occurs randomly after you've been using your
machine for awhile, then the chip is probably overheating. In
this cause you may want to consider getting a cooling fan, 
such as the external units made by Kensington or MDIdeas/AE. 
Other measures to take would be to blow off any dust on the 
main board, which can act as a heat insulator for chips. 
Sometimes you can also improve ventilation by removing some 
of the port covers in back of the case, although removing dust 
build up and getting a strong fan is a better solution.

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca