Re: IIgs won't start up -- ZipGS dead?

[Mitchell Spector <mitch2gs@hotmail.com>]

"Bill Garber" <willy46pa@comcast.net> wrote:

>
>"BluPhoenyx" <bluphoenyx@earthlink.net> wrote in message
>news:iMcBg.4536$xp2.2371@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>: Mitchell Spector wrote:
>: >     Another update: I decided to have a closer inspection at the solder
>: > joints on the backside of my ZipGS, so I used my flatbed scanner as
>: > a sort of digital magnify glass.
>: >
>: >     I spotted what appears to be a bad solder joint on one of the lower
>: > oscillator socket pins (by no coincidence, this is also the area where
>: > when touched, will cause the cache LED to flicker on and off). It looks
>: > like all the solder around the pin dried out and is missing.
>: >
>: > Here's a shot, showing the backside of the oscillator socket:
>: > http://www.digitalsparkles.com/student_a/ZipGS1.jpg
>: >
>: > Here's an close up of that suspect pin:
>: > http://www.digitalsparkles.com/student_a/ZipGS2.jpg
>: >
>: >     My only concern is why pressing on it (to temporarily rebridge the
>: > connection) still leaves the GS in a dead state. I'll try it in another
>: > motherboard tomorrow but I think getting someone to resolder this
>: > pin will be the first step.
>:
>: Perhaps the oscillator is dead. It's also possible that the connection
>: isn't that good during this "bridging". I would suggest that someone
>: carefully examine the other connections as well.
>
>Looks to me like the other connections aren't so good either.
>Seems from just these connections that the whole card may have
>been spiked heavily. Possibly a static charge from the PSU while
>powering down, or up even.

    I'm leaning more towards Mike's theory, especially considering 
what put it in a non-functional state was my pressing *very* firmly 
on the oscillator just seconds before it went dead.

    Over the weekend I tried the card in a different motherboard 
with a different CPU ribbon cable. No change, same symptoms.
Hopefully resoldering that _single_ pin will fix it, though I'm going 
to have to find someone to do it for me.

Mitchell Spector