Mary

Curiously, we are suffering exactly the same problem as I write. We had a
similar fault a year ago and after testing all the boards in the STE bus,
deduced that there was a fault with the power supply. Superfically it was
working and providing 5v but apparently when under full load it was dipping
which caused the CPU to crash intermittantly.

We had the power supply fixed by Daren Electronics  (who supply them to
MicroMass) for a bargain £25 and everything worked fine until last week,
when the same fault reappeared.  So, suspicious that the repaired power
supply is playing up again I am awaiting to try out a new one ordered last
week.  However I am very intrigued by the comments by Harro and Bruce that
the CPU battery may be at fault (I confess I didn't know there was one!). I
am just going down to the lab to investigate as soon as I hit the send
button....

Either way, I'll let you know whether the power supply is the cause of our
problem or not.

Regards

Dave Mattey





>>Dear Isogeochemists:
>>
>>Over the past week during autocarb runs on an Optima mass spec using
>>software v.2.33 we've been experiencing random software shutdowns.  Trying
>>to reopen the software gives the error message "System controller not
>>responding".  We can reset the controller and open the software and start a
>>run again but have yet to make it through a run without this problem
>>occuring.  It does not seem to be occuring at a particular port # or
>>process.
>>
>>Has anyone experienced this problem and can you offer any solutions?
>>
>>Thanks for your help,
>>Mary
>>
>>Mary Hogan
>>University California Santa Cruz
>>Stable Isotope Laboratory, E&MS C514
>>Santa Cruz, CA  USA 95064
>>email: [log in to unmask]
>>PH: 831-459-5751
>>FAX: 831-459-3074
>>   __o
>>  -\<,
>>(_)/(_)


Dave Mattey

Geology Dept, Royal Holloway College, University of London, Egham Hill,
Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX

Tel:      01784  443587          Office
                        443582          Secretary
                        443637          Prism lab
                        443629          Optima lab

                        471780          FAX