Good Afternoon:
I just joined the Starmax List and thought I'd share a few bits of history. I
bought a Starmax 3000/180 as an inexpensive clone and have been peculiarly loyal
to it over the past years. It died 10./28/00, I thought, while I was out of town
and I assumed the kids had been playing with the beast. Now, nearly a year later,
I discovered the problem was the battery rather than being a no-power, no-screen
condition that was the result of a failed power supply.
Since I'm up here in Maritime Nova Scotia right now, there are no 840 cube
batteries to be had, so I taped together 3 AA batteries, 2 in one direction and
the third in the opposite; soldered them + to -, end to end, and then soldered the
old battery connector to the remaining + and - of the new series arrangement. This
gave me an emergency 4.5v battery that happily started up the Starmax.
I did order some new batteries over the web, but they took a week to get here. If
you are going to solder, use a high wattage iron otherwise the the batteries will
be overheated while the temp comes up enough to properly melt the solder.
A better solution is to wander over to radio shack and pick up a 3 AA battery
plastic holder and simply solder the old connector to that unit. The alkaline
batteries are then eternally replaceable and no one has to pay $25 for a
replacement. I would reccommend putting any battery, the 840 store-bought or my
home-built in a little plastic bag to keep any juices from leaking over the
computer insides someday.
There is something quirky in the Mac series, including the clones with the
Tanzania board (PPC 4400) that acts inconsistently in this no start-up
aggrivation. I have found that I can have starup chimes and still no video, but if
I disconnect the battery and leave it all sit for a while (1 hour), I can then
get start up chimes and video without the battery (?). I then reconnect the
battery and away we go.
I don't have an explanation--magic is just as good a reason as any other. Hope I
can help contribute to the group.
Bob Wulkowicz
jrclark wrote:
> Check the batteries and press the cuda switch for 10 sec.
> Ray o Vac # 840 4.5 volt alkaline.
> jr
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]/18/01 5:19 [EMAIL PROTECTED][wrote]
>
> > Hi again,
> > I believe I have managed to connect what ever needed to be connected but now,
> > as the fans come on and the HD spins I get no video.
> > I have both Cache and VRAM DIMMs installed. What could the problem be now?
> > Any suggestions?
> > I've tried each of the 6 StarMax machines I have and they all display the
> > same odd behavior of no lighted monitor.
> > Hope someone can help with this one...
> > Kim
>
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