Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!husc6!sunfs3!kent
From: kent@sunfs3.camex.uucp (Kent Borg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: How many times has your video board died?
Message-ID: <482@sunfs3.camex.uucp>
Date: 16 Aug 89 16:32:57 GMT
References: <745@wrs.wrs.com>
Reply-To: kent@sunfs3.UUCP (Kent Borg)
Organization: Camex, Inc., Boston, Mass USA
Lines: 44

In article <745@wrs.wrs.com> roger@yuba.wrs.com (Roger Rohrbach) writes:
>A year ago the display on my Mac Plus collapsed into a horizontal
>beam.  This occurred after a month or so of wobbling, twitching,
...
>another repair bill imminently.  Can anyone tell me how to avoid this
>in the future?  Pertinent details:
>
>    * I am accustomed to leaving the Mac turned on, with the video
>      brightness down, for days or weeks at a time.  The user's manual
>      states that it's fine to do this.

Don't do that.  The user's manual is wrong.  We all know by now that
the Plus has a feable power supply.

>    * I have not installed a fan.  The Mac is not sold with a fan,
>      therefore I expected that I need not purchase one.

Be sure that you don't block the vents on the top, OR the vents on the
sides.  Avoid a sunny window on hot summer days, etc.  A fan is
noisey, but it should extend the power supply life you are getting.


I bought my Plus about a half year after they came out.  Still on the
original analog board, still on the original battery, no fan, I turn
it off if I am not going to be using it for a while--say, more than 40
minutes or so.  I never leave it on over night or when I am not
around.  (There once was a rumor of a Mac that caught fire!)

I expect that my power supply could go at any time, but I haven't had
to shell out $200 yet.

>of turning the computer off?  The serviceman says to get the "Pyro"
>screen saver program.  Does that actually give the board a chance
>to cool down, or is it no different than turning down the brightness?

Screen savers amount to about the same thing as turning down the
brightness.  Doesn't help the analog board, helps the tube from gettng
burnt.


Kent Borg
kent@lloyd.uucp
or
...!husc6!lloyd!kent