David,

The proverbial "Smoke Test" *g*

Years ago, when S100 machines were all the rage, there was a company in Huntington Beach called NNC (No Named Computers *g*). S100 computers took 120 volts in and regulated them down to +5, -5, +12 and -12 volts. Well, if memory serves, it was actually + & - 12 volts at the front end. THis voltage was then passed on the bus to the S100 boards which in turn reduced the voltage down to + & - 5 volts where needed.

Naturally, it's very important to get the wiring harness made correctly. The young fellow who made the wiring harness was, in this case, color blind *bg* and occassionally he'd get some wires crossed.

When he'd turn on the computer a very loud BANG! erupt, followed by a voltage regulator screaming across the warehose followed by a huge puff of smoke.

It was, er, interesting to see....

Best,

DD

>This weekend I had my first experience with blowing up a printer.
>
>I picked up an Epson FX-880 dot matrix to replace an old one at my brother's newspaper business in Alabama. They still use it for special-format printing needs for their subscription mailing system, and the old printer had lapsed into intermittent beeping, sometimes for up to 10 minutes before printing a few more characters.
>
>Late Saturday night I arrived, opened up the box, and found the packing materials crushed, the tractor feed bent, and the case cracked in several places, with small bits of plastic scattered throughout the box.
>
>But we had a deadline, so I un-bent the tractor feed, verified that the printer head was movable, and saw no apparent problems, other than cosmetic.
>
>I plugged it in, and a few seconds later heard a "snap, crackle, pop" and saw a horrible-smelling puff of smoke come out the back.
>
>It was really pretty cool!
>
>After swapping the printer to a different computer, we managed to coax (not coax) the old printer into one more print job, which it miraculously completed before reverting into a catatonic state of continuous beeping.
>
>Of course, this was the only FX-880 on the shelf at CompUSA, so I'll be back there today demanding that they air-freight an immediate replacement.