Date   : Mon, 23 Sep 1991 22:00:43 GMT
From   : cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!msi.umn.edu!noc.MR.NET!ns!news@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (John R. Lyman)
Subject: HELP! My computer is dead!

  I have a Bigboard II computer.  It was acting rather flakey for a while
(the thing would make a strange noise, freeze up, and have a faint odor of
something burning), but I could reboot and everything would be fine.  Well
my wife was using it when this happened and she left it in that state while 
she called me at work to find out what to do .. now it's totally dead.

  I checked the power supply first and found that when the power supply
is connected to the computer the 5v supply drops to about 2.5v.  So I
connected up a resistor (alternate load), the voltage held steady, so I
concluded that there must be a partial short in the computer (feel free
to correct me at any point).  So I pulled out all of the ICs (in groups)
and reconnected power, still 2.5v, so I guess its not the ICs.  Now I
guess it might be a Cap, Diode, or Resistor, but it's a fair amount of
work to pull those off the board.  Anybody out there got any ideas, or
even better some experience fixing this type of computer?

  Thanks in advance, for any help you can send my way.

  John R. Lyman III          lyman@anubis.network.com