Commodore PET - need help

[Fergalod]

I have a PET 4016. When I switch it on, all is fine for about ten minutes. But then it always just freezes and I have to switch off and start again. Could this be just the monitor or the computer itself? Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

 

[fachat]

What do you mean by "freezing"? If the screen content is still displayed, but there is just no more movement, no cursor flashes etc, then it is a mainboard problem, not a monitor problem.
If the screen goes blank when "freezing", it could be both.

 

[KC9UDX]

Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

A heat gun on the 'low' setting, and a can of "compressed air". Use the heat gun when you first turn it on to carefully apply heat to different areas of the motherboard, and when it stops working, use the "compressed air" upside-down to cool the area to see if it starts working again.

 

[rschissler]

Does it happen randomly, or only with a certain computer program? If the latter, then it sounds like a software error that's causing the computer to crash.

 

[tezza]

Sometimes this problem can occur with faulty capacitors. They may be on the edge of tolerance and then as they heat up they drift out of tolerance with the inevitable results.

Tez

 

[MikeS]

I have a PET 4016. When I switch it on, all is fine for about ten minutes. But then it always just freezes and I have to switch off and start again. Could this be just the monitor or the computer itself? Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

Always worth while to carefully move the socketed chips back and forth a bit in their sockets.

 

[Fergalod]

Thanks for your reply. When the monitor freezes, it does not go blank. The screen content just freezes.

 

[Fergalod]

Thanks for your suggestion. I will try that.

 

[Fergalod]

Thanks for your reply. It happens every time, after approx 10 minutes. Even if i am not running any program.

 

[Fergalod]

Thanks for your reply. I will try that.