[Coco] CoCo 2 Repair Help

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 25 August 2017 18:59:17 Frank Thompson wrote:

> Well, I'm not exactly sure what happens to them but I know that
> electronics in general (maybe even more so on this generation of
> electronics) is sensitive to electrostatic discharge.  I think
> typically this is what fails parts when they aren't in use... then
> again maybe this one saw some very little use, but just enough to get
> damaged and then boxed up and returned (back in the day).
>
> On Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 9:11 AM, Brett Gordon <beretta42 at gmail.com> 
wrote:
> > Huzzahs!  Happy ending.  I'm mystified that a RAM could go bad... 
> > does O2 permiate thru the plastic and burn the silicon die?
> >
No, not in that sense, but if those chips are oem chips, they are old 
enough to suffer purple plague, which is a chemical reaction to the 
humidity creeping thru the epoxy-b, which was not then quite as good a  
hermetic seal as it is these days.  Die semi creation process has 
changed, as has the formulation of the epoxy, so stuff produced in the 
last 20 years is much less likely to suffer. Likewise, stray alpha 
particles damaging the cmos dielectric in cmos based chips has, because 
the alpha particle generation contaminants have been refined out of the 
epoxy.

Damage from another Carrington Event from the sun is another horse 
entirely.  We will be back to pen and pencils, and the Pony Express for 
our news in that event.  Wicks for your kerosene lamps and candles will 
be in very short supply once what Wally has in the outdoor camping isle 
are sold out.

> > --
> > Coco mailing list
> > Coco at maltedmedia.com
> > https://pairlist5.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/coco


Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>