Ageing card symptoms

[frokka]

Sometimes when I boot up and SFP loads the startup project I get the STDM / DSP error messages.
The project only has a MicroMixer and some IOs for basic PC audio.
If I then close SFP and wait a while, it will usually let me start again as normal.

Is this a sign of ageing capacitors that need extra time to load, or something else?
I tried cleaning all connectors with an eraser and then isopropanol.

(Running 21 DSPs on W8.1 x64)

[garyb]

could be getting old, but don't use isopropanol unless it's 99% pure. less will make things worse than they started.

newer computers boot much faster than machines the same age as the card. it's possible that something is not ready when the startup project loads, but it probably is just an older card.

[fidox]

newer computers boot much faster than machines the same age as the card

interestingly, my both computers with creamware cards and scope 5.1 loads quite fast, despite, cards are old

[garyb]

yes, that's not really what i meant.
older computers booted more slowly and that may affect Scope if the project loads at boot.

[frokka]

I do actually have a logon script (scheduled task) that starts SFP after a timer delay.
It makes sure that all the taskbar items etc are loaded before SFP.

The only thing I can do is to replace the caps, AFAIK.
I did that some time ago with another Pulsar card, and it worked for a while but then became unstable.
The solder job quality is rather poor, and I haven't had time to improve my skills yet.


Gary, have you ever fixed a card by replacing the caps..?

[garyb]

no, i haven't. it's not a bad idea, but it's probably not as effective as changing the caps on many OLDER pieces of gear. at one time, caps had paper cans and paper insulators. these dry out and go bad much sooner than the newer plastic and aluminum cans. if the problem is a bad cap, and you are good with surface mount components, then i'm sure changing them out is a great move. caps are cheap.

be sure to clean up the old solder really well. newer solder may not be the same material.

[astroman]

don't bother with caps - I suspected them a couple of times, ALL false alarms
on a Scope card those caps are just buffers for current, not functionally involved like in a preamp
the boards are quite hard to desolder, good chances to damage instead of repair...

cheers, Tom

[frokka]

When did you suspect them being the problem, what type of situation?

[astroman]

way too far back in time
but be assured whenever I had this idea of 'caps may be aged', it NEVER changed a thing
(and I really had this idea more than a couple of times, not restricted to Scope cards)

cheers, Tom

[frokka]

ok, thanks )

Still wondering though - what components would possibly need a "warm up" on these aged cards, in order to function normally?

[garyb]

nothing needs to warm up.