New to list-- 2400 won't start up- need experienced advice!

[Dan K]

Sid Barras <sbarris at earthlink.net> wrote:
>Sid replies to Greg's expert advice:
>
>Greg, you nailed it! It was exactly that pesky little fuse on the
>motherboard. That site you linked me to had a link for the fuse I needed,
>and I've already ordered it. I checked the fuse with a meter (though with a
>magnifier, I was able to visually see the link broken.
>
>I have a small 10 watt soldering iron, but I've never tried to solder
>anything this small-- but I'm up for this challenge. Gotta go dig out that
>electronics tools catalog I got years ago when I was working on old 35 mm
>SLRs. I suppose there is an even smaller soldering set up for work like
>this?
You don't need a iron smaller than 10W, but you _really_ should have a 
_grounded_ iron for anti-static protection. Ungrounded irons can possibly 
carry at the tip a dangerous amount (to your delicate electronics anyway) 
of current and/or voltage. I got a pair of grounded irons at RatShack for 
(IIRC) ~~US$8/each, for even better than one grounded iron are _two_ 
grounded irons, which greatly simplifies removing parts soldered at the 
ends. An excellent investment IMNSHO.

Using just one iron you have to keep moving back and forth to work the 
bloody thing loose, but with two you can (obviously :-) touch an iron to 
both ends simultaneously and just lift the fuse (or 
CPU-multiplier-jumper-resistor or whatever) right off. I hate to admit 
how many PCB traces I've messed up by spending too much time _and_ heat 
in a small area. The pair of irons lets you get the dang thing off 
quickly with a minimum risk of PCB damage.

hth,

Dan K

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