Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> Hi,
> [...]
> Opening the case just after such a crash, I noticed that the CPU and chips
> around it are quite hot (I can barely keep a finger on them). The front fan
> looks OK, but maybe the air flow is lower than it was. Any comment on this ?

I have one of these that I use regularly, with a 10/100 NIC, S3 video card, 
and full banks of memory (but no additional HD).  You might try the same 
operations with the case off, and see if the error persists.

> Also, I changed a bit of hardware: added a 3com 100Mbs NIC (also tried
> a 21140-based NIC, didn't help), a pciide adapter (tried different Ultra33 and
> Ultra66 models) with and IDE disk (I keept the origial SCSI disk for system)
> and remplaced the floppy drive with a SCSI ZIP. I keept the origial SCSI
> cdrom drive. The 255 manual says it can support up to 3 internal SCSI disk in
> addition to the CD, so I guess the power supply is enouth for all this
> (I don't think the ZIP eats significantly more than a floppy drive when idle,
> and I can't see the extra nic + extra IDE controller eating more than
> a hard disk). Again, any comments on this ?

I would try temporarily disconnecting devices that pull power, perhaps try 
pulling the the ZIP, CDROM, and a single bank of memory, then trying the NFS 
file copies that cause the error.  These machines are tanks, and I would be 
surprised if it were anything but a power or heat issue.

If you need a new PSU or new fans I can point you to an Alpha shop on the net 
from where I get my stuff.

--Dave