Reel touch intermittent top box com error & crash

[Phan000]

Long term project machine.

Re-capped ton box PC & replaced PSU.  Machine worked perfectly for about a year.


Now it is intermittently crashing, usually w/ top box com error.

With top box open,  no issues or crashes.  Fan on the processor looks new,  the other top box fan is probably OEM.

Thinking a fan is underperforming, or the HD is overheating.  Probably should clone the HD in any case?

[qbert]

When it crashes does the top box reboot itself?
Is it on for a long period of time before it crashes?
Fan on heatsink running?  Fan on top box powered by lower unit power supply behind the reels. Is it working?
My experience says the bottom board is failing or communication link via the gray wired molex is having issues. Center board on EZ pay box or ribbon cable to lower mpu.

[Phan000]

Yes top box would reboot after crash.

The crash was unpredictable,  but could happen within 5 or 10 minutes.

All fans are blowing,  but the top box fan & the top cabinet fans sound whiny.  Processor fan seems OK.

I turned it on yesterday and it ran for hours with no issues. Was cooler out yesterday & cooler inside my house. Could be a factor?

Should I swap out the power supply behind the reels, just to check.  I could replace the board if needed as well.   Could that communication cable just fail from age?

I am concerned about that original hard drive failing, and not being able to find the data to replace it. How hard is it to find these files if it dies?

[qbert]

You can try reseating all of the plugs on the gray molex line including the ribbon cable.
Hard drive usually fails and does not recover. A replacement is about $150 if it does go bad.
Please make sure you look at the first topic on the Reel Touch forum and copy down the ATA, RFA and BGM files while your machine is still operational. Your top board has already been recapped that should eliminate temperature issues up top. Lower cpu could be the problem. Reseat the lower mpu also. Power supply probably ok.