This is a fable about a power user's nightmare; but novices should take heed. It teaches a lesson in humility.
My problem began with spurious system errors with ID=02, 03, 10, and 28. These are usually errors associated with(among other things) INIT conflicts. INITs are mini-routines that load at Start-up and provide additional functionality to your standard System. Do y'know what Suitcase or SuperClock is? Okay; then you know what an INIT is. If you do not use many INITs, you do not know the infuriatingly frustrating feeling when two or more INITs attempt to utilize the same “hot-key” or the same area of memory — big-time boom!
With the incorporation of Adobe Type Manager and TypeAlign into my “gang” of INITs, the catastrophic errors became rampant. I'd even see bomb boxes appearing while just sitting in the Finder doing absolutely nothing.
I began turning off all my INITs to return my Mac to a “virgin” state of Mac-system-only. The crashes not only did not go away, but their frequency increased. I was ready to trash the whole system — Mac, hard drive, and accelerator — and start over with a new SE/30.
And it was then that the advice of TCBC's chief Macintosh technician, Richard Rap, dredged itself up from my memory bank; “99% of spurious System errors on an accelerated Macintosh occur as a direct result of poor contact between the daughterboard and the motherboard."
My 512KE has a 68030/68882 Gemini accelerator daughterboard that is attached to the 68000 microprocessor by a clip-on adaptor. This plastic “cover” slides over and grips the ends of the chip with two little plastic fingers. Along the inside of the cover are metal “leaves” that press against the legs of the chip. This allows the on-board firmware and disk-based software to enable the daughterboard's circuitry to preempt the 68000 chip's tasks. This is the basic concept of accelerator boards for pre-SE/30, toaster-sized Macs.
Sure enough, when I opened the Mac, removed the mother/daughterboard assembly from the frame, and firmly pressed the daugherboard, the two boards did indeed move together slightly with a barely audible “click”.
Upon rebooting, ol' Macky hasn't had a System error all day.
