HC300 going offline

[sparky7]

Hi All,

 

Last Thursday, my HC300 went offline.  The first thing I noticed was that the GE security monitor started beeping, as it has an interface to the HC300.  Then I noticed none of the keypads would work.  I rebooted the HC300, and initially, no response (I may have just been impatient).  I was able to connect to it using ComposerHE, then everything seemed to work.

 

Two days later, it happens again.  This time I try to connect before rebooting.  ComposerHE can't find it, and I can't ping it.  I then reboot, and I can ping it again.  It takes a good five minutes before ComposerHE can find it to connect (maybe this is normal...).  I can ssh into the HC300 and look at the logs, but don't see anything obvious.  I don't know exactly what to look for -- could use pointers.

 

I'm wondering if the HC300 is about to go belly up.  It's almost 5 years old, and I've never seen it do this before.

 

Update -- as I'm typing this, the HC300 went dead again (about an hour after the second occurance).  Is this likely a memory issue?

 

Thanks in advance.

[neil12011]

The internal power supply in these are notorious for going bad.  It's a pretty easy fix, and the replacement part is pretty cheap.

[sparky7]

Thanks for the tip.  I did see a link for a power supply in another post. 

 

Is there a trick to getting these things open?  I tried removing the screws on the back, but it didn't seem to be enough.  Are there some hidden screws under the feet or front panel?

 

Thanks.

[sparky7]

Sorry -- I posted a little too quickly.  I quick search gave me the answer I was looking for (screws under the feet).

 

Thanks.

[neil12011]

Most people get the part from Mouser, it's $20 or $30 bucks. Post back and let us know how it turns out.

[sparky7]

I opened up my HC300 -- looking at the power supply, I see that there was resistance at one of the connections (see the burn spots in the photos).  The new p.s. is on order.