Shh. Not so loud. You don't want to make the ones in your car mad, do you?
Malfunctioning Microprocessors?
Would anyone like to add their own experiences to the list of havoc these little monsters wreak? My experiences:
1. Japanese CD player whose brand I was lucky to forget - pushing any button activated the drawer mechanism. Push open, drawer opens. Push close, drawer closes. Push play, drawer opens again. You get the picture; actual play was impossible. Unplugging did not restore it.
2. Forte F44 Preamp with remote analog volume control. This unit liked to respond to lightning flashes during thunderstorms by advancing the volume to max level. Sometimes it would lock into level advance mode. Even taking manual control wouldn't prevent it from advancing. Before I personally witnessed this manifestation, it sometimes occurred while I was not at home. Luckily Forte provided a mute button. Happily, unplugging the preamp for a while reset it to normal function. Unhappily this gremlin had return tickets.
3. Nakamichi CR-3A Cassette Deck. This unit goes so far as touting "Microprocessor Control" by printing it in plain sight on the tape well. Insert tape, push play, play lights. Tape plays a little and then... the tape stops and record and pause light up too. Play, pause and record remain lit simultaneously. Pushing any buttons or changing settings has no effect. To further confuse matters, the tape can't eject because the heads are engaged. Turning the deck on and off, or unplugging it over night, are no help at all. Ok, I'll admit maybe it stalls because the deck or cassette hasn't been exercised recently. But does this excuse its failure to respond to commands? In this case, insert "out of" between the words Microprocessor and Control.
Care to share?
1. Japanese CD player whose brand I was lucky to forget - pushing any button activated the drawer mechanism. Push open, drawer opens. Push close, drawer closes. Push play, drawer opens again. You get the picture; actual play was impossible. Unplugging did not restore it.
2. Forte F44 Preamp with remote analog volume control. This unit liked to respond to lightning flashes during thunderstorms by advancing the volume to max level. Sometimes it would lock into level advance mode. Even taking manual control wouldn't prevent it from advancing. Before I personally witnessed this manifestation, it sometimes occurred while I was not at home. Luckily Forte provided a mute button. Happily, unplugging the preamp for a while reset it to normal function. Unhappily this gremlin had return tickets.
3. Nakamichi CR-3A Cassette Deck. This unit goes so far as touting "Microprocessor Control" by printing it in plain sight on the tape well. Insert tape, push play, play lights. Tape plays a little and then... the tape stops and record and pause light up too. Play, pause and record remain lit simultaneously. Pushing any buttons or changing settings has no effect. To further confuse matters, the tape can't eject because the heads are engaged. Turning the deck on and off, or unplugging it over night, are no help at all. Ok, I'll admit maybe it stalls because the deck or cassette hasn't been exercised recently. But does this excuse its failure to respond to commands? In this case, insert "out of" between the words Microprocessor and Control.
Care to share?
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