How To Replace System Cards

ICT test engineers in smaller OEM companies normally wear many hats, system maintenance is one of them. We may have the luxury of having a system in the company and it does fail once in a while although HP3070 is extremely reliable.

When we run diagnostic for the whole system and we see failures on a certain cards, we need to identify the bad cards and sometimes we have to even troubleshoot down to the relay level. Most of hybrid cards failures are due to damage relays on board.

It doesn’t matter if we replace new cards or swap the cards around to see if the failures follow the cards, we have to pull the cards and swap or replace them. It looks like it’s a big job, but it isn’t, just tedious. I can replace or swap cards in less than 15 minutes.

1. Make sure the system is far enough from the back wall so the system fan panels can move out totally to clear the cards.

2. Make sure there are no loose wires or cables in the way of the test head movements to the up/down positions when moving.

3. Turn the test head all the way forward using the front red button – The test head power must be ON – this is scary – make sure the power is OFF when removing cards.

Test head button     Up all the way

TURN THE TEST HEAD POWER OFF NOW.

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Green Button OFF     ON

Move to the back of the test head (system), remove the system fans doors and pull them up and to the side to clear the cards on the way out.

Twist and pull      Rest the door on the system frame

Now find the cards needing replacement or swap, clear the cables if they’re in the way, make sure to remember which ones go where. Go to the front of the system (test head), unscrews 2 screws for each cards, one on each side.

Wear wrist strap now for ESD or ESD shoes on ESD floor.

left screws     Right screw

cable in the way     Move it

all clear     pull the card with both hand

Pull the card out carefully, I got scratches due to through hole pins of these cards. Through holes? Yes, that’s why it’s reliable.

To put back the cards, the left side of the board is longer than the right, slide the left side in first until the right side catches the side slot, don’t try to align both sides together, it will be an angle, harder to go in. Push them in until you feel a snap lock.

Make sure all the cables are plugged in as when we pulled them out, go to the front and screw the boards back in tight, but not stripping the slot screws – 2 for each card.

Close the fans doors, twist the locks to make sure they’re locked or the doors will fall down as you lower the test head to flat position.

At this time, I would turn on the test head for the power to come up while using the red button to rotate the test head to flat position.

Run service1, auto adjust all then full system diagnostic.

Cheers,

Louis[/members]

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