Editing Acorn Archimedes A4000 (section)

== Common Issues and Reliability ==

The A4000 exhibited generally good reliability, benefiting from the integrated ARM250 design and improved manufacturing processes. However, several issues emerged over time:

=== Hard Drive Failures ===

The Conner CP3084 drives used in early production proved problematic:
* '''Stiction problems''' - Drives failed to spin up after periods of inactivity
* '''Head crashes''' - Particularly common after 5-7 years of use
* '''Bearing wear''' - Caused increasing noise before complete failure

Replacement with modern IDE drives requires attention to geometry limitations in RISC OS 3.10, which cannot address drives larger than 512 MB without third-party software.

=== Power Supply Issues ===

The internal switch-mode power supply, while more efficient than earlier linear designs, developed characteristic faults:
* '''Capacitor degradation''' - Particularly in the primary section
* '''Thermal stress** - Inadequate ventilation caused component failure
* '''Voltage drift''' - Aging components caused regulation problems

=== Battery Leakage ===

Like all Archimedes machines, the CMOS backup battery posed long-term risks:
* '''Battery type''' - 3.6V lithium (improved from NiCd)
* '''Typical lifetime''' - 7-10 years before replacement needed
* '''Leakage damage''' - Less severe than NiCd but still problematic
* '''Symptoms''' - Settings loss, clock failure, boot problems