Roger, We have experienced an unacceptable failure rate with bifurcated style sockets. Switching to machine screw contacts (like in Robinson Nugent ICE series) has eliminated most of our problems. These are a little more expensive, but the small incremental cost more than out weighs the failures and their associated costs. The environment the product is located in can also have an effect. An example is computers located next to heavy smokers. The buildup of smoke scum can create a high resistance coating that will bring the system to its knees. Regards, Phil Nutting -----Original Message----- From: Roger Hill (home) [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 11:52 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] IC Socket Contact Quality I am having trouble with our equipment. Field service techs think there are periodic glitches which lockup our equipment, due to the contact quality (tarnish, dirt?) between ic's and there sockets. They are able to reset the system by pulling out the ic and reseating. The problem then can't be duplicated. We have thousands of these in the field - so soldering would be very very expensive. To date, the field techs have also been burnish the ic leads once they are removed. Can this damage surface of the contact? Is there anything else we can be doing? We have tried some "contact enhancers" but have had problems with it attacking the plastic ic socket so we are reluctant to go in this direction. Any ideas? Thanks in advance Roger Hill 972-245-2243 x203 ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. If you need assistance - contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ##############################################################