B737-300
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft
Cruising at FL350; we had a MCP lock up. We lost the autopilot; both flight directors; and the altitude alert was going off every few seconds. At this point; we decided to exit RVSM airspace and ATC gave us a descent to FL290. We then notified Dispatch. The Captain then gave me the airplane and ran the MCP procedure to no avail. The Captain then took the airplane and; while waiting on a response from Dispatch and listening to the altitude alert going off every few seconds and still avoiding thunderstorms; I then offered to run the procedure. I ran the procedure and we got the MCP back. The MCP was working for quite some time. I think around this time; Dispatch got back to us and told us to go to ZZZ. As we began our descent into ZZZ; the MCP locked up again on us. Now with no flight directors; autopilot; and the altitude alert going off again every few seconds and the ensuing night approach; I offered to run the procedure again thinking we could get the MCP back long enough to land in ZZZ as the MCP worked for some time after we got it back the first time. With all the distractions of not having an autopilot or flight directors; and the altitude alert going off every few seconds; the Captain agreed and I ran it again.  We got the MCP back and landed uneventfully. We made a logbook writeup; changed airplanes; and continued to our scheduled destination.
B737-300 First Officer experiences an MCP failure at FL350; losing both autopilots; the flight directors and the altitude alerting system and descends out of RVSM airspace. The first reset attempt by the Captain is not successful but the second attempt by the First Officer is. Dispatch is contacted and replies with diversion instructions as the MCP fails again. The MCP is reset again and functions to landing.