[clug-talk] Random computer crashing

[Mitchell Brown]

It has one hard drive, a CDRW/DVD-ROM drive, and a DVD-RW drive.
And one or two fans. Total. That's it. No extra peripherals.

On 5/9/06, Mark Carlson <carlsonmark at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 5/9/06, Kin Wong <kwong at csa-pdk.com> wrote:
> > Mitchell Brown wrote:
> >
> > > Okay, the full 5-stage CHKDSK just finished. Found 0 problems. Argh.
> > > I could try reformatting the drive and doing a NTFS Full this time -
> > > but I'd probably just be wasting my time.
> > > If it is faulty memory or a PSU, why would reformatting the partition
> > > with Linux make a difference to the Windows installer O_o
> > >
> > > I'm at a loss here. This is very frustrating for me and my mom wants
> > > this video ripped asap.
> > >
> > > What would you guys do in my situation?
>
> I would disconnect the anything from the PSU that you don't need.  If
> the case has 8 fans in it, disconnect all but the PSU fan, CPU fan,
> and all other critical fans.  Disconnect any HDs you don't need right
> now.  Then try again.  I've seen these symptoms before, and it is
> usually because someone's PSU is overloaded or about to die.  One OS
> may cause a massive power draw on a particular rail, causing the rail
> voltage to drop, while the other OS may not cause it to happen.  At
> any rate, if this fixes your problem, do one of the following:
> - Get a new PSU
> - Change the load so that you aren't using one lead from the PSU for
> everything (i.e. if you have RAID drives in there, balance them on
> seperate leads from the PSU)
>
> > I have cannibalized a number of computers in my life time because of
> > problems like that and walk away from the carcass.  If you need to rely
> > on a computer is it not performing reliably, there is not too much that
> > you can do.  The age of the components bears no correlation to its
> > reliability -- when solving these kinds of problems, sometimes dead is
> > good, because it is much easier to fix -- flaky is bad because you have
> > to create the same circumstance for it to fail.
> >
> > Could it be caused by a heating issue -- try opening up the case and
> > running a fan against the mb, if you have a cold soldier joint or a bad
> > trace, temperature fluctuations could cause a system failure.
>
> Heh, that reminds me of something I saw on IRC a while ago:
>
> k4jcw: I don't understand how people expect their processors to work
> when you can't see them. Putting a cover on a PC just ain't natural.
> k4jcw: 'course, I was used to having to leave the doors hanging open
> on the PDP-11, with an A/C vent pointed at it, or it would crash.
> toresbe: k4jcw: actually, my VAX overheats when I open it.
>
> -Mark
>
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--
pub 1024D/9091C422 02/05/2006 Mitchell Brown <mbgb14 at gmail.com>
    Primary key fingerprint:  812B 94BC EA0D 345A CC1C 2ED9 F7F6 5CCF 9091
C422
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