Wumpus, learn to read…
–Dave
Say what you will. That advice came from my wife, who is an electrical engineer. I explained BDGE’s setup to her, and she just snorted and said “that’s going to cause problems.”
It may not be causing his shutdown problem, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.
Dave: my bad. I did miss that. In that case, I’d recommend power supply replacement with something quality, like Enermax or Antec. Note that buying a new case does NOT guarantee you’ll get a quality power supply with the case.
I explained BDGE’s setup to her, and she just snorted and said “that’s going to cause problems.”
Yeah, but I also used to work with a bunch of crotchety old engineers who insisted that we wear static wrist straps when working on PCs. Ooooohhkaaayyy.
Number of times I’ve worn a static wrist strap: zero.
Number of times I’ve killed anything in any PC with static electricity: zero.
Although, to be fair, I do touch something metal before touching anything internal and electronic. That’s just common sense.
Was it, in fact, verified that the CPU fan on BDGE’s system is still operational and not choked with dust? I fixed a friend’s system that suffered from exactly this problem. The fan couldn’t get rid of the heat, and in 15 or 20 minutes, depending on load, the thing would just crap out. I opened it up and found a veritable treasure trove of dust in the heatsink/fan. Blew it out… no problems afterwards.
Well, that settles it, then. Static electricity is obviously a myth. I guess I’m just glad that my PC’s components are designed by engineers and not you, wumpus.
If I based my car safety practices on the same sort of formula, then I’d never wear a seat belt, either (number of times I’ve been injured in an accident: zero). Of course, it’s that one time that it does happen when you’ll wish you had not been so cavalier about ignoring simple precautions.
You guys realize this is of critical importance. I mean, how can he/she/it be the Best Damn Guest Ever if he/she/it doesn’t have a functioning PC?!
–Dave
We’ll always have Smash Bros. Dave… :)
Thanks for all the helpful input though! I’ve decided to first buy a new case. Something snappy, maybe with a window? :idea:
Of course I’ll make sure it has a solid amount of airflow trafficking in and out so as not to run into any other issues. (That Geforce 4 can probably burn a hole in the sun if worked enough) I did remove my videocard thanks to suggestion and lo and behold there WAS enough dust inside the fan to capsize a small tanker…or at least possibly crash my PC. Hopefully that alone solves the problem, I’ll probably know in about 20 minutes.
Chances are when I do get a new case I’ll just reformat and reinstall Win XP and call on more help with that before I make the plunge. Maybe pick up a copy of Unreal 2 while I’m at it. The demo seemed pretty neat…at least visually for the 30 seconds I was able to play it.
If I based my car safety practices on the same sort of formula, then I’d never wear a seat belt, either (number of times I’ve been injured in an accident: zero). Of course, it’s that one time that it does happen when you’ll wish you had not been so cavalier about ignoring simple precautions.
Simple precautions like touching something metal first? <lumberg>Yeah.</lumberg>
Most of the time, that’ll probably work fine. I use a wrist strap, which you can buy for less than a dollar and will definitely work fine all the time. Sorry, but when I’m handling parts that cost me hundreds of dollars, I prefer to play it safe.
[quote=“Ben_Sones”]
Most of the time, that’ll probably work fine. I use a wrist strap, which you can buy for less than a dollar and will definitely work fine all the time. Sorry, but when I’m handling parts that cost me hundreds of dollars, I prefer to play it safe.[/quote]
Yep, just make sure that you’re grounded to something that’s also grounded.
Most people unplug their PC, then touch it when they work on it.
That often doesn’t ground you at all.
Cheers,
Loyd Case
You picked a wrist strap. They’re gay. And so are you.
My motherboard here at work at some point had the chipset fan unplugged for a not-insignificant amount of time. Even after the fan was plugged in, the thing liked corrupting hard drives occasionaly. This problem persisted until the motherboard (and only the motherboard) was replaced.
So if your machine has been overheating for a year, you may well have ruined something on the motherboard.
Let me just join the reckless camp and say I’ve been working on PCs for years and never once wore a wrist strap, and I rarely even think to ground myself or touch metal before taking the plunge. And I’ve never zapped any pieces. Meh, whatever.
Let me just join the reckless camp and say I’ve been working on PCs for years and never once wore a wrist strap, and I rarely even think to ground myself or touch metal before taking the plunge. And I’ve never zapped any pieces. Meh, whatever.[/quote]
That’s cool. I mean, it’s your stuff–do what you like with it. I just don’t understand this geek-machimso thing that wumpus has going, like the Hell’s Angel that refuses to be shackled by a helmet, wrist strap-free and living the dangerous life on the edge.
What a dork.
From what you have described, it sounds like the motherboard. The CD drive is powered directly off the power supply, and you say that it powers up just fine. My guess is that the hard drive and floppy drive power up just dandy as well (might want to check), as well as any case fans that draw directly off the power supply. That leaves the motherboard. I suppose some new video cards run directly off the PS, but aside from that, everything else is dependant on the mobo.
[shakes head] Some analogies work better than others, some don’t work at all. Add me to the we don’t need no stinkin’ leetle strap crowd. Vroom, vroom!
[shakes head] Some analogies work better than others, some don’t work at all. Add me to the we don’t need no stinkin’ leetle strap crowd. Vroom, vroom!
You want geek machismo, get this: Tech that I used to work with bought, at his own expence, some badass 24v cordless DeWalt drill to put motherboards into systems. Dude has to leave the torque setting on the second to lowest (there are about 20 settings IIRC) in order not to drive the screw through the motherboard.
You mean like this?
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,658529,00.asp
I wrote about this a few months ago.
It’s what I use; quite similar to the DeWalt. The clutch setting is fabulous, and it’s much faster than using a standard screwdriver.
As ever,
Loyd Case