Christofer deHahn wrote: >>I was wondering if anyone can answer a few questions for me pertaining to >> >> >my 98 Dell computer and Dell screen. > > >>My screen all of a sudden has a dark gray, blackish look to it in the >> >> >lower right hand side. I had just moved it >so i thought it was dirty but >turns out its inside....does this mean my screen is on its way out?? > >As long as you haven't recently placed something with a magnetic field >(magnet, transformer, new speaker, etc.) in tht corner, then it may be >failing. > > You may want to try to "Degauss" the monitor--on most modern monitors, that happens automatically when you power off/on the monitor, but with older monitors, you may have to look through the "on screen" menus, or sometimes there will be a special "Degauss" button, which might even be on the back of the monitor. The manual for the monitor should still be available on the Support portion of the Dell website. I used to work with a lot of early 90's 20" Sony monitors on older Silicon Graphics workstations, and sometimes just rotating the monitor 90 degrees could cause the screen to go funny until it was degaussed. Monitors can also be affected by the local magnetic field of the Earth. >>Server >>drives that live in datacenters, with controlled power, that are on all the >>time, can last a very long time, but when they fail, they fail big. >> Overheating and power fluctations are probably the things I have seen kill drives the most frequently. Physical shock or parts just wearing out will definitely kill a disk drive, I just haven't seen that happen as often. If a disk drive seems noisy or becomes more noisy, that is usually a sign of an impending physical failure. In old drives, the bearings may fail, or oil from the bearings will condense on the surface of the platters until there is not enough space for the heads to "float" above the disk and the heads will crash into the platters. Failing bearings usually cause a grinding or whining sound--if the sound seems to change in timbre periodically, that is a very bad sign. Having a UPS (power backup) should help prolong the life of disk drives. It is also a good idea to have some kind of temperature monitoring or at least check regularly on cooling fans and replace them if they get noisy which probably means they are about to fail. Also a good idea to dust the fans--I find the best method is to take the computer outside and use compressed air, good idea to wear a dust mask. You should immobilize the fan if possible, or use short bursts of air, so you don't spin the fan up to high RPMs and ruin the bearings, although it is fun to hear that siren whistle sound. A regular vacuum cleaner can generate static electricity which can be harmful to the electronic components. If you are going to vacuum, ideally you would want to use an electronics vac, but that is not something the average person is going to have. Jonathan