[Hidden-tech] How old is too old for a computer?

[Jim Ussailis]

I beg to differ...

Static charge is on no import to components soldered into a circuit. 
Wrapping circuit boards into a static free bag is more for show than 
anything else.

The critical time is when MOS chips are not in a circuit. And it is only 
critical when the chips do not have portection diodes in them.

Be very careful when placing a processor chip into a mother board. Once 
it is in the board, who cares. The resistance of the associated circuit 
quickly drains away any charge.


Jim Ussailis

jim at nationalwireless.com



On Wed, 1 Jun 2005, Jonathan Dill wrote:

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> 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
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