Miscellany - Page 629

Janet · #**15701** 10-10-2015, 02:28 PM

Well, sometimes you don't.

lisarea · #**15702** 10-11-2015, 06:03 AM

So the other day, my computer started shutting off and then cycling on boot, so I booted from a stick and confirmed that my primary hard drive fucked off.

This is not the end of the world. I have two internal drives and an external, so everything's backed up, and I was able to get into it and re-back it up just in case.

So I bought a new HDD today but then I was feeling kind of ass and decided to put it off and just run off the stick for a while, which I did for at least a full day, but then just now, it shut down again twice.

Well, shit.

What are the likely culprits? Fan or power supply?

I guess if I replace those now, and it turns out to be something worse, I have those new parts anyway? Of course that sticks me with systems that are compatible, but I was thinking if I do need to replace the motherboard/case, I'm just going to get a newer version of the model I have now anyway, so I could still use them.

However, I don't want to waste a bunch of time if I'm probably just going to have to replace the whole thing anyway, so someone tell me what to do.

JoeP · #**15703** 10-11-2015, 12:36 PM

What kind of shutting off? BSOD? Freeze? Or straight to blackness?
Is it hotter than normal?

A bsod could be *anything*.
A freeze could indicate bad RAM.
A complete sudden switching off (to blackness) could be a thermal overload which could point to the fans.

BrotherMan · #**15704** 10-11-2015, 03:04 PM

I'd run a RAM check to look for a bad sector.

JoeP · #**15705** 10-11-2015, 03:23 PM

Have you deleted your cookies and cleared your cache?

Miisa · #**15706** 10-11-2015, 03:41 PM

Have you tried turning it off and on again? I have heard that can help.

JoeP · #**15707** 10-11-2015, 05:01 PM

And if it helps once, surely turning it off and on lots of times will fix everything.

BrotherMan · #**15708** 10-11-2015, 05:41 PM

Creating a gui in visual basic so you can automate the turning off and on again will certainly help.

Ymir's blood · #**15709** 10-11-2015, 05:43 PM

Get Matlock to look at it?

lisarea · #**15710** 10-11-2015, 07:38 PM

LOL I just came back home from doing stuff and I've still got the danged reply window sitting here, unposted.

Oh, sorry, yeah, it's suddenly switching off, like in a power outage, which is why I figure it's most likely the fan or the power supply. It's not the software.

It's just especially weird that both my hard drive and something else started going at exactly the same time. I confirmed the hard drive failure, but it shut down again when I was booted from a USB drive, bypassing the hard drive.

Really, I suppose I'm just trying to think whether this could be anything to do with the motherboard.

slimshady2357 · #**15711** 10-11-2015, 07:42 PM

The fact that your HDD went as the same time as something else (which is still causing it to abruptly switch off) makes me think power supply. If the power supply is faulty it could have damaged the hard drive.

Of course I probably know less about these things than you!

ceptimus · #**15712** 10-11-2015, 08:30 PM

I think if it were the fan then it would be obvious - the fan wouldn't be spinning around properly.

If you can see the fan spinning and/or feel the air blown by it, then I think the fan is probably okay. If it's blowing/sucking directly to/from a heat sink then check the heat sink fins aren't all clogged with dust bunnies or other crap - use a vacuum cleaner to clean it if so.

I suspect the power supply. Maybe the hard disk isn't actually broken and was just suffering from insufficient power? Or, as slim says, if the hard disk really is toast, then perhaps the power supply is letting spikes through onto the low voltage side and that is what damaged the hard disk?

lisarea · #**15713** 10-11-2015, 09:46 PM

Yeah, I am heavily leaning toward the power supply at this point. I did confirm that the hard drive is damaged, but I've been expecting that for a while. It's very old.

I also checked the heat levels and they were normal. That wouldn't rule out spikes of overheating, I suppose, but the power supply seems most likely, so I think I'll just replace that when I replace the hard drive.

Thank you for confirming that I probably don't need to get a whole new computer.

But · #**15714** 10-12-2015, 01:45 AM

I would also guess it's the power supply. It's quite likely that some electrolytic capacitors have gone bad, because that's what they do. Most motherboards, graphics cards etc. have solid caps now, but the power supply is where the cheap shit goes.

curses · #**15715** 10-12-2015, 02:23 AM

Just got tickets for mr curses and I to go see the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra perform Danny Elfman music from Tim Burton films on Halloween. SpoOoOky.

Janet · #**15716** 10-13-2015, 08:44 PM

I was just looking at an e-mail from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for the same. I was sad because I promised to make turkey dinner for all my friends on November 1st so I don't have time to go to the show the night before.

livius drusus · #**15717** 10-16-2015, 07:14 AM

I don't want to piss off :primate:

, but I recently discovered that the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul in 1948 was His Excellency Shnork. That name and title combination manages to achieve greatness is so many fewer words.

JoeP · #**15718** 10-16-2015, 11:51 AM

:shnork:

Hmm, :primate:

is still superior.

Miisa · #**15719** 10-16-2015, 12:19 PM

The special lion is not in the hoard.

BrotherMan · #**15720** 10-16-2015, 12:21 PM

I don't know how I feel about this development. I spend all my life in praise of Francesco Antonio José de Lorenzana y Buitrón, Archbishop of Toledo, Primate of Spain, and Ambassador of King Charles IV to the Holy See. That's not something I can just turn off at a moment's notice.