Short circuited motherboard
 

I have an old Dell Optiplex (with a Sandy Bridge quad core i5-2400) that I was running prime95 on. I had just gotten it up and running and was about to put the case cover back on when I klutzily dropped a screw on top of the running motherboard. I did a little diagnosing and figured out that I probably shorted out the motherboard. Since there were about a zillion of these sold, I found a replacement motherboard on eBay for only $19.

So here's my question: should I release the assignment I was working on or would it be okay to simply start it back up when I get the computer back up and running? I'm not sure if replacing the motherboard will cause this to be treated like another computer, or if there's any risk of of corrupting the results. The assignment was a category 4 LL-D, so I can definitely get it done before the assignment deadline, but I want to follow proper protocol.

By the way, this is my first post on the forums. Sorry if I posted in the wrong folder. Thanks in advance for your help.

Welcome to the forums.

I don't see any problem with continuing your old assignment.

[QUOTE=Prime95;479921]Welcome to the forums.

I don't see any problem with continuing your old assignment.[/QUOTE]

So it turns out it was my CPU that got fried. I searched around and found an affordable i5-2500 (a slightly faster processor) and replaced it with that. When I fired the computer back up, Prime95 gave me a CPU mismatch error, but then it just continued doing the calculations. My CPU account page marked it as an "untrusted software version." From what I read on the forums, I think that's normal, but I wanted to make sure. Do I need to do anything else?

Thanks again.

Your "untrusted software" should be corrected on the next sync with the PrimeNet database. If your old CPU was really defective, then I'm a bit sorry for you, because that always sucks. :(
Since your Prime95 is running like a charme again, you have nothing left to do! :)

[QUOTE=kruoli;481190]Your "untrusted software" should be corrected on the next sync with the PrimeNet database. If your old CPU was really defective, then I'm a bit sorry for you, because that always sucks. :(
Since your Prime95 is running like a charme again, you have nothing left to do! :)[/QUOTE]

Thanks, the "untrusted software" thing cleared itself up overnight as you said it would.

As for the CPU, I look at it as a relatively cheap lesson learned on my part. Which is, if you drop a metal screw onto a running motherboard, it's possible to mess up your CPU. I think the screw made contact with the metal bracket holding down the CPU. In any case, the old CPU is completely unresponsive. SInce it's a relatively old system, it only cost me about $45 to find a replacement CPU on eBay. If I had done this with my main computer it would've cost me several hundred bucks. Live and learn, I guess.

[QUOTE=ChemicalArts;481200]Thanks, the "untrusted software" thing cleared itself up overnight as you said it would.

As for the CPU, I look at it as a relatively cheap lesson learned on my part. Which is, if you drop a metal screw onto a running motherboard, it's possible to mess up your CPU. I think the screw made contact with the metal bracket holding down the CPU. In any case, the old CPU is completely unresponsive. SInce it's a relatively old system, it only cost me about $45 to find a replacement CPU on eBay. If I had done this with my main computer it would've cost me several hundred bucks. Live and learn, I guess.[/QUOTE]

Inexpensive mistakes easily and quickly repaired are the best kind.

Decades ago I was working on a breadboarded kit of electronics at an automotive engine research startup. (We sometimes made our own special instrumentation to look at fuel/air ratios etc at high space and time resolution.) I blew a small transistor in two, with fragments bouncing off the window in front of me, and I swore, just as a multimillionaire substantial investor had quietly come up behind me. I realized he was there, turned, explained, and apologized a bit. He said something to the effect that he wanted us to make mistakes quick so we were efficiently moving forward.

Have fun! (But keep the fingers, screwdrivers, and screws out of the powered boxes.
Especially the power supply section, that stuff will kill.)

[QUOTE=kriesel;486686]Inexpensive mistakes easily and quickly repaired are the best kind.[/QUOTE]Nope. Mistakes from which you learn how not to make them again are the best kind. Your kind of mistakes are but highly regarded sub-cases.
[QUOTE=kriesel;486686]
Decades ago I was working on a breadboarded kit of electronics at an automotive engine research startup. (We sometimes made our own special instrumentation to look at fuel/air ratios etc at high space and time resolution.) I blew a small transistor in two, with fragments bouncing off the window in front of me, and I swore, just as a multimillionaire substantial investor had quietly come up behind me. I realized he was there, turned, explained, and apologized a bit. He said something to the effect that he wanted us to make mistakes quick so we were efficiently moving forward.
[/QUOTE] A cow-orker (or core-searcher perhaps?) once connected a Lion battery in backwards. It exploded and bounced off a wall, the ceiling, another wall and then burnt a hole in the carpet --- all the while filling the room with foul smelling smoke and gases. She did this in the presence of the head honcho of MS Research who was visiting the lab at the time. We've never let her forget it.

[QUOTE=xilman;486736]A cow-orker (or core-searcher perhaps?) once connected a Lion battery in backwards.[/QUOTE]

Several years ago a telecoms startup I was involved with was commissioning a Class 4/5 telephony softswitch. My boss and one of my juniors forgot that the "48 volt DC supply" was *negative* 48 volts, and wired the chassis backwards.

~$20,000 USD of magic blue smoke later, it was a lesson not soon forgotten....

[QUOTE=xilman;486736]Nope. Mistakes from which you learn how not to make them again are the best kind.[/QUOTE]
The managing general partner of the startup would regularly say the most cost effective research is in the library reading research others have already done. (Or in this context, learning for free from the mistakes of others. Also fewer of the safety hazards.)

[QUOTE=xilman;486736]Nope. Mistakes from which you learn how not to make them again are the best kind. Your kind of mistakes are but highly regarded sub-cases.
A cow-orker (or core-searcher perhaps?) once connected a Lion battery in backwards. It exploded and bounced off a wall, the ceiling, another wall and then burnt a hole in the carpet --- all the while filling the room with foul smelling smoke and gases. She did this in the presence of the head honcho of MS Research who was visiting the lab at the time. We've never let her forget it.[/QUOTE]
What is a Lion battery? How did the Lion react to the error? :whistle:

[QUOTE=xilman;486736]
A cow-orker (or core-searcher perhaps?) once connected a Lion battery in backwards. It exploded and bounced off a wall, the ceiling, another wall and then burnt a hole in the carpet --- all the while filling the room with foul smelling smoke and gases. She did this in the presence of the head honcho of MS Research who was visiting the lab at the time. We've never let her forget it.[/QUOTE]

Given that I live in Wisconsin, the self proclaimed dairy state, turning cows into orks sounds like a terroristic threat. But it could be a lot worse; see South Dakota's 4.32:1 cow:human ratio vs Wisconsin's 0.58:1. [URL]http://beef2live.com/story-cattle-inventory-vs-human-population-state-0-114255[/URL]