Garbage hardware thread

PageFault · 2003-12-12, 03:02

Inna bin, stuff has been piling up as of late:

PII 350 + boart
PIII 750 + boart
tbird 1333 x 2, 1 boart
1.6A - box fried, cpu status unknown (should test) evil boart
1.6A + evil boart

256 MB pc166
256 MB pc133
256 MB pc2100
256 MB pc2400
256 MB pc2700 crap timings
various pc100

various untrustable psu's
various small disks
cdrom, floppy drive galore.

4 pentium 1 machines recently discarded.

Am I alone like this? Severe shortage of space means frequent upgrades for the 4 home machines. Any hardware problem is seized upon as an excuse to upgrade. The rest becomes garbage.

Of this experience, boarts have been the most frequent failures with three recent incidents. Two sticks of ram have recently died and two hard disks. Add in the odd nic or vidcard ... not bad for ten years of computing.

What are you guys most frequent failures?

SlashDude · 2003-12-12, 03:54

I've lost a UPS and 2 hard drives in the last few weeks, and a P4 1.6 over the summer. I can't count the number of fans I've lost. The dog hair doesn't help...

I was able to RMA everything except the UPS. I've killed a few power supplies lately too...my fault for not flipping the 110 / 220 switch before plugging them into 220

Racks help with the space issue - got to love it when work cleans house and tosses 19" racks!

I'm in the process of getting rid of the Pentium 1's...the Pentium Pro machines still have a little life left.

outlnder · 2003-12-12, 05:54

Page, I could use the 1.6A and boart for factoring. Also the 256MB PC2100 to make one of my machines dual channel.

Email me if you want to throw it at me. Again, I will gladly pay shipping costs.

tom11784 · 2003-12-12, 09:34

<----- college kid

interested in messing with computers over the next semester.

If you have anything like that you'd like to get rid of for not much above shipping (depending on where exactly these would be shipped from) I'd be interested in whatever is left after outlnder is done with the pile.....

Feel free to PM me (I would've PMed you, but it says u won't accept PMs)

If things work out, I'll be

ing to you for helping me out.

BotXXX · 2003-12-12, 10:04

If you are binning the "PIII 750 + boart" combo.. I have a perfect bin here. Currently running a PIII - 450 ;) But side effect is the shipping to holland is probally huge :(

But indeed the things that failed me most, are harddisks. My first own bought computer in a shop, 80486 DX II 66Mhz with a whopping 420 MB harddisk from seagate crashed after 2 years of running.. All my presious data lost..

Now my latest 60 GB Maxtor also crashed.. An IBM Travelstar of 2,1 GB als crashed (but was mor emy fault.. But it on a unstable pile while running and it fell :( and crashed..

My other IBM disks are running fine and with out probs, and now my newest Samsung 120 GB is perfectly fine ;) altho should run it with a mirror..

QuintLeo · 2003-12-12, 12:57

My primary failures are hard drives - never seem to have enough to keep all my boxen up and running at the same time.

I also have had bad luck with Athlon CPUs, but most of those were before I got good at HS installation. I'm REALLY looking forward to the return of heat spreaders with the Opteron/Athlon 64 line....

(and yes, I hated not having them on P3 series CPUs too - FCPGA was a horrible design decision).

MrHappy · 2003-12-12, 13:10

I never had serious hardware failures. Plenty dead fans though...

E_tron · 2003-12-12, 18:44

So far... only Pentium 2 based machines are dieing on me. As for hard drives... they break in the first week or they never break. I still have a 420MB Samsung drive and it works fine... around the clock.

PrimeCruncher · 2003-12-12, 20:03

I've had a number of HDDs and a PSU go on me recently. The scary part is that they weren't that old. One HDD was about 2 years old, the other about half that.

PageFault · 2003-12-12, 22:29

I have been lucky with disks. I killed one troubleshooting and its replacement died shortly after commissioning. Not one disk failure since I started crunching three years ago - rarely booting is going to help prolong life.

TauCeti · 2003-12-12, 22:54

Quote:

Originally posted by PrimeCruncher
I've had a number of HDDs and a PSU go on me recently. The scary part is that they weren't that old. One HDD was about 2 years old, the other about half that.

I have installed about 20 ATA-HDs the last 2 years. Different types. About 8 of them failed and already had to be replaced. There is even a free on-site-replacement-service. But this still SUCKS. A LOT!

And the systems where only running 8/24*5/7. This is insane. In the years between 1993 and 1999 i guess (don't know exactly) that i have installed at least 30 HDs and only TWO ever failed. In all those years. Most of those old HDs are still running.

Will - PLEASE - a manufacturer consider producing *heavy*, *reliable* *slower*, *cool* and *more expensive* ATA-HDs again?

2003-12-12, 03:02	#1
PageFault Aug 2002 Dawn of the Dead 5×47 Posts	Garbage hardware thread Inna bin, stuff has been piling up as of late: PII 350 + boart PIII 750 + boart tbird 1333 x 2, 1 boart 1.6A - box fried, cpu status unknown (should test) evil boart 1.6A + evil boart 256 MB pc166 256 MB pc133 256 MB pc2100 256 MB pc2400 256 MB pc2700 crap timings various pc100 various untrustable psu's various small disks cdrom, floppy drive galore. 4 pentium 1 machines recently discarded. Am I alone like this? Severe shortage of space means frequent upgrades for the 4 home machines. Any hardware problem is seized upon as an excuse to upgrade. The rest becomes garbage. Of this experience, boarts have been the most frequent failures with three recent incidents. Two sticks of ram have recently died and two hard disks. Add in the odd nic or vidcard ... not bad for ten years of computing. What are you guys most frequent failures?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Hardware Benchmark Jest Thread for 100M exponents	joblack	Hardware	284	2020-12-29 03:54
Bargain Hardware Thread	E_tron	Hardware	338	2016-01-20 01:06
Old Hardware Thread	E_tron	Hardware	0	2004-06-18 03:32
Deutscher Thread (german thread)	TauCeti	NFSNET Discussion	0	2003-12-11 22:12
Gratuitous hardware-related banana thread	GP2	Hardware	7	2003-11-24 06:13

2003-12-12, 03:54	#2
SlashDude Aug 2002 Minneapolis, MN 11100100₂ Posts	I've lost a UPS and 2 hard drives in the last few weeks, and a P4 1.6 over the summer. I can't count the number of fans I've lost. The dog hair doesn't help... I was able to RMA everything except the UPS. I've killed a few power supplies lately too...my fault for not flipping the 110 / 220 switch before plugging them into 220 Racks help with the space issue - got to love it when work cleans house and tosses 19" racks! I'm in the process of getting rid of the Pentium 1's...the Pentium Pro machines still have a little life left.

2003-12-12, 05:54	#3
outlnder Aug 2002 2·3·53 Posts	Page, I could use the 1.6A and boart for factoring. Also the 256MB PC2100 to make one of my machines dual channel. Email me if you want to throw it at me. Again, I will gladly pay shipping costs.

2003-12-12, 09:34	#4
tom11784 Aug 2003 Upstate NY, USA 2×163 Posts	<----- college kid interested in messing with computers over the next semester. If you have anything like that you'd like to get rid of for not much above shipping (depending on where exactly these would be shipped from) I'd be interested in whatever is left after outlnder is done with the pile..... Feel free to PM me (I would've PMed you, but it says u won't accept PMs) If things work out, I'll be ing to you for helping me out.

2003-12-12, 10:04	#5
BotXXX Aug 2003 Europe 2·97 Posts	If you are binning the "PIII 750 + boart" combo.. I have a perfect bin here. Currently running a PIII - 450 ;) But side effect is the shipping to holland is probally huge :( But indeed the things that failed me most, are harddisks. My first own bought computer in a shop, 80486 DX II 66Mhz with a whopping 420 MB harddisk from seagate crashed after 2 years of running.. All my presious data lost.. Now my latest 60 GB Maxtor also crashed.. An IBM Travelstar of 2,1 GB als crashed (but was mor emy fault.. But it on a unstable pile while running and it fell :( and crashed.. My other IBM disks are running fine and with out probs, and now my newest Samsung 120 GB is perfectly fine ;) altho should run it with a mirror..

2003-12-12, 12:57	#6
QuintLeo Oct 2002 Lost in the hills of Iowa 2⁶×7 Posts	My primary failures are hard drives - never seem to have enough to keep all my boxen up and running at the same time. I also have had bad luck with Athlon CPUs, but most of those were before I got good at HS installation. I'm REALLY looking forward to the return of heat spreaders with the Opteron/Athlon 64 line.... (and yes, I hated not having them on P3 series CPUs too - FCPGA was a horrible design decision).

2003-12-12, 13:10	#7
MrHappy Dec 2003 Paisley Park & Neverland 5·37 Posts	I never had serious hardware failures. Plenty dead fans though...

2003-12-12, 18:44	#8
E_tron Sep 2002 Austin, TX 1061₈ Posts	So far... only Pentium 2 based machines are dieing on me. As for hard drives... they break in the first week or they never break. I still have a 420MB Samsung drive and it works fine... around the clock.

2003-12-12, 20:03	#9
PrimeCruncher Sep 2003 Borg HQ, Delta Quadrant 2·3³·13 Posts	I've had a number of HDDs and a PSU go on me recently. The scary part is that they weren't that old. One HDD was about 2 years old, the other about half that.

2003-12-12, 22:29	#10
PageFault Aug 2002 Dawn of the Dead 5×47 Posts	I have been lucky with disks. I killed one troubleshooting and its replacement died shortly after commissioning. Not one disk failure since I started crunching three years ago - rarely booting is going to help prolong life.