PC He...OK, PC hot unpleasant place

MossRoad · Feb 5, 2006

My computer guy is telling me you should have a new one every 1-2 years or so. 

Not to hijack the thread or anything and not to diminish the fact that it could be the power supply, so be sure to check it, etc....

Your computer guy telling you to get a new power supply every 1-2 years is, in my opinion, very bad advice. In the last 18 years I've been responsible for over 1500 computers, each with an average life span of 7-8 years, and have only had a power supply die maybe four times. I'd spend the money on good data backup instead of power supplies.

nobull1 · Feb 5, 2006

( My computer guy is telling me you should have a new one every 1-2 years or so. 

Not to hijack the thread or anything and not to diminish the fact that it could be the power supply, so be sure to check it, etc....

Your computer guy telling you to get a new power supply every 1-2 years is, in my opinion, very bad advice. In the last 18 years I've been responsible for over 1500 computers, each with an average life span of 7-8 years, and have only had a power supply die maybe four times. I'd spend the money on good data backup instead of power supplies. )

Really, I have had two go bad in the last 4-5 years and know of "at least" 3 or 4 others in the same time period. They seem to take out the hard drive if anything by the time they finally quit. The fans aren't usually the issue it is the capacitors that fail and give fluctuating voltage. Now to be fair I was also told that in our area we have dirty voltage which means highs/lows in the wall voltage. So maybe it is only in certain areas that it is a problem /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif. But in our area it is a known thing and the cost of a power supply and install is like $50.00 on average. So not a big deal anyways

MossRoad · Feb 5, 2006

We lose about one out of 500 hard drives a week, 50 or so a year. That is why I stress data backup as the best place to spend money.

nobull1 · Feb 5, 2006

I agree backup's today are cheap and smart. I have lost a couple of hard drives in the last 10 years or so and replacement of the drive was easy, the data was another story. Lucky for me I can backup what I need to on a DVD on a weekly schedule. The worst case scenario is having to reinstall a drive, o/s and restore data(couple of hours ). Times sure have changed in that regard the last few years.

MossRoad · Feb 5, 2006

We make ghost images of our base PCs, and then again with our specialty boxes with any software that is different from the base PC. We can either boot off of a floppy with the NIC drivers and restore the PC to as new in about 20-30 minutes over the network, or we can take a spare HD with the ghost images on it, open the case, substitute the spare HD with the CD ide cable, boot from floppy and restore locally in about two minutes. We would like to use USB thumb drives instead of a HD, but with the advent of WinXP, the ghost images are usually over 2G and won't fit on them.

For home backup, I keep ALL data somewhere under the My Documents folder. On a regular basis, I just copy it to another PC over my home network, or to a spare hard drive that lives in one of the PCs. I also back up to CD occasionaly and keep those in my desk at work, or in the safety deposit box at the bank, for real, off-site storage. Never had to use it, but happy to know that it is there. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Now, I again apologize for hi-jacking the thread. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

LMTC · Feb 5, 2006

( I keep ALL data somewhere under the My Documents folder )
Been doing this for years. Makes BU easier. Don't need to BU the programs, just the working files. Do a CD BU every week of current working files, and a DVD BU every month or so of all created files. Don't ask me how I know that is far less painful than losing the data. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

When I replaced the power supply a year ago or so it was the second time I've replaced one in 4 PCs over 11 years of using them for our business. In the last 4-6 years I would say the main PC is on 100 hours/week. Current PC dates to 9/03. In this same 11 years, one HD (that was a very painful lesson-see above).

I had an Athlon machine ONE time previously, and it was also flaky with MS Word. Wouldn't let me use some fonts, or some print options without locking up as I selected them. Lived with it for a few months and tossed it. Not ready to blame this on the processor, but it will take less than a week of no resolution for me to buy another. Time is too valuable. Actually I will probably ask the tech I use to price a new MB, processor, and necessary cards for the box I have now.

The ONLY consistency I have begun to notice is that the lockups seem to occur as I move the cursor (some have occurred while typing...doesn't that count as moving the cursor?) I think I ONCE walked away, and it seemed to be up and running yet, and returned to find it locked up...I can tell by looking at the power light in the USB adapter...it shows no power when the PC locks up, even though the power supply continues to run.

DannyD · Feb 5, 2006

Do NOT take the covers off of the ps. there are things in there that for 50.00 are not worth the chance of electricution. PS will take out a drive, but my guess would be your dirty electric. Get a surge protector/battery backup, a good one is APC bu 350 and see if that helps.

DannyD · Feb 5, 2006

Another place I would put money on a fix is the RAM. You stated I believe that from the time you got the new build to the time you started loading new programs it was fine. You may have a bad stick and the extra load is not being friendly to the RAM.

jwstewar · Feb 5, 2006

At work I do my development on Dell's. One of my current machines is a P4 w/ 1 gig RAM, NVIDIA video card, and XP Pro. It got to the point that you would be working and the monitor would just go blank but drives were all still spinning was still "on the network" but couldn't access it. Our PCs techs working with Dell decided it was power supply. Same thing. Decided it was HD. Same thing. Finally they decided to replace MB. That finally solved the issue. Too bad they had already sent my HD back to Dell. As I didn't lose any data (not that I store anything on my PC anyway) but I did have several pieces of software to reinstall since we burned the original Ghost image to DVD. I guess what I'm saying don't overlook the MB.

As far as someone saying replace the Power Supply ever year or so. That is bull.... sounds like somebody is making some pretty decent money selling power supplies - and it is easy work to install them. Out of 1,700 PCs at work, the guys are very seldom replacing power supplies even though we typically run our machines 4 - 5 years.

LMTC · Feb 5, 2006

Thanks Jim. I've emailed the tech I use and asked him to price a new processor, MB, necessary cards and RAM (I may forego this first, since RAM repeatedly tested OK) to put in my box, using the 2HDs and the two DVD drives I have...one is a burner. I am guessing it may not be much cheaper than an off the rack Dell on sale....but then I still need him to put the extra HD in.