Comments on: Every Computer Dies In The End: Learn What Parts Can Fail, & What To Do About It

By: dragonmouth

dragonmouth — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 17:59:10 +0000

Agreed. Manufacturers cut costs any place they can by using the cheapest parts available. If they save one or two pennies per box, it amounts to $millions over the entire production run. As far as custom parts go, DELL is notorious for using all kinds custom designed parts, especially power supplies. Guarantees them a lucrative parts replacement business.

By: Brandon Ragoo

Brandon Ragoo — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 02:59:43 +0000

I will recommended using UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD) to run diagnostic test to determine on the hard drive or RAM to determine if it is bad. You could use a power supply tester to test a power supply rather than walking with an extra one by a customer and you could even boot from a Linux live CD to backup data before re installing the OS.Since I mentioned Linux i will also like to say one method I use to determine if its a hardware of software issue is to boot from a Linux live CD and see id the hardware component will work.For example if USB port is not working I will boot from the Linux CD and once the USB port works in Linux its an issue with the settings in Windows OS if the port still doesn’t work will its a hardware issue.

By: taxform

taxform — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:55:13 +0000

I disagree with the latter part of your statement “Remember than [sic] a non-spinning fan may also be caused by a faulty power supply, so try changing the PSU first before diagnosing a faulty fan.”

It’s much easier, quicker and cheaper to plug in a known working fan first than change out the power supply to diagnose a non-spinning fan.

If the “test” fan works, the old fan is faulty and needs to be replaced. It would have been a waste of time, money and effort to needlessly replace the power supply.

Also, power supply testers are now below $20.00 US, are a good investment for anyone tinkering with computers and can be used without having to remove the power supply unit.

By: Charlie Player

Charlie Player — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 06:28:11 +0000

my computer iss going 2 die soon :(

By: Elijah Swartz

Elijah Swartz — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:48:00 +0000

Well, generally you can just go online and buy some thermal compound such as Arctic Silver 5 or IC Diamond and clean all of the dust off of the fans and heatsinks. I did this to my laptop and it runs quite a bit cooler. However, you said that solder was coming away. If you are comfortable with soldering or know someone who is, go though your laptop and resolder any weak looking connections. Clean it thoroughly, remove the old thermal paste, and put on new thermal paste. There are guides online on soldering and removing and reapplying new thermal paste. It should be rather affordable if you do it yourself. Best of luck.

By: Elijah Swartz

Elijah Swartz — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:41:59 +0000

I was basically going to post what Allen said. I decided to do a ctrl+f before posting though. One thing I would mention though is if you get one error, your RAM is bad. If you have multiple sticks, and you get an error, take all but one out and test each individually to find out which (if not all of them) is the culprit. Sort of like Allen also said, make sure you test the different RAM slots with a stick of good RAM to make sure it’s not the slot.

By: Sloan Thrasher

Sloan Thrasher — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:35:29 +0000

Nope. The machine was maxed out on RAM….

By: Tom Sobieski

Tom Sobieski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:08:53 +0000

and obviously you couldn’t find ANYPLACE that sold RAM compatible with the machine. LOL

By: Tom Sobieski

Tom Sobieski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:07:18 +0000

or “any key”

By: Tom Sobieski

Tom Sobieski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:06:54 +0000

Or, install a Linux flavor of your choice. Using a 7 Y/O Compaq laptop as I type. Installed Lubuntu and now it has a new lease on life.

By: Tom Sobieski

Tom Sobieski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:04:42 +0000

Heat causes expansion, Cold causes contraction, except in the case of H2O which expands upon freezing

By: Tom Sobieski

Tom Sobieski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:03:25 +0000

Don’t know first hand about freezing HDDs, but wife dropped cell phone in toilette and friend advised her to put it in freezer.
Lo and behold, the drowned cell returned to life.
YMMV

By: Tom Sobieski

Tom Sobieski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:00:06 +0000

Interesting tidbit, methinks. I do all IT in our house, and AFAIK, computer cleanliness is next to godlyn ness. My S O’s Kindle 3 was behaving erratically. Wouldn’t hold a charge and everything it did was in extreme slow-mo. Thought it was getting old and ready for a dirt nap.
During my regular Tuesday computer tune up and sock wash. Took some canned air and blasted the Kindle, and swabbed contacts and so forth. Rebooted it and all’s back to normal Kindle-ness. S O thinks I’m a IT god. Life is good.

By: Tom Sobieski

Tom Sobieski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 10:53:15 +0000

Which after all is ( or at least was ) a pretty easy replacement

By: Eddie

Eddie — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 00:04:38 +0000

In the Dell Inspiron Mini 910 the 16GB Solid State Hard Drive failed within 3 months while under warranty. Additionally, 12 months later the replacement SATA drive failed out of warranty and I paid $50 for 16GB Solid State Hard Drive.