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Author Topic: Confuser Weirdness...  (Read 1887 times)

Bogie

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Confuser Weirdness...
« on: April 25, 2009, 08:21:45 PM »
Okay, we've got a Dull in the shop, which is mostly used by the "office manager" to play solitaire...
 
I plugged it into the new network.
 
Hard, no warning, power down reboot crash after about 10-15 minutes. Rebooted fine.
 
Does this repeatedly and consistently.
 
Fine.
 
I plugged a wireless dongle into it, fired up the warez, hooked up to the network, and fired up a browser. CLICK. Instant power-off crash.
 
Any ideas?
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mtnbkr

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2009, 08:35:26 PM »
hardware problem?

By "warez", do you mean ubuntu Live CD?  If so, I definitely suspect hardware.

Chris
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Phyphor

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2009, 09:46:40 PM »
I'd say a loose or broken connection on the motherboard somewhere, or a bad capacitor.  Cold, it'll work fine, when hot kaBOOM!


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Firethorn

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2009, 10:07:49 PM »
Quote from: Phyphor on April 25, 2009, 09:46:40 PM
I'd say a loose or broken connection on the motherboard somewhere, or a bad capacitor.  Cold, it'll work fine, when hot kaBOOM!

I'm thinking power supply as a possibility.

If you can disconnect something, make it use less power, it might stabilize a bit, but given the described machine, there probably isn't much you could remove.

Replacement power supply might not be worth it, you can get a basic machine for ~$300 today.
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Perd Hapley

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2009, 10:28:11 PM »
If you need a replacement power supply, and if it's old enough, I could get you a replacement cheap. 
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lee n. field

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2009, 10:48:20 PM »
Quote
or a bad capacitor.

How old a Dull?  They were as subject to the bad caps problem as everyone else in the industry.  You know what to look for, right.
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digitalandanalog

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2009, 11:25:39 PM »
I remember when we used to blow up caps in Electronics Design and Repair classes.

It was cool how loud a little bitty cap could "pop off".
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S. Williamson

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2009, 12:36:00 AM »
Same thing used to happen to me on a Gateway tower I had a few years back.  Power supply cooling fan went inop and the computer would click off with no warning.  Replaced the fan and the tower's still running smoothly to this day.

Regardless, it sounds like an overtemp.
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RocketMan

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2009, 01:23:15 AM »
Dionysusigma may have nailed it.  It could also be old or insufficient heat sink compound between the CPU cooler and the CPU.  Same symptoms.
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Phyphor

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2009, 01:36:00 AM »
Well, easiest way to check is to open the CMOS setup, assuming it has a hardware monitor option and see what the temps are.

If they go up over the rated temps, then definitely check out the heatsink / fans.

Oh, and you can put on TOO MUCH heat sink grease.....
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"You know what's messed-up about taxes?
You don't even pay taxes. They take tax.
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That ain't a payment, that's a jack." - Chris Rock "Bigger and Blacker"
He slapped his rifle. "This is one of the best arguments for peace there is. Nobody wants to shoot if somebody is going to shoot back. " Callaghen, Callaghen, Louis La'mour

RocketMan

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2009, 01:38:00 AM »
Quote from: Phyphor on April 26, 2009, 01:36:00 AM
Oh, and you can put on TOO MUCH heat sink grease.....

Very true.  This is one of those cases where more is definitely not better.
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If there really was intelligent life on other planets, we'd be sending them foreign aid.

Conservatives see George Orwell's "1984" as a cautionary tale.  Progressives view it as a "how to" manual.

My wife often says to me, "You are evil and must be destroyed." She may be right.

Liberals believe one should never let reason, logic and facts get in the way of a good emotional argument.

Bogie

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Re: Confuser Weirdness...
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2009, 12:39:38 AM »
Well, it's only a Dull GX150 slimline desktop, so I'm probably going to splurge and drop $50 shipped to my door on a "new" one, and transplant the hard drive. The PS fan is making a bit of noise anyway...
 
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