My turn for the dead computer

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Last night, sitting quietly in front of this computer:

Bang (serious bang, not just phut). All the magic smoke escaping. Oh *bother*.

Hang on - other computer is off. Both CPUs are on the same UPS. Did the UPS die? No - seems to be OK.

Hit the power button on the other box. Seems ok until - Primary slave disk won't mount. *bother* but Linux should come up without that. Lilo ... 01 01 01 ... that's bad. *extra bother*. Leave it running a couple of hours. Phew - disk has spun up. System up! Was afraid I was up for a new box.

So:

One power supply and this one is up.

One replacement disk to go in the other box at the weekend.

And they now each have their own UPS.

[DavidU (Dave)]

All those tiny electronic parts filled with smoke, once it gets out.........

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

It's been up for a couple of hours and appears to be running about 5deg cooler, so that's one good thing.

[DavidU (Dave)]

Was it an electrolytic cap that let go?

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by DavidU

Was it an electrolytic cap that let go?

At a quick look it doesn't appear to be an electro, but there is a piece that looks like it has come off something. That has a logo plus:

H621 TOP222YN 39267E and the first part of something starting PHIL

Google search gives:
TOP222YN Three-terminal Off-line PWM Switch

The logo appears to be for "Power Integrations"

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

There must have been a blockage Andrew.

[mithrandir (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

There must have been a blockage Andrew.

You mean air Chris? Over the years I've lost several PSUs but none went as spectacularly as this one which was a name brand 800W. The replacement is an OCZ 900W.

The air intake on the PSU was a bit dusty but still had reasonable airflow. All the other fans and vents are fairly clean.

When the box was brand new it would run 5deg hotter than it does now. About 18 months ago I added an extra fan pushing air over the 4 SATA disks which cooled them but not the box.

And its a damn sight quieter than ever has been. The video card fan is now noticeable as it changes speed.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

LOL! Sorry Andrew... I was just being a little facetious. It's not often that a computer would spew forth smoke...

I've had PSUs full of dust and in some cases (in Mt Isa when with IBM) bauxite dust and they'd been that way working happily for months of not years. Clean them out and they'd never work again.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Hey andrew, here's what I do with mine. I hate computers with a vengeance but I have to use them everyday. They haven't been kind to me ever from home PCs to online servers. Anything you can think of that would go wrong with a PC I've experienced.

First thing is air flow. Just open the boxes once a month do a quick dusting and vacuuming. PCs & UPSs. Takes 10min and saves you a lot of troubles. Keep them off the floor too. Less dust and better cooling.

Image, image, image. If you haven't done so get a program such as acronis, separate HDs. Image your system every couple of weeks and shelve the drives.

Works for me.