 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Picture the scene:
I get called to a PC that won't boot any more. I remove one of the PCI
cards, and suddenly the PC works perfectly. Hmm.
On closer inspection, one of the ICs on the PCI card looks... Well let's
put it this way. The writing appears to be scortched. The surface of the
IC is apparently damp with an oily liquid. There's a bulge in the
surface of the IC, together with a few small cracks.
Here's a question for you: Why would an IC suddenly do this?
[And more importantly, how in the name of God does a device which only
has access to a few milliwatts manage to get warm enough to physically
melt??]
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
"Invisible" <voi### [at] dev null> wrote in message
news:4831a342$1@news.povray.org...
> [And more importantly, how in the name of God does a device which only
> has access to a few milliwatts manage to get warm enough to physically
> melt??]
Have you touched a CPU/graphics card that's been running 30 min+ recently?
A few years back, Tom's Hardware did a test on one of the early Athlon 1 GHz
chips. They ran it without heatsink or fan to see how hot it could get.
They managed to ignite the motherboard in less than an hour (iirc)
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
On Mon, 19 May 2008 16:56:47 +0100, Invisible wrote:
> Here's a question for you: Why would an IC suddenly do this?
Components fail - fact of life for digital electronics.
Could have been a spike from the power supply or a short in the system
somewhere. Or it could've been struck by lightning (had a computer once
that had that happen - the diagnosis was a list of components with
"fried" written next to each component).
Jim
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
>> [And more importantly, how in the name of God does a device which only
>> has access to a few milliwatts manage to get warm enough to physically
>> melt??]
>
> Have you touched a CPU/graphics card that's been running 30 min+ recently?
Yeah, but the CPU and the GPU both have access to slightly more than a
few milliwatts. ;-)
[At least, I *presume* that's why my GPU requires no less than *two*
additional power supply connections...]
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
On Mon, 19 May 2008 18:15:16 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> [At least, I *presume* that's why my GPU requires no less than *two*
> additional power supply connections...]
Try a component that's on an expansion card, then - I was working inside
one of my servers recently, and the MMU fan died - so I was messing about
with the connector while the power was on, and I noticed a fair bit of
heat coming from the ethernet card as well.
Jim
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Invisible wrote:
> Picture the scene:
>
> I get called to a PC that won't boot any more. I remove one of the PCI
> cards, and suddenly the PC works perfectly. Hmm.
>
> On closer inspection, one of the ICs on the PCI card looks... Well let's
> put it this way. The writing appears to be scortched. The surface of the
> IC is apparently damp with an oily liquid. There's a bulge in the
> surface of the IC, together with a few small cracks.
>
> Here's a question for you: Why would an IC suddenly do this?
>
Someone let the magic blue smoke out.
Seriously - Any number of things can cause a cascading effect. The card
has the +12v and +5v rails. If the chip or voltage regulator has
something go wrong, it can cause *unlimited* current & poof.
As to what initiated the event, that's any number of things.
The voltage regulator on the card on in the PS could have had a problem.
The chip could have had a design defect.
The chip could have just normally failed.
A voltage spike could have fried something.
A problem that happened long ago set up the failure, but it didn't
happen until now.
etc....
Tom
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
"Jim Henderson" <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote in message
news:4831ab8e$1@news.povray.org...
> Or it could've been struck by lightning (had a computer once
> that had that happen - the diagnosis was a list of components with
> "fried" written next to each component).
My parent's place got hit by lightning once many years back (back when
10-Base-2 was commonly used for networks)
Lightning directly hit the phone line that was connected to a modem. Modem
connected to PC, PC onto network cable that had 4 other machines attached.
We never found the modem, just some fragments strewn across the office.
Total casualties - 3 complete PCs, 1 network cable, 2 network cards, 1
modem.
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
On Mon, 19 May 2008 21:58:09 +0200, Gail Shaw wrote:
> My parent's place got hit by lightning once many years back (back when
> 10-Base-2 was commonly used for networks) Lightning directly hit the
> phone line that was connected to a modem. Modem connected to PC, PC onto
> network cable that had 4 other machines attached.
Wow.
When I was in school in Florida, I had a Vendex V20-based PC (8088
compatible) that was thinking about its first move in a game of chess
(how many remember Sargon IV?); it'd been thinking for about 20 hours
(I'd set it to the hardest level). Thunderstorm rolled in, and a
lightning strike hit the power pole outside the window (took out the
transformer). I'm sure my PC wasn't the only casualty, but all the
pieces were still in the case when that was done...
Jim
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Mon, 19 May 2008 21:58:09 +0200, Gail Shaw wrote:
>
>> My parent's place got hit by lightning once many years back (back when
>> 10-Base-2 was commonly used for networks) Lightning directly hit the
>> phone line that was connected to a modem. Modem connected to PC, PC onto
>> network cable that had 4 other machines attached.
>
> Wow.
>
> When I was in school in Florida, I had a Vendex V20-based PC (8088
> compatible) that was thinking about its first move in a game of chess
> (how many remember Sargon IV?); it'd been thinking for about 20 hours
> (I'd set it to the hardest level). Thunderstorm rolled in, and a
> lightning strike hit the power pole outside the window (took out the
> transformer). I'm sure my PC wasn't the only casualty, but all the
> pieces were still in the case when that was done...
>
> Jim
I guess these are the reasons I unplug my computer from both wall and
phone line during a thunderstorm...
Sam
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
On Mon, 19 May 2008 14:03:46 -0700, stbenge wrote:
> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Mon, 19 May 2008 21:58:09 +0200, Gail Shaw wrote:
>>
>>> My parent's place got hit by lightning once many years back (back when
>>> 10-Base-2 was commonly used for networks) Lightning directly hit the
>>> phone line that was connected to a modem. Modem connected to PC, PC
>>> onto network cable that had 4 other machines attached.
>>
>> Wow.
>>
>> When I was in school in Florida, I had a Vendex V20-based PC (8088
>> compatible) that was thinking about its first move in a game of chess
>> (how many remember Sargon IV?); it'd been thinking for about 20 hours
>> (I'd set it to the hardest level). Thunderstorm rolled in, and a
>> lightning strike hit the power pole outside the window (took out the
>> transformer). I'm sure my PC wasn't the only casualty, but all the
>> pieces were still in the case when that was done...
>>
>> Jim
>
> I guess these are the reasons I unplug my computer from both wall and
> phone line during a thunderstorm...
I haven't needed to since, though. Of course I've got two decent APC
UPSes here with insurance for the equipment. Doesn't replace the data,
but also living in the desert, we don't get many thunderstorms through
here. ;-)
Jim
Post a reply to this message
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
