Came REAL close to the edge....

**Rich Z** · 04-16-2008, 11:43 PM

This morning I started up my computer, as always then went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready to face the world. When I came out, the computer was off. I just muttered to myself "not good, not good at all". And started it back up and went off to do something else. When I came back, it was off again. So I had to sit down and babysit it. Sure enough, after loading Windows, *shabang*, off it went like someone had just pulled the plug on it. Tried a bunch of times and sometimes it would run for a few seconds, other times for a couple of minutes.

Long story short, it appears I may have a bad power supply. Talked to tech support for the computer (luckily I got a three year warranty on it) but the guy said he needed to confer with his supervisor (he's not sure if I have to send the box back in, or if they can get a local tech to swap it - this is a real heavy duty power supply, so there must be something special about swapping it out) and get back to me, but of course he never did.

So my main machine is sitting in the den with it's guts spilled out all over the floor. Doing the troubleshooting, I had to pull out a bunch of cables and crap. Sure hope I can remember how to put it all back together again.

But in any event, I'm not keen on shipping my computer off anywhere. There is all kinds of data on my hard drives I really don't want just anyone getting access to. Not to mention cookies that will autofill passwords to things like my PayPal accounts, and orders from customers with credit card info. I think I have a file on there with all the passwords to my sites and servers as well, in case I go brain dead someday and forget them.

So, we'll see.......

In the meantime, I'm using my old computer.

Oh, what I meant by "close to the edge"..... If this had happened last week when I was working on my taxes and the computer had taken a dump before I finished and had ALL my data locked up on the system, I would have had an embolism for certain. I can feel my head creaking just thinking about it.....

Suicide King · 04-16-2008, 11:56 PM

That suxs but I guess it could have been much much worse. Taxes sux too.

I would say to do a back up disk and then wipe out all your files on your PC but you can't even start it.

Hope they send someone over to fix it instead of you sending it out.

**Rich Z** · 04-17-2008, 12:26 AM

Heck, suppose UPS LOSES my computer either up there or back?

Darn, I can't even check emails on some of my accounts because I changed them and don't remember what they are. Of course, that info is over on the dead system......

There is a lot to be said for still writing stuff down on paper....

LS2POWA · 04-17-2008, 01:59 AM

Heh if you lived close by all youd have to do is pickup a power suppy i could swap it out in 5min. changing out power supplies is about as easy as removing a dipstick. just unplug all the wires, and usually 4 screws in the back holding it in.

i would NEVER ship my computer. if your computer comes close to say a shipment of speakers/subwoofers...good bye harddrive.

navy2kcoupe · 04-17-2008, 07:22 AM

Rich, is it a Dell? Dell uses proprietary power supplies and motherboards that look like "normal" power supplies and motherboards, but the pin-out of the wires at the motherboard connector is different. Worst case, ship the computer back WITHOUT the hard drives, and tell them that there is info on the drives that is personal and confidential, and that it's coming back without them, or else a tech will have to come to the house to fix it. Just be sure that you mark where all the drives came from and what wires were connected to them so that you can get it back together correctly when it comes back.
Andy

ynkedad · 04-17-2008, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Z

then went into the bathroom to brush my teeth

You brush your teeth?!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Z

There is all kinds of data on my hard drives I really don't want just anyone getting access to.

Yep, I feel ya. I have lots of "DATA" (porn) on my puter too

Kidding aside... Our Main puter basically did the same thing a while back and for the life of me I can't remember what the issue was. Anyway,We had the "Geek Squad" come to the house and they fixed it.

Suicide King · 04-17-2008, 11:38 AM

When I first read the title to this thread I thought you almost wrecked your car, almost was bitten by a snake or you paid $70.00 to fill up your gas tank.

Good to know it was only your computer taking a dump on you... however, it still stinks when your computer goes down and you have much info to lose.

Ms. AntiVenom · 04-17-2008, 11:56 AM

Damn if we lived anywhere near you I could have it fixxed in about 20mins

**Rich Z** · 04-17-2008, 02:53 PM

Heck, I've replaced more power supplies than I can remember myself. I used to repair computer circuit boards for a living and later on did field service work for a couple of computer companies. But this is a different animal entirely. It has a liquid cooled processor that may be bad as well, and the wiring to this 1000 watt power supply (I'm running two nVidia 8800s in SLI configuration) is not exactly standard. This was a custom built computer done by Velocity Micro. This sucker generates so much heat that the den is about 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house.

I'll have to think about pulling those hard drives. Not a bad idea. UPS is not unknown for just LOSING shipments........ I've actually got three hard drives in there. The two main ones are SCSI running in RAID 0 mode, for speed. The third one is a slower SATA drive used mostly to store images and video files.

I do a backup to an external 1Tb drive every day, but still it doesn't do me much good, I guess. The problem with backups is that you never really know if they are actually any good until you REALLY need them. And then it is too late to do anything about it if they are, in fact, bad. Not really keen on buying another computer just to test the backups, though...

Of course I threw away the orignal box, so Velocity Micro has to send me another one. I really don't want to just take it to a local packaging company to throw into a cardboard box and stuff peanuts all around it to ship.

Just like I first thought: "not good, not good at all".

Lou G · 04-17-2008, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Z

But this is a different animal entirely. It has a liquid cooled processor that may be bad as well, and the wiring to this 1000 watt power supply (I'm running two nVidia 8800s in SLI configuration) is not exactly standard. This was a custom built computer done by Velocity Micro. This sucker generates so much heat that the den is about 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house...... I've actually got three hard drives in there. The two main ones are SCSI running in RAID 0 mode, for speed. The third one is a slower SATA drive used mostly to store images and video files.

Man, you sure have a lot of horsepower on that baby!!

Is it a VMZ06 or VMZR1?