Poll, which is more likely to break down.

[Davemon]

Poll, which is more likely to break down.




Davemon

[stack]

Of the hundreds of computers I have worked with, almost all of them left my care "retired" (aka: so old they hit the dumpster), sold, or given away. Well that or I left the job before they croaked

Under my watch and care I can only recall...
4 power supply failures
7 video cards
12 Motherboard failures...but I am not counting those in which we tormented by over clocking....or those in which the computer was dropped and the MB cracked (gah! that user drove me crazy! who "accidentally" pushes their computer off of their desk three times?!?!)...nor am I counting those in which the processor blew up and took the MB with it.
14 CPU failures (4 Intel, 10 AMD...however /all/ of the AMD's were those really crappy K6-2's that were notorious for overheating and blowing up...they have my vote for the worst processor in history!)*

I gave up trying to count hard drive failures...I am not counting ones that were DOA either cause bad shipping can ruin anything...
I honestly believe it to be 40 or so..probably higher... and I kid you not I am willing to bet large sums of money that if you remove Maxtor** from that list of drive failures I maybe have had a dozen or so drives die on me...

Network cards seem to cause me no end of grief. I have seen no significant difference between all of the brands i have used (drivers certainly, but not longevity). There is a reason why I start panicking when my stash of network cards gets low. Thankfully I know Dave

CDROM drives (all types and speeds including DVD drives, CD/DVD burners, and mini discs) probably tie network cards. I also keep a stash of them around...

Memory....jeez...I had a weekly phone call with Kingston at one point in my life...granted it was a known issue with the Motherboards in the 4sticks per 40-node cluster we bought*** and not really Kingston's fault....and Kingston replaced the bad memory with the memory we /should have/ gotten...but even removing that particular cluster out of the equation, however, doesn't drastically change the number of dead memory sticks I have seen.

I think the only thing I can think of that I have seen die in a computer more often then memory is...Fans.
In the case, on the video card, on the CPU, on the drives, in the power supply....God only knows how many fans I have seen dead. I have seen every fan in a computer die at least a dozen times. I buy replacement fans in bulk from Newegg. And that is why my vote goes to fans.

Just my experiences though....YMMV.
~Stack~


*please note, that wasn't an AMD bash. I *heart* AMD X2 processors...but if anyone was subjected to more then a few K6-2's they would agree with me.
**This is totally a Maxtor bash...way to many drive failures and an unacceptable amount of data lost...[very long explicative deleted]
***That cluster vendor wasn't in business long...especially once everyone realized he just bought from Newegg but thats another story...

[Davemon]

Fans? True I have seen those die many times due to dust. But they are a minor component.

I, however, wash em off and then re lubricate them with some white grease.

Yes I am a cheapy.



Davemon

[stack]

True, they are a minor component.
Till they stop working that is. Then your CPU/Video card/Hard drives/Power Supply/ect start over heating and not working properly and then they become a major component

Also, I have totally cleaned out fans before as well.

However, when Newegg does their sales, I usually will buy if I am low. Got 10 fans for 10$ free shipping on their last sale! My friend picked up 20 fans for 15$ w/ free shipping a couple months ago. Now those are some cheap fans! (price wise anyway )

[TexWebslinger]

I'm sure each of us will have different ratios of what goes down the most...for me;

1)hard drives
2)ram

and lately on certain models..power supplies

All the other issues;
mb/keyboards/mice/video/nics/fdc/hdc/scsi/whatever card/monitors/cables...is a pretty low percentage of my issues...tho they happen... I suppose most of these issues, but not all, are external causes( lighting, liquids/etc) Guess I'm still working in the hundreds of computers over the years instead of some of you in the thousands


I suppose, what is the point to this poll? "Guessing what will fail" is not, factual. Any failure is not desired. This is a Linux forum? Seems like hardware discussion would be more in line of what is compatible with the os?

[tenmei]

I think random discussion of hardware failure under the thread of 'FWLUG General Discussions' does have value. Sort of like comparing war stories, but maybe more useful would be some general guidelines about hardware best practices, best brands, etc. I know there are places to go on the web to find approved or recommended hardware, but with the addition of a personal perspective, it could be helpful to a lot of us.

As far as I know, I have never had a fan failure. I've bent my share of pins since I assembled my first computer in 1979. Hard drives and MS Windows have been my biggest issue for years. Well, that and power supplies that stopped doing what they were supposed to. The only memory that died was user error - btw, always turn off the power before trying to insert memory!

I'm not up to date with a lot of things that a corporate staff would know. I'm self taught, and pretty much everything I've done has been on my own. Just learned about 'enterprise class' hard drives here in the FWLUG forum recently. So I'm for any discussion that leads to my learning more. And the poll? Maybe a good way to start a discussion ...