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From: Jeff Liebermann on 29 May 2010 10:40 On Sat, 29 May 2010 03:52:45 -0700 (PDT), mike <mlightner(a)survivormail.com> wrote: >> The Protege series were tolerable. Protoge would last about 4 years >> and blow up. The Caviar series would last perhaps 2 years and blow >> up. About 1/3 of the pile is WD, mostly 40GB but some 80 and 120GB. >> <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/drivel/disk-drives.jpg> > >Wow, nice collection! I buy piles of them from the local recyclers. Those are the ones that work. You should see the piles and piles that didn't. >Well, I had several browser windows open and of a sudden the bowser >was stuck viewing the last one I'd been looking at - the mouse cursor >would still move around as it should but clicking on stuff had no >effect. Couldn't close any browser windows, couldn't start up any >other programs, couldn't shutdown the machine, except by pushing and >holding down the power button. Basically, the operating system got lost. That could be anything. Bad motherboard, flakey IDE device, flakey plug in card, or even a bad keyboard/mouse can hang the machine. However, it also can be a bad sector on the HD. If you can get it to boot, try scanning the HD for bad sectors and disallocating them. Then, keep track of the number of bad sectors on the drive. Any increase, and it's eWaste. >I haven't tried anything newer than 9.10, after I tried and failed to >figure how to get my modem working with it I went back to 8.04, which >seems much more intuitive to me. What's a modem? Is that like dialup? I use those when desperate or visting stone age retro enthusiasts. >Thanks, I'll have to see if I can get this SmartMonTools in 8.04. <http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/smartmontools> -- Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
From: mike on 29 May 2010 16:55 Êo×d ÊÉÇɯ wrote: > On Sat, 29 May 2010 03:18:18 -0700, mike ÇÊoɹÊ: > > > D Yuniskis wrote: > > > > > >> eMachines are... well, we won't go there! :-/ > > > > I 'spose that may be why the E-machine 'puters at the scrapyard are > > usually still intact. > > I own a 2005 eMachine, 2.0 ghz AMD Athalon64. It's now a Windows 7 > machine and does its job flawlessly. Just like any other brand you need > to know what you are buying within the brand name. I've yet to buy new, so I'm always stuck with whatever is already there. However, it always cheers me to find inside a MB made by Intel and a PSU with a name like Astec or Antec, or even John Deere, I've had pretty good service out those. I bought an LG dvd burner a couple years ago from a former IT guy and it is really phenomenal at reading dvds even when they're covered with finger prints and scratches (like a lot of the ones at the local library have), whereas, none of my previous burners (grand total of 2) would be able to read 'em, at least not error free. >Being semi-retired > from the IT world now since 2008 I've seen plenty of junk out there > with Compac, HP, Sony, Toshiba badges on them. One thing you need to > understand is not many if any make 100% of their own components. So you > should not make global statements condemning the badge name without this > knowledge. I had pretty good service with a T1742 that a neighbor gave me, it had an Intel MB, and didn't have a Bestec PSU. The 3 I found at the scrapyard all had failed Bestec PSU's, which became notorious for not having a crowbar circuit to shut down the outputs if they went over-voltage. Maybe they started using a better PSU, the last blown up one I found was a T2862 or something like that, I suspect a few years older than your 2005 model.
From: Meat Plow on 29 May 2010 17:19 On Sat, 29 May 2010 13:55:56 -0700, mike ǝʇoɹʍ: > ʍoןd ʇɐǝɯ wrote: >> On Sat, 29 May 2010 03:18:18 -0700, mike ǝʇoɹʍ: >> >> > D Yuniskis wrote: >> > >> > >> >> eMachines are... well, we won't go there! :-/ >> > >> > I 'spose that may be why the E-machine 'puters at the scrapyard are >> > usually still intact. >> >> I own a 2005 eMachine, 2.0 ghz AMD Athalon64. It's now a Windows 7 >> machine and does its job flawlessly. Just like any other brand you need >> to know what you are buying within the brand name. > > I've yet to buy new, so I'm always stuck with whatever is already there. > However, it always cheers me to find inside a MB made by Intel and a > PSU with a name like Astec or Antec, or even John Deere, I've had pretty > good > service out those. > > I bought an LG dvd burner a couple years ago from a former IT guy and > it is really phenomenal at reading dvds even when they're covered with > finger prints and scratches (like a lot of the ones at the local library > have), whereas, none of my previous burners (grand total of 2) would be > able to read 'em, at least not error free. > >>Being semi-retired >> from the IT world now since 2008 I've seen plenty of junk out there >> with Compac, HP, Sony, Toshiba badges on them. One thing you need to >> understand is not many if any make 100% of their own components. So you >> should not make global statements condemning the badge name without >> this knowledge. > > I had pretty good service with a T1742 that a neighbor gave me, it had > an Intel MB, and didn't have a Bestec PSU. The 3 I found at the > scrapyard all had failed Bestec PSU's, which became notorious for not > having a crowbar circuit to shut down the outputs if they went > over-voltage. Maybe they started using a better PSU, the last blown up > one I found was a T2862 or something like that, I suspect a few years > older than your 2005 model. The 6212 was the first and only eMachines so far I've owned. MSI mobo, nVidia Nforce chipset. Came with XP. I replaced the 160 gig PATA drive with a 320 gig SATA and was just going to reinstall and keep the original but I'll be damned if i could locate the correct chipset drivers and I'm no neub at searching for stuff like that. I ended up cloning the 160 to the 320 with Acronis Easy Migrate or Migrate Easy or whatever they call it cuz it had a 15 day fully functional trial. Worked like a charm. Set the 160 on the shelf in case of catastrophic failure. Then I wanted an external so i bought a WD 500 gig USB. The case failed after a month so out came the drive and into the 6212 case it went. Bought Win7 a while back, nuked XP (well Win7 nuked it) and that's what I use for some specialized stuff. Most of the internet is on this Toshiba 1905 laptop with Mandriva 2010 linux installed.
From: mike on 29 May 2010 17:27 Jeff Liebermann wrote: > On Sat, 29 May 2010 03:52:45 -0700 (PDT), mike > <mlightner(a)survivormail.com> wrote: > > > I buy piles of them from the local recyclers. Those are the ones that > work. You should see the piles and piles that didn't. Hmm, you must work on 'puters alot! One of my favorite places to hang out up till a couple years ago was the local 'puter recycler - I'd go there at least every other week and end up spending all my disposable income for the week (all 2 dollars of it :) . When the bottom dropped out of that market they had to close since none of the outfits they'd been sending the stuff to would give them any money for it any more. I miss that place, the guy who ran it was formerly a corporate IT guy, they always had some kind of great deals going on. > > >Well, I had several browser windows open and of a sudden the bowser > >was stuck viewing the last one I'd been looking at - the mouse cursor > >would still move around as it should but clicking on stuff had no > >effect. Couldn't close any browser windows, couldn't start up any > >other programs, couldn't shutdown the machine, except by pushing and > >holding down the power button. > > Basically, the operating system got lost. That could be anything. Bad > motherboard, flakey IDE device, flakey plug in card, or even a bad > keyboard/mouse can hang the machine. However, it also can be a bad > sector on the HD. If you can get it to boot, try scanning the HD for > bad sectors and disallocating them. Then, keep track of the number of > bad sectors on the drive. Any increase, and it's eWaste. OK, now I've got a couple new programs to learn, I'll be setting up a spare-parts machine so I can dig into this further, maybe restore some of the older pieces of hardware I've got hanging about, or at least classify as to whether I need to hang onto or not. > >I haven't tried anything newer than 9.10, after I tried and failed to > >figure how to get my modem working with it I went back to 8.04, which > >seems much more intuitive to me. > > What's a modem? Is that like dialup? I use those when desperate or > visting stone age retro enthusiasts. Yeah, I know, I seem to keep slipping back into the stone age, been that way since 1993, one step forward, etc.. There's DSL at work so at least I'm getting a little familiar with that - kinda makes surfing at home at 56K a bit of a drag though... > >Thanks, I'll have to see if I can get this SmartMonTools in 8.04. > > <http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/smartmontools> Ah, thanks for the link!
From: Jeff Liebermann on 29 May 2010 18:32
On Sat, 29 May 2010 14:27:24 -0700 (PDT), mike <mlightner(a)survivormail.com> wrote: >Hmm, you must work on 'puters alot! I try to avoid computahs whenever possible. However, they do pay for my decadent and lavish lifestyle, so they're difficult to avoid. >One of my favorite places to hang >out up till a couple years ago was the local 'puter recycler The local senior citizens group runs a recycling operation. <http://www.californiagreybears.org> <http://www.californiagreybears.org/images/computer.jpg> The computer part was profitable when China was buying everything. These days, it's borderline. There also was a recycling operation at the local dump, but that went away about 3 years ago: <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/e-waste/index.html> (kinda old) The problem is that I can't return anything for credit or refund. I have to make an astute guess as to whether I can fix it, how much it will cost to fix, who I could sell it to, and whether I can make a profit on the repair. It's speculation at it's worst. My guess is that I lose money on all the computer rebuilds, but do fairly well on the HP printers and plotters. >OK, now I've got a couple new programs to learn, MHDD is a good program for testing hard disks. That's one that I use when I get a pile of drives to test. I use the "magic-boot" version. The only catch is that I once wiped a drive by accident. Be careful with live data. >Yeah, I know, I seem to keep slipping back into the stone age, been >that way since 1993, one step forward, etc.. There's DSL at work >so at least I'm getting a little familiar with that - kinda makes >surfing at home at 56K a bit of a drag though... Locally, the monthly price of a DSL account is only slightly more than a dialup. When I had the only DSL in the neighborhood, most of the neighbors were "borrowing" my bandwidth (with my permission). You might ask around to see who's got a cable modem (faster than DSL) that's willing to share. >> >Thanks, I'll have to see if I can get this SmartMonTools in 8.04. >> <http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/smartmontools> >Ah, thanks for the link! The hard part was trying to remember the strange names of the various distributions. 8.04 was Hardy Heron, a truly memorable name that I can recall for about 10 minutes. -- Jeff Liebermann jeffl(a)cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558 |