FC5 INstallation Killing Computers

[Robert Gann]

Thank you.  I'll order that book by second day air from Amazon.com.

Robert L. Cochran wrote:
> In fact why don't you buy Mueller's book -- get the latest edition -- 
> and follow the troubleshooting tree that is in one of the appendices. 
> That will zero in on the exact problem for you.
>
> Bob Cochran
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert L. Cochran" 
> <cochranb at speakeasy.net>
> To: <gannr at hartwick.edu>; "For users of Fedora Core releases" 
> <fedora-list at redhat.com>
> Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 10:21 AM
> Subject: Re: FC5 INstallation Killing Computers
>
>
>> You need to do a bit more work -- number 1 is testing the power 
>> supplies in each and every dead computer. As Scott Mueller says in 
>> the 17th Edition of "Upgrading and Repairing PC's" -- many times the 
>> problem is a bad power supply. That keys with my experience too. When 
>> people call me to report a dead machine, about 80% of the time it is 
>> a bad power supply. Most of the remaining cases are dead hard drives. 
>> I do have one customer now with a lightning struck computer. Dead 
>> power supply and dead motherboard -- at least the power regulators on 
>> the motherboard are shot, I don't know if the memory and cpu are 
>> gone. The cure is simple, replace the bad hardware.
>>
>> Bob Cochran
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Gann" <gannr at hartwick.edu>
>> To: <fedora-list at redhat.com>
>> Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 9:43 AM
>> Subject: Re: FC5 INstallation Killing Computers
>>
>>
>>> The strange thing is that all of these computers were working 
>>> properly. Three were running Windows XP Pro or Windows Server 2003. 
>>> One was running FC4. They all died during the FC5 installation. My 
>>> thoughts, in rough order are (1) some problem with the electrical 
>>> poser in the room (although three on Windows installations on 32 bit 
>>> machines done at about the same time have caused no problems), some 
>>> kind of issue involving overheating, if somehow, FC5 is not 
>>> correctly controlling the fans, or (3) FC5 has trouble with dual AMD 
>>> computers, at least with the motherboards we are using.
>>>
>>> The behavior of the computers is really odd. The one that went 
>>> “poof” near the start of the installation is totally dead (this one 
>>> had running FC4 and I was doing a fresh installation). After trying 
>>> to do the installation a couple times with the other computers, I 
>>> cannot even turn them on. Letting them sit for a while (a period 
>>> like overnight) which would allow the computer to completely cool 
>>> and discharge its capacitors, I can get it started. However, it only 
>>> runs for a little bit. For example, with Knoppix, I cannot get past 
>>> the “Hit Any Key to Boot into Knoppix” screen. I checked one that I 
>>> did get into the BIOS, and the BIOS indicated that the power supply 
>>> voltages were correct.
>>>
>>> Most of these computers were plugged into UPS units, although these 
>>> are a bit old.. I’ve requested Maintenance to check the power in our 
>>> lab. The 32 bit computers have 400 watt power supplies and the 64 
>>> bit computers have 450 watt power supplies. They have lots of 
>>> cooling fans, and the cooling units on the CPUs are very robust. 
>>> These computers have all worked fine in the past running FC4, Win XP 
>>> Pro, and Win 2003 Server for 2 – 3 years.
>>>
>>> If I had to guess it is going to turn out that the power in our lab 
>>> has problems and that Linux is less tolerant of that than Windows.
>>>
>>> Being an old timer I remember something called the “Hacker’s Test”. 
>>> It had a number of things you had to do to qualify as a true hacker. 
>>> One was to break hardware with software. I never thought it was 
>>> possible, except by mis-configuring video cards pr or over-clocking 
>>> a CPU.
>>>
>>> I’m going to try to test the lab current and the power supply 
>>> current this weekend if I can get in to campus. (I live about 20 
>>> miles from campus.)
>>>
>>> Thank you very much for your thoughtful replies. They are greatly 
>>> appreciated.
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>