[olug] hardware diagnostics with Linux

[Charles Bird]

If u suspect video hard ware on the board and if airflow 
is good then I'd check for popped caps, I've seen two 
cases of popped caps, one on mobo and the other on an 
nvidia card. Check for tar like on bottom of caps or risen 
tops on all the caps on mobo. If thats the case then its 
an easy fix.  
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: dan at linder.org 
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 09:21:04 -0500 
To: olug at olug.org 
Subject: Re: [olug] hardware diagnostics with Linux 
 
>  
> Tim & Alethea Larson said: 
> >>>The video intermittently blanks out for a time, 
seconds up to a minute, 
> >>>and then it will be fine again for several minutes.  
The video is 
> >>>integrated into the motherboard on their Compaq.  
They've had the 
> >>>motherboard replaced once already for this problem.  
I don't think the 
> >>>problem is Windows because I see the same thing when 
booting from 
> >>>Knoppix CD. 
>  
> In general "Troubleshooting 101", if the same problem is 
exhibited in two 
> totally different software installs (i.e. a re-install 
of Windows, or in 
> both Windows and Linux), then I really start to suspect 
hardware. 
>  
> Also, check to see if the various fans in the system are 
all still 
> spinning and the heat sinks are not clogged with dust.  
Some video 
> chipsets need more cooling than others so a flaky fan or 
a thick layer of 
> caked on dust could give that chip a bad warm, fuzzy 
feeling. :) 
>  
> Dan 
>  
> Off Topic: If your friend is a smoker and wants a good 
example of "second 
> hand smoke", just take the cover off of his computer 
after he has smoked 
> in the same office for a few years.  At a summer job in 
college, I was 
> assigned the task to clean out all the old computers as 
a precautionary 
> measure.  One lady had been with the University for 
years and was 
> grandfathered in and allowed to smoke in her office.  
She was a pack-a-day 
> smoker and she did 90% of it in her office.  I opened 
the case up to blow 
> out the dust and found that the dust was all a sickly 
brown/yellow color 
> and wouldn't blow with the compressed air at all.  That 
was the grossest 
> thing I ever had to clean out of a computer. :( 
>  
> --  
> "Computer literacy is a contact with the activity 
> of computing deep enough to make the computational 
> equivalent of reading and writing fluent and 
> enjoyable.  As in all the arts, a romance with 
> the material must be well under way.  If we value 
> the lifelong learning of arts and letters as a 
> springboard for personal and societal growth, 
> should any less effort be spent to make 
> computing a part of our lives?" 
> -- 
> Alan Kay, "Computer Software" 
> Scientific American, September 1984 
> _______________________________________________ 
> OLUG mailing list 
> OLUG at olug.org 
> http://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug 
> 
> AdmID:4CF9B0FD274769EF913780CD4F30AFC9 
> 
> _______________________________________________ 
> OLUG mailing list 
> OLUG at olug.org 
> http://lists.olug.org/mailman/listinfo/olug 
 
-- 
_____________________________________________________________
Web-based SMS services available at http://www.operamail.com.
>From your mailbox to local or overseas cell phones.

Powered by Outblaze