Another Computer Tech Story

Published by Malak in the blog Malak's blog. Views: 389

So I go over to a friend's house to DM a D&D game every week and today was a wrap up session so we had some free time. Immediately he boots his computer up into Recovery mode and I just sit there to see what's going on. After some time I ask him what's up and he says it has done this before with previous Windows Updates and was usually fixed with a System Restore, maybe one of the drivers that had been updated clashed with the system or something. I mention I have a flashdrive with a boot-able Windows 7 Ultimate on it and offer to see if restoring it this way would fix it.

It loads the files up and goes to the iconic splash screen and cuts to a black screen and cycles the boot again.
"Well that's not suppose to happen. Uh... hold on, I have Ubuntu on a flashdrive too."
I boot Ubuntu off the second drive, it goes through its splash screen, and eventually shows a desktop.
"Weird, let's see what data we can sav-" Black screen followed by a reboot.
I try to boot back into Ubuntu again and during the splash screen it cuts back to its boot menu with lines of code popping up followed by shutting down.

Specs aside, the hardware setting is a train wreck. The GPU isn't bolted or pinned into place because the tab was broken, the thermal paste hasn't been renewed in its 5-8 year existence, no airflow only way in or out is from the back, dust everywhere, oh and roaches.

Yup.
May 1, 2013
  • Birdbirdbirdie
    Birdbirdbirdie May 1, 2013
    I don't know what to say to this except it made me laugh.
    ~schadenfreude~
  • Dark Samus
    Dark Samus May 1, 2013
    Wow, and I thought ants in my laptop was bad...

    Let me know when you find a case where you open up the desktop case to find a wasp nest. Or a mushroom.
  • Malak
    Malak May 3, 2013
    Update: He was able to fix it for now. Some of the drivers were conflicting which made him disconnect from the internet every 10 minuets and turns out his GPU was overheating from dust.

    I thought that was the point of computer tech stories. :p

    Roach infestation is the current worse I've seen with dust buildup being the next. I'll torch a computer with wasps though.
  • Dark Samus
    Dark Samus May 3, 2013
    Hm, how regularly does the thermal paste need replacing? Over time it tends to sort of wear out and do its job less effectively.
  • Malak
    Malak May 4, 2013
    I like to renew it every 2-3 years as part of my normal yearly de-dusting.

    Others note their average temperatures for idle and under load and renew when the temperatures become too different.
    I've had this CPU for a little more than a year and it doesn't go above 45 °C (113 °F) during idling and casual browsing and 50 °C (122 °F) under excessive heavy load.

    Dust bunnies is the more serious problem though, they'll smother any of the heatsinks.

    Random observation- second hand smoke can kill a computer.
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