FC5 INstallation Killing Computers

[Robert L. Cochran]

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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