[PLUG] OT: hardware problem

Rich Shepard rshepard at appl-ecosys.com
Fri Feb 28 19:07:02 UTC 2003


On Fri, 28 Feb 2003, Petcher, Danielx J wrote:

> ANY hardware can fail.

Daniel,

  This I know; at least with vacuum tubes it was easy to tell a dead one
(and I had a tube tester, too). From the time the transitor was first introduced
the mantra was that solid-state devices would fail quickly or last for
years. I guess I have been lucky to not experience the quick failure before
now.

  What I asked, poorly and in a round-about way, was if there was something
other than the video card that might be responsible for the lack of signal
to the monitor.

> I usually find that it fails under stress. (Not stress to the equipment;
> stress to the operators.) :-)

  That's why the equipment gives up on a Friday or a weekend. I had a power
supply quit on a Saturday afternoon. For better or worse, Fry's was the only
place open, they had one, and I made the trip there that evening.

  Just before a cross-country trip years ago (to go overseas for a job) I
had my vehicle completely serviced. The shop didn't tighten the drain plug
on the transmission. The plug fell out and cooked the gears in western
Nebraska -- just before 5 pm on a Friday evening. That was quite a painful
experience for me, my son and the dogs (with a car packed full for our
journey). Also, a very expensive experience. Yup. Always at the worst
possible time.

Rich

Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

                       Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
            2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
 + 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard at appl-ecosys.com
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