[AT] OT - computer problem

Larry Goss rlgoss at insightbb.com
Sun Oct 21 11:20:32 PDT 2012


What brand is it, Mike?  It sounds like the problem I had with one of my old computers when the power supply went south.  No problem, right?  $45 and a few minutes work with a screwdriver to replace it, right?  WRONG!  Because of the proprietary nature of the power supplies in some specific brands, it was cheaper to start over with a completely new computer.  I did salvage the hard drives and install them in external cabinets, but even THAT was a problem because of the changes that have been made in those.  Today, I would look seriously at a system that has NO MOVING PARTS -- none at all.  IMHO, We're at a cross-roads where all storage devices that have moving parts, ie. CD's, DVD's, hard drives, tape systems, etc, will disappear -- possibly within 5 years from now. Chip storage is running around one dollar per Gigabyte, and the current commercially available size is already at 256 Gigabytes.  The physical limit on the envelop of SDXD technology is currently 3 terabytes, but if the carbon strand technology holds up, that barrier will also become non-existent.

You DO have redundant back-ups of all your data files don't you?  I spent several hours with a guru friend last night who is a musician.  He estimates his CD collection at around 3500 disks.  I asked him what he does with those?  And he said Those are the "dead" archives that exist only off-line.  The "active" archives exist in several commercial storage systems like "the cloud", Carbonite, Drop-box, and about a dozen others that are offering their services either as a part of a subscription contract or as a feature of a new computing device.  He runs five "computers" interchangeably, depending on his location and circumstances.  ALL of the data files are automatically catalogued and available on all the systems anywhere in the world on a moment's notice.  I asked him about contingency plans, and he said that all of the manuscripts, recordings, and other work he has generated over the years (those things we call Intellectual Property) are on three solid-state  memory devices that can literally be slipped in his pants pocket so he can walk out the door and not leave anything of substance behind.

I'm scheduled to lead a discussion on this topic in about three weeks to a local group.  I'm calling the program -- "Traveling at 33 RPM in an iPad world."  That title sums it all up in a nut shell.  As a point to ponder, TSA is so far behind the technology curve that they don't require anything special of owners of iPad's when they go through security -- they don't recognize the iPad as a computing device.

Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Sloane" <mikesloane at verizon.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2012 12:05:38 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] OT - computer problem

If he had a hard drive failure, he would have a message on the scree 
that read something like "Operating system not found". This sounds more 
like a video board failure from the fact that there is *nothing* on the 
monitor. One thing you can do, while the system is disconnected, is take 
the cover off and vacuum out the whole thing, especially around the 
motherboard, fans, etc.; then remove and put back all the connectors, 
one by one. That may not help, but it won't hurt, and sometimes that is 
all that is needed.

Mike

On 10/21/2012 12:44 PM, charlie hill wrote:
> I hope you have a boot disc!  I'm not a computer guru but it sounds like you
> have a hard drive failure or picked up a bad virus.   Disconnect it from the
> internet
> until you get it back up.
>
> Charlie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Meulenberg
> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2012 12:06 PM
> To: at
> Subject: [AT] OT - computer problem
>
> Since it's slow, I have a question for some of the computer gurus on the
> list. I have a computer in my shop that I use to store service manuals, and
> to look things up online without having to track grease into the house. It's
> also used to list to music online. Yesterday when I turned it on it seemed
> to be running slow, but did finally come on. Windows did some kind of
> update, then re-booted the system. When it came back up it would not load
> windows. The fans are running at full speed and the screen is black, no
> blinking curser or anything. I cannot boot into safe mode. Any thoughts?
> Thanks,
> Mike
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