Subj : USB lock up - poo! To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Sun Feb 27 2022 09:08:00 Hi Ky! > > That and probably not staying up with current pricing. > KM> Some stuff, scalpers snarfed up and it's not even available > KM> elsewhere. The problem has been so severe that one of the vidcard > KM> vendors tried to make no-resale a condition of sale, but of > KM> course that didn't fly (not legal in the US, either). > And if was legal probably could get around by giving the item for free > but charging a huge shipping fee. KM> Ah, but that's a well-known tactic for selling known-dead junk KM> (and for money laundering). There are times when just a part is needed, so dead isn't always bad. The money laundering aspect I think you sugested a while back when I couldn't figure out why someone would sell a common $17.99 item for $1000. And what's sort of funny is places like eBay have various options to sort including high-to-low. Why would someone want to pay the highest possible price? Can see the option when wanting to more quickly get to multiple quantity purchasing: the sold individually are going to be on the lowest price end and the I want two dozen options towards the upper price end. > KM> Or why I have a box full of crappy AMD heatsinks, aka scrap > KM> aluminum. (of course I didn't buy them, but they fell on my head > KM> along with some AMD mainboard, since deceased.) > I figure the fans might be worthwhile for auxiliary cooling in the case. KM> That too :) Now nor that heatsink.... Spray paint and make a paperweight? If the fins are long enough could hold up notes! > KM> Probably the minimum any everyday system should have nowadays. > KM> And this way when you see another 32GB at a good price, you can > KM> upgrade it sufficient to last the life of the system. > That's the plan! (OMG! You read my mind!!) Buying sufficient RAM now > gets the system going, plus isn't so stressful on the credit card bill. > Plus the addition later should give a nice little speed boost later,to > make the additional money spent visually worthwhile. KM> Yep. Just make sure whatever you get for the other 32gb is an KM> exact match. And be sure to use the paired slots. Yup and yup! KM> I buy used RAM at about half new price, and it all works fine. I have in the past and also have had no issues. I do buy from a site with customer protection as a back-up; LIS a while back I was going to buy something from Amazon which had their direct option plus some sellers. First seller was cheaper by about $15 and also free shipping. Works for me! ...Check reviews -- horrible! Nope, not worthin saving $15 for the potential aggrivation of damaged merchandise! > KM> Theoretically we can get by with 2GB, the OS specs tell us so. > KM> The moment you start running a browser, that goes out the window. > Same as one can get by with a bicycle for transportation but when it > rains or snows one is going to appreciate the extra covering of a car. > Not sure if "carrying groceries/etc." is a good arguement after seeing > some of those what-they-do-in-India pictures! KM> Remarkable balance... then again, I used to haul 50 pound feed KM> bags on a bicycle, so... That's not a proper way to refer to your elementary school date! > Sort of like the bit of a shock I would get from wandering the Hardware > Department at the store: some of the tools diameters were bigger than my > electronic tool's length! I've got #2 nuts and bolts - their diameter > is still smaller than the spring on some of those tools! KM> Barry! What were you up to??! I can't say here! > KM> One might think this went too far when I ordered a matched pair > KM> of motherboards... but they became Gremlin and Dink and I got > KM> many years use of them. (And now they're worth more than I paid.. > KM> Tyan 440BX boards with lots of slots. Once in a while I get > KM> someone wanting to buy 'em.) > How do those people find out what you have?? (OK to respond privately.) KM> http://twilightasylum.com/pc/the_borg.htm Ah! I forgot about that list. Plus have seen (various versions of) signatures in forums listing their equipment. Here would be confusion: OK, the computer I'm using to post this has the specifications listed in the sig but the computer I'm inquiring about is a different one.... KM> Rather outdated, but you get the idea. I need to separate out the KM> laptops, having collected enough of 'em to be a visual nuisance. Actually could be rather fun to see the progression. Could possibly add a column for sorting -- laptops, desktops, mainframes -- though may as well allow for sorting in some other columns too: I'm thinking mainly date and processor progression. KM> Started as a way to keep track of hardware... got out of hand Yeah: I never got to a master chart for the computers though do have a mostly-accurate listing for the IP addresses. I've attempted to have individual notes on what's in each computer. We'll just say "it's the thought that counts". KM> Note the status column; some are reduced to parts or no longer KM> with us. RIP - stands for RIPped apart! > They probably could just about care less what I have: IMO nothing all > that special. Now some of the daughtercards.... (I did a quick look > while in the basement -- put the snow stuff down there to hang. Got > about 2«" of light fluff snow overnight. Didn't see but then probably > in the bottom box of the short stack.) KM> Oh, for a moment I thought there was snow in your basement! It could look like it! The box for the TV we got a while back is down there. Easy enough to cut up the cardboard to fit in the recycle bin but holding the Styrofoam the TV was packed in. Need to break into small chunks and throw away but not going to do in the basement and have those little white pellets all over! > KM> Bakelite is temperature-stable up to about 325F, and even then > KM> takes a while to go brittle. So THAT is how hot it had been... > KM> for a LONG TIME. > Ow-ow-ow-ow!!! KM> Campfire clones will you boot up tonight... I'll admit to getting a bit nervous when I smell smoke and I don't know the source. Neighbour heats his house with a wood fireplace and if the wind is coming from the right direction I'll smell it. Also the first time in the season the furnace is turned on here: dust burns off. > KM> The mainboard was also corroded and magic smoke came out of the > KM> onboard video... anyway, Gremlin needed a CPU upgrade. So I > KM> swapped in this one, and... power blip, then nothing. > KM> Restarted... powered on, but nothing. Restarted again, and after > KM> a long delay it came up ... and was perfectly fine. CPU was in > KM> use til Gremlin was retired ten years later, and NEVER CRASHED. > They just don't make 'em like that any more! OTOH could have been the > thermal shutdown in the CPU saved it. The several reboots and then KM> Probably. Thermal shutdown on a P3 was somewhere around 180F. The KM> fan didn't get the message. Damn wonder it didn't start a fire. Why a good thing to blow out the dust every so often: less to be fuel. > worked could have been (I'm guessing) the system trying the original > BIOS configuration, then retrying, maybe retrying again with a minor > alternation, then finally retrying but this time from bare-bones > scratch. KM> Nope, BIOS would have spit up a message. I've seen this before, KM> tho -- abused hardware sometimes takes a few tries to get going, KM> or needs some time off. I wonder if proper electrical conditions KM> does something to realign gates, or something. I remember when KM> CDROM drives that had apparently failed could sometimes be KM> resurrected simply by sitting without power overnight. OK - I've had a few instances of bad boots and no message but sort of assumed the video system (computer's or monitor's) didn't act fast enoug to get display. Also the sometimes takes two or three boots to get out from a problem. The overnight without power could be the time it takes to discharge a power capacitor, along the lines of a power boot (keep off for 60 seconds) vs. a reboot. > KM> I was astonished. No AMD CPU of the era survived an overheat > KM> event, but this old Intel survived a nuclear apocalypse!! > Ta-daaaaa! Hopefully no issue like that here! KM> Thermal design limit on current Intel CPUs is 200F, just saw KM> somewhere. They're actually pretty tough. Still say they could make a nice little coffee or tea warmer option! KM> Was looking for the design limit on P3 to refresh memory, didn't KM> find that but did find a couple other interesting things: KM> NASA testing of P3 and K6 CPUs: KM> https://nepp.nasa.gov/DocUploads/8A499785-90F7-4A77-B90913144A0402 KM> D1/MAPLD02_Ho KM> ard_P3.pdf Character must be missing as I got a 404 -- did indicate was able to go to the downloads section. KM> https://nepp.nasa.gov/DocUploads/412CE442-9CC9-4E93-B83F616BC4FD6A KM> 1F/MAPLD01_P3 KM> pdf "dot pdf". That missing character was easy! Hmmm: "AMD K7 ... details of technology not available". If NASA can't get the info.... KM> design considerations for heat pipes: KM> https://celsiainc.com/heat-sink-blog/heat-pipe-design-guide/ Haha! A nice bit of humour with the cartoon of the strongman bending the pipe. ¯ BarryMartin3@ ® ¯ @MyMetronet.NET ® .... 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