[dba-Tech] R.I.P. Guinevere

Thu Nov 24 11:59:03 CST 2016

I don't believe you have given us much if anything to go on to
diagnose the issue.

What exactly does it do when you turn it on?  Any Beeps?  Lights?
Fans spinning?  Does it have onboard video controller or a separate
video card?

If you are not getting anything displaying on the monitor, have you
tried a different monitor?  Do you have any other spare parts?
Another video card?

I would guess power supply first. Motherboard second. Video card
third. Power supplies aren't that expensive but as it's old getting
the right one might be difficult.  If it was hard drive you would
still get messages indicating that it was unable to find the drive
etc.

You might look on ebay or someplace for the same system or a very
similar one - then you could swap parts from that donor system into
Guenivere one by one.

Sometimes pulling OUT parts can help to determine which is the
problem.  Pull out ALL the boards and ram and then turn it on.  You
should still get the beep that signify successful POST (power on self
test)

As John Bartow previously stated, you could have a bad battery for the
Bios so replacing that might be the trick.

GK

On Thu, Nov 24, 2016 at 10:27 AM, Arthur Fuller <fuller.artful at gmail.com> wrote:
> She's a poor little duck and everything I have tried has failed to revive
> her. I think that she is gone, my beloved Guinevere. Now the question is,
> what do I do with her remains? Specifically, her RAM and hard drives? The
> RAM may be of no use but the hard drives work -- I think.
>
> So what? Do I build a coffin and bury her, which is exactly what I did with
> an old cat named Scotia -- took two days to build her coffin  and then
> interred her while surrounded by a group of friends who loved her.
>
> I don't think any of my friends loved Guinevere the way I did, They just
> tell me to move on and get a new wife. It's not that easy. I wrote several
> books and hundreds of magazine articles with her help, and even though I
> have backups, that's not the issue.
>
> It's heart-breaking. I can't just toss her into a recycle-bin. I can't do
> that. I guess that I have defined the definition of a geek/nerd --someone
> who weeps at the death of a computer.
>
> Everyone says, it's just a chunk of metal; move on, get over her. there are
> lots of tuna in the ocean, and stuff like that. That doesn't erase the pain
> of her demise.
>
> Can anyone advise an amateur on how to determine which part is failing? I
> could replace that part and Guinevere might recover from her illness,
> perhaps only to be demoted to "Email/Printer Server" or somesuch. For about
> $120 CDN, I can replace her with much more contemporary equipment, but
> that's not the point. Much as adults hesitate to place their parents in a
> retirement home, I hesitate as well.
>
> There's another issue, albeit a side issue. Several times over the past ~30
> years, especially in the early days, when something broke or was replaced
> by something faster and smarter, I tossed the older stuff into the bin...
> only to discover that it was now worth many times what I paid originally. I
> was young and stupid, and don't want to repeat that error again.
>
> On Fri, Oct 28, 2016 at 5:17 PM, Jim Lawrence <accessd at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> Arthur, I am the king of rebuilding computers but sometimes these old
>> boxes have to be retired...technology has moved on so far in twenty years
>> that most modern software wouldn't work...regardless of the OS.
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Arthur Fuller" <fuller.artful at gmail.com>
>> To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <
>> dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
>> Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 8:59:47 AM
>> Subject: [dba-Tech] R.I.P. Guinevere
>>
>> My ancient HP Millennium computer appears finally to have bitten the dust.
>> She has performed superbly for -- I can't even remember, now, something
>> like 20 years. Since I bought her, I've done a couple of upgrades (replaced
>> the motherboard, added a hard disk, and of course the usual OS upgrades.)
>> Now she powers on and I can hear the fan running, and the hard-disk light
>> blinking, but nothing else happens.
>>
>> I'm going to try a couple of things over the weekend. First is to see if I
>> can boot from an Ubuntu disk, and if that works, then I'm totally prepared
>> to make her a Linux woman, Since I no longer write code for a living, but
>> just as a hobby, most of the Linux stuff I do is just simple email and
>> browsing.
>>
>> The ethical dilemma I'm facing is that to repair her might cost more than a
>> refurbished desktop from my favourite store. I just recently purchased a
>> refurbished Lenovo for my best friend Audra's birthday, and her boyfriend
>> kicked in 50%, so net, net, net it cost us each about $60.
>>
>> I'm torn between emotion and economics. It might ultimately be cheaper to
>> replace Guinevere, but that sounds more like a Trumpism than I'm
>> comfortable with. Until recently, she has performed admirably. Even despite
>> her mere 4 GB of RAM and about 500 GB of disk storage, she has performed
>> very well and I don't want to pull the plug.
>>
>> The computer I work on every day is called Avalon. And I also have a tablet
>> called Lancelot. You may be able to guess from whence these names derive.
>>
>> What should I do about Guinevere? Emotions or economics?
>>
>> --
>> Arthur
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>
>
>
> --
> Arthur
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-- 
Gary Kjos
garykjos at gmail.com