One of my desktops just died!

[DoYouKubuntu]

So I was on one of my laptops, in the dining room, and tried to print something, and "Getting printer information" failed. The printer is connected to one of my desktops. I remembered that yesterday the power went out, for a millisecond, so I got up to go make sure that desktop was on. Its light was off, the monitor was off, so I pressed the power button. Its light came on, as expected, and I looked away for a moment. When I looked back its light was off again, and there was no flickering activity like there should be. I pressed the power button and nothing happened. I leaned down to listen and thought I heard it humming, so I put my hand on the box and felt a little hum, but nothing was happening. I pressed and held the power button until it turned off again...and then tried turning it back on...and nothing happened. And then more nothing...and more nothing... Okay, then! Looks like I've just lost a desktop!

I was trying to recall the last time I actually sat at that desk and used that desktop. Hmmmm...a year ago? two years ago? three?! I can't remember! So I guess the moral of the story is that, at long last, this particular desktop has died and I WON'T be replacing it. I'll have to decide what to do about its hard drive, which has been used for backing up files across the network, but I don't think [off the top of my head] that there's anything there that doesn't exist elsewhere, too, so I may not need to do anything with it. (But knowing how OCD I can be about stuff like this, I'll most likely end up pulling it so I can see what's there.)

Well, there you go. I'm down one desktop...and don't really care!

[Qqmike]

It happens. I also don't have an auxiliary battery power back-up, never have had. The newer Asus motherboards have a built-in surge protector--this has worked on my PC during a power interruption. Your power supply (inside your PC) doesn't have some sort of power flipper-protector-thingy, does it (though I have not heard of such a thing). Sometimes you can inspect the motherboard and actually see some blown, oozing capacitors (little beer cans that ooze at their tops).

Sounds dead. But have you pulled ALL power from the PC (unplug PC from outlet), let it sit awhile (a minute), plug it back in, and try again?

(Yeah, hang on to the hard drive; if nothing else you can destroy it mechanically.)

[DoYouKubuntu]

Yeah, I've pulled its plug, and it's been sitting for a couple hours now. (Out of sight, out of mind.) I'll plug it back in later and see if anything happens.

I doubt I'll bother tearing the box apart to inspect anything, other than perhaps pulling its hard drive. I don't think there's any point now in replacing parts, like the power supply if that's the problem (and I suspect it is). I mean, I NEVER use it, so why bother?

FWIW, that computer is connected to a surge-slayer thingy, and I didn't mean to imply that the brief power outage yesterday (literally like a second) fried it, just that I figured the brief outage was enough to turn it off, therefore making the printer unreachable through it.

I powered off my mom's desktop shortly after she died [in 2013], this desktop has just died today, and the only other desktop I have hasn't been turned on lately (it went out during a power outage and I forgot to turn it back on...and haven't missed it). So...I guess I can safely say I don't really NEED desktop computers any more! Thank goodness for nice, wide-screened laptops with full-sized keyboards, right?

[Qqmike]

Well, I hope the desktop PC market stays around. Businesses use desktops, so far they do. I have a 15" laptop (and 8.4" tablet) in the house, but can't quite switch, preferring the desktop. I would not want to buy a desktop PC, though. As it is, I build¹ mine, from (new) components, staying with good brands, safe choices (like ASUS, Samsung, etc.).


¹ to build, verb: meaning, I assemble components by connecting connectors

[DoYouKubuntu]

I have two 17" laptops and an 11.6" laptop, plus a 9" tablet. I don't use either of the latter two for any serious stuff. The tablet is basically for playing games! (I love Candy Crush Soda Saga, plus a variety of mystery/puzzle games.) I'm currently using my System76 Kudu Pro laptop for pretty much everything, from creating designs for my CafePress and Zazzle shops (using the GIMP) to photo management (digiKam) to everything else. Although I personally don't see a need, right now, for any desktops, I hope they continue to be made. I think there's definitely a place for them...of course, I'm still holding on to my real, authentic, landline phone...

[NickStone]

In honour of DYK's dead laptop

[DoYouKubuntu]

In honour of DYK's dead laptop desktop

Aw, thanks for that... sob... sob... the poor little dead thing...

[oshunluvr]

Honestly - and I hope it's not too soon to speak of this, what with your grief and all - you're better off. If all you really used it for was to host the printer, you were pouring more dollars into your electric bill than that thing was worth. Assuming your printer doesn't have direct network connectivity, a router with a built in printer server or a cheap chromebox will do all that you need and use a lot less power. I used to use my server to host my printer, but when I upgraded to my HP 8600 it has all kinds of neat network features built in - I can even print to it when I'm not home. My router has a print server but I don't need it with that printer. I also have a 1TB USB drive attached to my router so people can send me stuff without needing to expose my server to the internet.

[logan01]

I have 3 laptops (Windows XP / Windows 7 / Windows 10 - Kubuntu 14.04) but certainly like desktops . Enjoy going to the in-laws (600 ft. away) and using that 30 -something inch monitor.

[GreyGeek]

In honour of DYK's dead laptop

American tradition is to play "Taps" at military funerals. This video includes some history of Taps.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhtr5J00ntA

My last desktop was a Sony VAIO I bought in 1997. It had Win95 on it. Sony installed what it called a "Medi-Kit" between the hardware and DOS/Win95. I learned that its purpose was to catch Win95 crashes and do a phantom reboot of Win95 with an attempt to create a state machine, I.e., if you were writing a document it would restore the screen to what it was showing at the moment of the crash. Most of the time it failed. I thought the Sony hardware was the cause of the instability. Between Dec 1997 and May 1998 I had to reinstall Win95 FIVE TIMES. That's when I decided to return to OS/2 and run Win95 in the OS/2 DOS box the way I did with Win3. While at Barnes &Nobel I was browsing the Computer OS shelves looking for OS/2 when I noticed a paperback by Bill Brush titled "Learn Linux in 24Hours". It had a RH 5.0 on a CD in the back cover. I replaced Win95 with RH and between May 1998 and September 1998 that Sony did NOT crash a single time. That September I replaced RH with SuSE 5.3 running KDE 1.0 beta. Between then and 2004 I don't recall SuSE ever crashing.

In those days it was common to leave the desktops on 24/7/365. Using Win95 I always shut the desktop off at night because it would crash anyway even if it wasn't being used. Being on 24/7/365 with Linux I noticed an increase in my electric bill. I started adding the wattage up: 500W for the desktop power supply, 350W for the 17" Triniton monitor, 180W for the 9-pin Panosonic printer, 150W for the flatbed scanner, 50W for the Zoom modem, before it was replaced with 150W for cable box and wifi. That's about 1,200 Watts!
1200W X 7 X 24 X 4 X 0.05 = $40/mo.

Back then the "uptime" wars were going strong. My longest uptime was 420+ days. Obviously kernel updates were not very common. I ran that desktop until my I got my first laptop, an 18" Gateway m675. It sipped a meger 180 Watts, dropping my electric bill by $35/mo. I gave the Sony with SuSE 5.3 to a little old lady and she used it till 2008.

[NickStone]

American tradition is to play "Taps" at military funerals. This video includes some history of Taps.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nhtr5J00ntA

Yes I know that the American equivalent is Taps, I was contemplating putting a video of Taps alongside the Last Post but I thought someone else (especially an American) would do it.

[GreyGeek]

That's what I thought, too, so I obliged you!

[DoYouKubuntu]

Uh-oh.

I spoke too soon!

Guess what happened when I plugged it in this morning?

My grief was premature! No need for another box of Kleenex! No more sad songs! No more condolences!



Seriously, it's humming along right now like NOTHING ever happened: "Good morning, DYK! How are you today? Look at me! I'm up and running! Fooled you pretty good yesterday, didn't I? " However--and I KNOW everyone here will know exactly what I mean--I'm not going to make any assumptions about its health or reliability. I'm looking at its hard drive right now [from a laptop] and I'm going to pull any files I think I should back up. I'll do that today, rather than wait until it actually dies and then go all OCD over its files, wondering if there's anything there I need to save.

[GreyGeek]

Don't get too excited. You are witnessing the Zombie mode!
It will die again ...

[DoYouKubuntu]

I know, GG! Definitely zombie mode right now. *cues Twilight Zone music*