"tao" suddenly died

[Gary Kline]

On Tue, Mar 09, 2010 at 02:11:54PM -1000, Al Plant wrote:
> Gary Kline wrote:
> >Well, first time this happened since I got my Dell 8200.
> >It suddenly died.  I just finished sending an email a few
> >minutes earlier.  I'm writing from my only other live 
> >non-server.  The KVM switch was mis-installed so I can't
> >KVM over to my DNS server.
> >
> >Does this happen often with Dells?  What should I be
> >looking for to replace the 8200.
> >
> >thanks for any suggestions.
> >
> Aloha Gary,
> 
> Dell sudden death. In my experience means a hardware failure.
> 
> EG: Two weeks ago I consulted for a friend in IT on a dead Dell server 
> with the removable hard drives. It turned out to be a faulty back plate 
> where the HD's fitted in so all 4 were not working. Dell had to send a 
> replacement backplate to replace the bad one.
> 
> If you can find anyone on a list with one of your type maybe they can 
> help you. Dell doesnt always use the same hardware in the same model 
> computer btw.
> 
> Check all the cables and power supply connections and re-seat everything 
> in the box. Something may have walked out of the board.


	Aloha Al and thanks for responding.  {god this has been a
	long day... .  ............}

	Well, long-story-short, the most unepect thing happened: a
	power surge.  I did not realize that my printer was also off
	until hours later.  A friend helped me trace the problem and
	reset my surgge-protector.  ---It is worth noting that BEFORE
	I got my battery [UPS], when things were dead or suddenly
	went dead, i  knew right away to check the surge-protector.

	nutshell: things are almost back.  it'll be only an hour
	before everything is back.  

	still, this is a warning to get back on the ball and start
	looking for a new desktop.

	i would be much obliged for ideas on what kind of dell to buy
	next.  i say 'dell' because i would like to make life simple
	and eventually have one kind of box.  (i have three tower
	computers: one is my DNS/mail/web server; one is my pfSense
	firewall; one is my laptop.  i COULD use the server as a
	desktop, but that would be too much of a risk!
	
	
	so:: should i be looking for a dual or quad?  ----i am biased 
	toward intel because i think the AMD requires more juice.  [[my 
	only linux server --long dead-- seemed to suck 100w to 107w as 
	a minimum.]]

	suggestions?

	gary

	ps:: if anyboy in the seattle area can come by and fix my KVM
	wiring, i can pay for your gasoline, but that's about it... .

> 
> ~Al Plant - Honolulu, Hawaii -  Phone:  808-284-2740
>   + http://hawaiidakine.com + http://freebsdinfo.org +
>   + http://aloha50.net   - Supporting - FreeBSD  7.2 - 8.0 - 9* +
>   < email: noc at hdk5.net >
> "All that's really worth doing is what we do for others."- Lewis Carrol
> 

-- 
 Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
        http://jottings.thought.org   http://transfinite.thought.org
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