Is There No End To The End

[Steve & Myrlita]

One of the biggest problems I've noticed here is what Mike went through with no video or memory communications. 9x out of 10, this was caused by a weird coating that develops over time on the gold contacts. Back in MA, I would have to take the video card & memory out, wear a wrist strap (For ESD), use an eraser from a pencil and clean the contacts. Then scrap and clean the sockets. This works most of the time and lasts about a year. Here in the RP however, maybe due to the higher humidity and salt water all around us maybe, I have to do this proceedure once every 2-3 months. Mike, try that and see if it does the trick or not. This includes cleaning the SATA contacts and the IDE drive power connectors as well.

Edited September 23, 2013 by Steve & Myrlita

[Old55]

I have been using a product by DeoxIT for many years and highly recommend it. Maybe just the thing for those connections.

http://www.caig.com/

[i am bob]

Hey boors and girls! Did I miss all the fun? Hehe! (Darn phone! I said boys - not boors! Oh, well...)

Gee, Mike, a lot of short beeping goin' on? Sure sounds like a power supply... But did you check to see if maybe you were just under voltage? Bet you didn't and now that the power company has finally set your delivery levels to the proper levels... OK, time to quit joking around for a sec... Sometimes a UPS won't kick in if it is within a tad so close to the required levels. The brand you mentioned is one of the ones known for this. So you end up with the power company delivering x-1 for your power, your UPC set to kick in at x-2, your power supply requiring x for power and anything lower -especially if your power supply is borderline within specs as well - just ain't gonna make your PC run like Mr Happy. So now your power company has finally gotten your power levels to just within a borderline value of x. How can I tell? Because of your oxidation. You didn't have issues with it before so why now? Because your power is borderline and now you have another issue that is most likely oxidation on your video card contacts. Exactly what others have said. Only 3 things will commonly give you your first error. Power in, power supply or your battery - and battery will give you other issues as well. Power supplies will usually not recover in situations like this. Your public power provider (as they are throughout the Philippines) just ain't reliably consistent 24/7. So how do I explain the oxidation? Simple! You always did have it... Even before. It's just that your power delivery was strong enough that it wasn't affected by it. Now your power is a little on the " just barely there" level that the oxidation on your contacts makes a difference. Pull your cards, spray the contacts with a contact cleaning solvent and follow by a quick wipe with a coffee filter (because it cleans and is lint free) and then put it all together again.

Now for that "Doh!" statement that followed every computer diagnosis. Everything may be exactly as I said above but you may still have issues. Why? Remember what I said about your power supply possibly being borderline as well? If your external power supplied goes back to a level where all works great, then NP. But if not, you may have to swap out that power supply as well. But don't throw it away after because someday your new power supply might just bite the big one and go up in a puff of smoke.. You will still have a power supply that should get you up and running if load productivity allows.

[Mike S]

Well went to Ace to check out the AVR's and was a little bit surprised .... well a lot surprised ... seems I didn't bring enough money .... cheapest one was p4000 .... the salesperson said I needed a 1500w after I told him my system was rated for 750w .... he told me I would need 2x the rating of my PC or 1500w .... anyone know if this is true or not and what is the rule of thumb .... sounds to me like 1500w is a bit much for just my PC and monitor but guess I could plug my printer into it as well .... he said it had something like a servo motor or something like that (could be a service motor) .... I had a real hard time understanding him and the asawa wasn't with me ......

 

Here is a screen shot of the APC PowerChute monitoring program .... very interesting little program .... wish it had a gadget setting so I could monitor it on my desktop .... the values change constantly .....

 

 

Edited September 24, 2013 by Mike S

[Jake]

Well went to Ace to check out the AVR's and was a little bit surprised .... well a lot surprised ... seems I didn't bring enough money .... cheapest one was p4000 .... the salesperson said I needed a 1500w after I told him my system was rated for 750w .... he told me I would need 2x the rating of my PC or 1500w .... anyone know if this is true or not and what is the rule of thumb .... sounds to me like 1500w is a bit much for just my PC and monitor but guess I could plug my printer into it as well .... he said it had something like a servo motor or something like that (could be a service motor) .... I had a real hard time understanding him and the asawa wasn't with me ......

 

Here is a screen shot of the APC PowerChute monitoring program .... very interesting little program .... wish it had a gadget setting so I could monitor it on my desktop .... the values change constantly .....

 

 

9-24-2013 6-26-02 PM.jpg

Hey Marine,

 

Purchasing an AVR that is rated twice your total power usage (desktop, monitor and printer) is a good rule of thumb.

Having twice the rated power is generally required if a heavy inductive load, such as fan motors, appliances and your

sex toys are turned on with that initial inductive spike (peak power).  After that, you're only worried about avg power

during the normal use of your desktop.  However, playing hardcore video games will challenge your computer PS to

provide the high current consumed by your graphics card.  Yeah, I would go with a 1,500 watts AVR.

 

Here's a link about choosing the correct AVR: http://www.220-electronics.com/voltage-converter-buying-guide.html.  I really like that type 5 Model --

International DSR-1500 for about 113 bucks.  

 

By the way, did you retest your APC after it took that brownout hit?

Edited September 24, 2013 by Jake
spill chek

[jpbago]

You could use an AVR connected after the UPS to help keep the PS input stable. The only drawback would be the extra juice CENECO would charge you @ P10.1/KWH!

 

Yes, lots of juice. Mike's APC Power Chute program shows 4.03 kwh per day. That is about 1,200p per month if on all the time.