The Vent and Rant Thread

[PeterT]

How about http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-550-Watt...-/292224898901

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Blossom

My desktop is emitting a strong metallic smell when under load. I have opened it up and cleaned it and it went away but now weeks later it's back. I did the sniff test inside and found nothing unusual.

The PSU is so caked with dust. My instinct tells me that could be it. The PSU fan or something in it. I took a can of air to it but it did very little.

Here's the hard part the computer is very old and finding a 500 watt PSU for it that is compatible is being difficult. The PSU has the fan in the back not bottom like newer PSUs.

It's a Gateway Desktop Quad Core. It's old. I've replaced both fans and PSU before. It currently has an Antec Earthwatts 500. It use to eat hard drives till I took out the GPU card I bought. It's been fine till now. Temps and voltages are fine, it's just that smell.

I need to find a cheap, compatible PSU and I'm having a hard time doing that!

Sent from my XT1528

Bottom or back fan shouldn't matter too much, just as long as it is the same or similar size (as long as it fits) and there is enough space on the bottom or top for air to get in - it only needs about a centimeter of space and you can flip them upside down if one side doesn't have enough space.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Bottom or back fan shouldn't matter too much, just as long as it is the same or similar size (as long as it fits) and there is enough space on the bottom or top for air to get in - it only needs about a centimeter of space and you can flip them upside down if one side doesn't have enough space.

Exactly. Don't overthink it. Consumer PSUs are broadly compatible and moderately standardized. Some are physically longer, but most are within a reasonable range and all have the same mounting holes/screws. So check the physical size, and the fan can be anywhere as long as it has clearance.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Exactly. Don't overthink it. Consumer PSUs are broadly compatible and moderately standardized. Some are physically longer, but most are within a reasonable range and all have the same mounting holes/screws. So check the physical size, and the fan can be anywhere as long as it has clearance.

The problem is the fan has to be on the back or the PC will overheat because of how the board is mounted. The first PSU replacement I bought years ago had this problem. I had to send it back and get the Earthwatts with the fan in the back. It's a temperamental setup.

Sent from my XT1528

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Blossom

The problem is the fan has to be on the back or the PC will overheat because of how the board is mounted. The first PSU replacement I bought years ago had this problem. I had to send it back and get the Earthwatts with the fan in the back. It's a temperamental setup.

Sent from my XT1528

Can you take the PSU out of the computer and wipe it down really good?

[Katsunami]

If you ever get a new desktop (a large one, not somthing like a mini-PC such an Intel NUC), the one thing to go for is a good case with dust filters. The only thing I need to do to my PC to maintain it, is to clean the dust filters with canned air every half a year or so... if that.

My DELL laptop has no dust filters, and it vents air out the back by passing it under the keyboard, leaving all the dust in there... which I found out after they keyboard broke. (Which DELL won't replace under warranty because 'their keyboards don't break, and besides, all mechanical damage to the computer is user inflicted'; about which I ranted here as well.)

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Speaking of, I was shocked (and vexed) the other day to see a legal pot shop (I guess we can't call them headshops any more...) by my home, sorta. Shocked because I'd missed it, in the last decade, somehow, that they'd sprung up, and vexed because I'd always sworn that if and when it became legal, I wanted a franchise. Humorously--can't abide the stuff. Hate the smell, and have zero use for it. Troo, really. BUT...money on the hoof, if I'd gotten in when it was legalized. (Only recently, here in AZ.) Now, I concur with Dennis--too many, too much competition and apparently some of the er, older dealers are objecting to the legal shops.

I was deeply amused when NY State Governor Cuomo legalized medical marijuana in NYS. A friend who lives in the state capitol of Albany said "He didn't want to do to, and did it more or less over his own dead body." I said "It doesn't mattter why he did it. The key fact is that he did it! The camel's nose is now in the tent, and the rest of the camel will be in shortly." I just know there are folks in NYC govenment rubbing their hands and salivating over the tax revenues they can get if recreational marijuana gets legalized and you can buy it over the counter in the same places you buy tobacco products. I don't see unhappiness by traditional street dealers being a huge factor. Those folks all moved to higher priced and higher margined drugs, like opiates, amphetamines, and cocaine. I haven't seen a street dealer seilling pot in decades.

But it will take recreational marijuana becoming legal in far more places to have a market that will support all the folks who jumped into being growers. The folks like the BC growers Charlie was talking about who found export markets are a minority of the total involved. Most were interested in the domestic market, and may be unable to find export opportunities.

Meanwhile, various latecomers to the domestic market won't make it. The market for medical marijuana isn't big enough to support all of the current growers.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Exactly. Don't overthink it. Consumer PSUs are broadly compatible and moderately standardized. Some are physically longer, but most are within a reasonable range and all have the same mounting holes/screws. So check the physical size, and the fan can be anywhere as long as it has clearance.

The problem with consumer PSUs is that they are a place where vendors shave pennies to offer lower costs. I've had several failures where the PSU died horribly.

An old friend built a high end desktop with an 8 core processor, 64GB of RAM, an SSD as boot drive and various other tweaks. He runs Linux, and the machine is built to convert source code repositories from one DVCS to another. Some of the repositories to be converted are enormous, running to hundreds of gigabytes accumulated over decades of development. He wanted a machine that could perform the conversions quick enough that you didn't grow old and grey waiting.

Reliability was a concern, so he got a high end power supply intended for a gaming machine. Gamers want thier machines to power up and work, every time. Should I ever build another machine from components, I'll do likewise. It will cost a bit more, but be worth it.
______
Dennis

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Can you take the PSU out of the computer and wipe it down really good?

You have to open it up. Not recommended.

Originally Posted by Katsunami

If you ever get a new desktop (a large one, not somthing like a mini-PC such an Intel NUC), the one thing to go for is a good case with dust filters. The only thing I need to do to my PC to maintain it, is to clean the dust filters with canned air every half a year or so... if that.

My DELL laptop has no dust filters, and it vents air out the back by passing it under the keyboard, leaving all the dust in there... which I found out after they keyboard broke. (Which DELL won't replace under warranty because 'their keyboards don't break, and besides, all mechanical damage to the computer is user inflicted'; about which I ranted here as well.)

This will be my last desktop. I've switched to laptops. I'm all about portability now. My husband uses the desktop for his Facebook games. He's a hard core casual gamer. lol He spends 24/7 on it if he can. I have to keep the desktop working or he'll want my laptop.

I know what you mean about vents. The whole side of the desktop's CPU is a vent and a pain to keep unblocked. I no longer have cats or litter so that helps some.

I don't need a gaming PSU it originally came with a 340watt but I broke it with trying to run a GPU card with it. We currently use the integrated GPU. The current PSU is a 500watt.

I had one guru tell me to take the PSU outside and tap it with a screwdriver but I've never worked up the nerve to do it. I just use a can of air but it's really caked now.

Sent from my XT1528

[DMcCunney]

I'm on some mailing lists with folks whose complaint is "I have my system set up the way I like it, and just want to keep doing what I currently do, the way I currently do it!" I sympathize, but that's probably not possible. Windows gets new versions, applications get new versions, and things don't work like they used to and you have to learn new stuff to deal with it.

I expect that sort of change and stay current but there are limits to everything.

I use Firefox as my production browser. I started using it back in the early days when most folks installed it because it was more secure. It was, but that wasn't why I chose it. It was the first browser to have the now common capability of adding extensions to customize how it looked and acted, and add additional capabilities it didn't have out of the box, I currently have about 50 installed, and about 30 of those are standard kit I always install.

Mozilla has decreed that henceforth, extensions shall all be built using the Web Extensions API, and "legacy" extensions will simply stop working in Firefox 57. (Firefox release is at 55.3, Firefox Developer Edition is at 56, and I think Nightly is now at 57.)

Just about everything I use is a legacy extension, and I've already gotten notices from authors of some of them saying "What my extension does can't be done in just Web Extensions unless the API significantly expands. Sorry, but development is now formally ended."

I'm poking around using a fresh profile and seeing what can be done with only extensions using the WebEx API, and the relults aren't encouraging.

So I bit the bullet and installed the Firefox Extended Support Release. This is a version intended for corporate users who need control and can't just upgrade every all FF installations when something new comes out, especially since Mozilla went to a rapid release model a while back where therye would be a new major version every three months. The ESR release will get security fixes, but not get the sweeping other changes that will bite me. It's currently based on FF 52.3. Everything I use now works in it, and nothing in it breaks my profile, so it's where I'm staying.

I still have the current production and Developer edition releases install, and can run them to see what changed, but I'll use a different profile for testing.

I'm not happy about having to do this, but it's the lesser of evils.

My question is various places to Mozilla is "You are steadily changing Firefox to look and act like Chrome. Tell me why I should not just switrch to Chrome and drop Firefox? You are removing all the reasons I ran Firefox to begin with..." I do not expect to get a meaningful answer.
______
Dennis

[CRussel]

ETA: @Blossom: A vacuum is better, especially if you've got one of those little round brush devices for the end of the hose. Blowing with air, from the outside, is less helpful.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I'm not happy about having to do this, but it's the lesser of evils.

With regard to the lesser of two evils...(*)

I've been at a friend's house to fix some stuff on his Mac such as a non-working printer. To be honest, I like MacOS / OSX. I liked it 15 years ago, as well. Because Windows basically has become a %^^&*$* rolling release, with the GUI almost changing each time I open a window (how's that for learning to deal with change?!) and options having been ripped out of the OS (colors, window customizations, font settings....?), I've been seriously looking into Apple.

For like 10 minutes.

Je5V5 effin crap. They never learn. I can choose a 21.5 inch iMac, or a 27 inch one, but I want a 24 inch one. These machines can't be upgraded. Besides, I don't want a different screen: I have a perfectly fine, industrial-looking hardware-calibrated Eizo display that I wish to use another 5 years.

So, looking into the Mac Mini... upgrading it to 16GB costs €240. Swapping the HDD to an SSD costs €240 as well. In the Windows world, where you can upgrade stuff yourself, 16GB RAM costs like €100. An NVME SSD can be had for €100 as well.

In the end, after applying every upgrade possible, I've got a €1500 Mac Mini that has half the power, half the memory, a quarter of the disk space (and no SSD: merely a fusion drive), and no GTX 1070 compared to my self-built Windows box. Granted, the Mini is a lot smaller, but I can build a comparable or more powerful Intel NUC for less than €750 if I want a small system.

Configuring a computer comparable to my Windows rig puts me in the MacPro camp, which is a 2013 machine, and the configuration will break the f***** bank thrice over.

So, IMHO, my old opinion stays: If you need or want raw power, as much as you can get, and you're using a Mac, you're someone with too much money, or a zealot that refuses to use Windows.

I know, I could do about 80% of the stuff I do on a Mac Mini. Heck, I could do it on my old 2008 rig (that I gave away for peanuts last year) or laptop if need be, but for the other 20%, I need enough computing power to not go sit around for 10 minutes when I click a button.

Thus, my idea to go and take a look at a Mac go into the trash for another 10 years or so. Maybe they'll have learned by then, but I doubt it.

(*)(Always those *$%^&%^& printers. My GF's Brother, which *I* recommended to her, also drops his WIFI connection all the time, just like those printers 10 years ago. My wired Brother, 5 years old now, NEVER, EVER gets disconnected. When I click Print, it prints, even if it has been asleep for two months. I'm going to give my GF's printer a static IP, somehow, if I can find it on the network, and see if it fixes it.)

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

With regard to the lesser of two evils...(*)

I've been at a friend's house to fix some stuff on his Mac such as a non-working printer. To be honest, I like MacOS / OSX. I liked it 15 years ago, as well. Because Windows basically has become a %^^&*$* rolling release, with the GUI almost changing each time I open a window (how's that for learning to deal with change?!) and options having been ripped out of the OS (colors, window customizations, font settings....?), I've been seriously looking into Apple.

For like 10 minutes.

Je5V5 effin crap. They never learn. I can choose a 21.5 inch iMac, or a 27 inch one, but I want a 24 inch one. These machines can't be upgraded. Besides, I don't want a different screen: I have a perfectly fine, industrial-looking hardware-calibrated Eizo display that I wish to use another 5 years.

So, looking into the Mac Mini... upgrading it to 16GB costs €240. Swapping the HDD to an SSD costs €240 as well. In the Windows world, where you can upgrade stuff yourself, 16GB RAM costs like €100. An NVME SSD can be had for €100 as well.

In the end, after applying every upgrade possible, I've got a €1500 Mac Mini that has half the power, half the memory, a quarter of the disk space (and no SSD: merely a fusion drive), and no GTX 1070 compared to my self-built Windows box. Granted, the Mini is a lot smaller, but I can build a comparable or more powerful Intel NUC for less than €750 if I want a small system.

Configuring a computer comparable to my Windows rig puts me in the MacPro camp, which is a 2013 machine, and the configuration will break the f***** bank thrice over.

So, IMHO, my old opinion stays: If you need or want raw power, as much as you can get, and you're using a Mac, you're someone with too much money, or a zealot that refuses to use Windows.

I know, I could do about 80% of the stuff I do on a Mac Mini. Heck, I could do it on my old 2008 rig (that I gave away for peanuts last year) or laptop if need be, but for the other 20%, I need enough computing power to not go sit around for 10 minutes when I click a button.

Thus, my idea to go and take a look at a Mac go into the trash for another 10 years or so. Maybe they'll have learned by then, but I doubt it.

(*)(Always those *$%^&%^& printers. My GF's Brother, which *I* recommended to her, also drops his WIFI connection all the time, just like those printers 10 years ago. My wired Brother, 5 years old now, NEVER, EVER gets disconnected. When I click Print, it prints, even if it has been asleep for two months. I'm going to give my GF's printer a static IP, somehow, if I can find it on the network, and see if it fixes it.)

Does the printer have a wire input?
Does the modem/router have wire outputs?
Can I recommend wiring it?

[Katsunami]

The printer at my friend's house had been out of comission for 5 years. It's just USB, and it now works. Strangely enough, it hasn't dried out, even though it's an inkjet.

My GF's printer can be connected through USB, but as she has a laptop only and wants to sit everywhere in the house (at the desk, in bed, on the couch, at the table) and be able to print if needed, it should be setup as a network printer. As there is no way to run a network cable from the router to the location where the printer is, wireless is the only option. This printer only has a wireless option; because a cable is impossible, I didn't even recommend the model that is next in line. That one has a cable (and is 3-4 pages per minute faster), but it was €70 more expensive. That's a lot to pay for an option that's not going to be used.

I'm going to see what happens if I set a static in the printer.

My own Brother printer (basically the same one that is the next model up from hers, but then 5 years old... it's even very hard to see the difference) has been connected to my network by cable, has a static IP, and it never fails to print.

[Rumpelteazer]

Five days ago we got the great news that we won the main court case of the Family Thing. My uncle has three months to appeal but it'll cost him a lot of money, which he has to pay himself, so we're keeping our finger's crossed.

You would think this news would lift a weight off me and it has. However, since we got the news on Thursday I've been battling an anxiety attack. Ýesterday was especially bad. I downloaded a breathing app on my tablet to help me with breathing exercises, which not only relax me and bring down my heart rate, but it also stops me from hyperventilating and "unblocks" my chest so I can take normal, deep breaths again.

I'm worrying too much about what could happen in the future instead of enjoying the moment. But after four years of mainly set-backs it's hard to be positive when things are going well.