Wed Apr 16, 2014 10:25 am
So I had this really old Dell computer that is at least 10-12 years old that has been sitting in my basement for I don’t know how long.
I decided to have some fun with it and see how much abuse the mo/bo could take before it gave out.
I have always handled computer hardware with extreme care, making sure nothing is inadvertently damaged while putting a build together.
My first test was to build up a static charge by walking around on the carpet and then discharge into the mo/bo while the computer was up and running.
One charge caused the computer to restart, otherwise it still ran just fine.
The second charge caused to computer to completely shut down, while it would not restart, once I unplugged it for a minute and plugged it back in, it fired up and operated perfectly normal.
Interesting so far, but let’s take it a whole new level.
While the computer was booted up and sitting at the desktop, I took a small screw driver and lightly, touched various parts of the mo/bo and did not get anything to happen, so then I dragged the tip of the screwdriver over the surface and finally the computer instantly powered off.
Once again it would not start back up until I unplugged it for a minute and plugged it back in and again it booted up and operated normally.
Next, I decided to see what happened if I picked a Cap randomly and twisted it until one of the leads broke, I thought for sure this would kill it, but to no avail , this computer still booted up and operated normally.
Ok, time to get some water involved, I got a glass of water and while the computer running and sitting at the desktop, I took my fingers and dipped them into the water and flicked droplets of water onto the mo/bo and everything else for that matter, it took far,far more water than I would have thought until the machine suddenly shut off.
No start up, no start up after it was unplugged for a while, so I thought I finally did this computer in, but the next day after it had dried out, the freaking thing fired up and booted to the desktop and operated normally.
I am somewhat at a loss at how this computer is not dead yet, but now I find myself rooting for it to keep taking the punishment as I think of some news ways to test its seemingly amazing levels of endurance.
I should have taken some pics or video, but I did not expect this computer to survive the screwdriver, let alone disabling a capacitor.
I may try spraying some whip cream into it or something like that next, any ideas?
All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct - Carl Sagan