Must Read: No niche for iPad: Why I returned mine

Topic: Hardware

What was the cause of the last PC failure you came across?

Summary: Quick poll inspired by a Hardware 2.0 (JaneB) reader who wanted to know what is the most common kind of PC failure.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

Quick poll inspired by a Hardware 2.0 (JaneB) reader who wanted to know what is the most common kind of PC failure.

[poll id=335]

The most common failures I come across are"

  • Dead PSUs (in new PCs)
  • Dead motherboards (in PCs under a year old)
  • Dead hard drives (in PCs older than about 4 years)

When it comes to my own PCs I try to minimize the chances of seeing a dead PSU by buying quality units, and reduce on the chances of being hit by a dead drive by moving them from critical service and into a non-critical role after about three years.

There's no way to protect against failures since entropy rules and if a component isn't dead, it's on the path to death. All you can do is minimize the disruption that the component failure causes.

Thoughts?

Topic: Hardware

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Talkback

79 comments
Log in or register to join the discussion

  • Nearly all hardware failures...

    I come across could have been prevented by a quality UPS. I venture to say most failures are caused by power issues.
    bjbrock
    Reply Vote

    • I disagree

      The most common failure is the wearing out of mechanical parts.
      ShadeTree
      Reply Vote

      • I'm gonna say ...

        ... it depends. if the power is always browning out then that's not a good thing overall.
        Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
        Reply Vote

      • Bad PSU's caused by voltage spikes.

        In my business in Dallas/Fort Worth the number one problem is APC's or PSU's being destroyed by voltage problems from the power company's poorly maintained transmission system.
        jk1265732@...
        Reply Vote

      • Cause and Effect

        Heat is the real killer, electrically and mechanically. I've been working with Computers for over 30 years, seen everything, almost always could trace back to excessive heat, I've had systems properly cooled never fail!!!
        dpdiebold@...
        Reply Vote

        • Heat

          My Personal Casualties to heat:

          I've lost 2 Power Supplies and a Graphic's Card to Heat. The crappy Air Conditioner doesn't help. So I'm forced to Clock Down and Undervolt my gear during the summer and part of fall.
          d4rkaine
          Reply Vote

    • My last HW failure was a PSU

      Most likely brought on by a faulty UPS. Of course the PSU was probably weak to start with but the UPS would cause power-fail reboots unexpectedly. We didn't find the culprit for a couple of weeks, so it could very well have beat up a sickly PSU and killed it before its time.
      wolf_z
      Reply Vote

    • In whose reality

      A quality UPS may protect the data but it isn't gonna save the works. Age is age and "those of us not busy being born are busy dying."
      cne@...
      Reply Vote

      • Fire and Water

        Power Supplies die more often here than anything else. Or they are the proximal cause of other component failure. An erratic voltage or current source will screw up part faster than anything short of fire or water!
        cne@...
        Reply Vote

    • UPS Failure

      We had a machine that started turning off randomly. They brought in a whole new machine, transferred data, and got the configuration all set back up again. We paid a hefty support fee for all that and the problem still wasn't solved. Turns out the UPS was the problem. It was from a well-known UPS manufacturer.

      P.S. Don't tell the support what you think is failing, just tell them the symptoms. Leave them open to all possibilities.
      MichP
      Reply Vote

    • Actually, I think the most common cause is...

      A nut loose on top of the keyboard! :)







      [spelling]
      DigitalFrog
      Reply Vote

  • The good old HD

    Which is emulating a drum machine is my favorite and only means of failure I've ever encountered..
    tombalablomba
    Reply Vote

  • Mobo...

    ...broke in transit, replaced the next day under warranty.
    Sleeper Service
    Reply Vote

  • So no-one else has had a bad RAM chip recently?

    I would have thought that faulty memory would have warranted its own place in the survey... Or did you forget about it ;-) ?

    My other failures have been a faulty mobo and a dead graphics card.
    Zogg
    Reply Vote

    • Dead DDR

      Well after building a few dozen or so I have only had DDR chip failures right out of the box, none after extended use.
      deadguy69@...
      Reply Vote

      • (No) Thanks for the Memory

        I've had one of each lately: A pair of dual channel Patriot DDR that had one fail after close to 5 years in use and when I bought a pair of Corsair sticks to replace it, one was DOA. How's that for lightning striking twice?
        pj_mouse
        Reply Vote

  • 100 PCs = 2 bad PS last 2 years. Thats it. (NT)

    (NT)
    croberts
    Reply Vote

    • 1% failure rate - acceptable?

      So, 1%/year. Is that acceptable? Certainly a bit worse than 6 sigma.
      cynic8
      Reply Vote

      • Woah, check that math...and data

        You don't have enough info extrapolate that failure rate. He's had two go bad in the past two years, but didn't mention their age or when they were purchased. They could be 10 years old, thus outside the realm of "failure due to manufacturing defect" and far into "everything dies eventually" land.

        You are also matching the failures to the wrong batch for rating purposes. The two computers that failed out of a 100 computer purchase (another assumption) are actually failures of the entire manufacturing line, and without more information regarding number of failures and number of units produced, you can't determine the actual rate of failure. They may be the only two out of the whole batch that failed and he's just the unlucky sap who got them (not likely...but you don't know...perhaps the QC guy was on a smoke break when they rolled down the line...).

        Sometimes the cynical approach fails.
        laura.b
        Reply Vote

        • Very true...

          [b]They may be the only two out of the whole batch that failed and he's just the unlucky sap who got them (not likely...but you don't know...perhaps the QC guy was on a smoke break when they rolled down the line...). [/b]

          For all we know the QC guy was drunk off his arse or hung over when they came past him. We just don't know and likely never will...
          Wolfie2K3
          Reply Vote
CNET Join | Log In | Privacy | Cookies Close