It really does help!

[LubeDude]

I have an old Pentium II computer here at work, I just use it to access the Internet, so it just sets here running most of the time. I never shut it off and blow the dust out of it when I think about it. Its actually quite abussed. Well, It has been running slowly for the past month or so, so this morning I spent some time cleaning up registry files, double files, and eliminated over 400 peices of garbage off of it. Also ran spybot, Defragged, ran disk cleanup.<br /><br />Wow, what a difference, it actually works like it should. I should be ashamed!

 

[deputydawg]

Re: It really does help!

I wish I still had my pentium II. I upgraded the hard drive and the RAM. It actually worked faster and cleaner than my Pentium III. Talking with a geek at Best Buy, he said it was not possible my Pentium II was still running after 6 years. He said they should last about 2 years. Lightening finally put it down last year.

 

[JB]

Re: It really does help!

Thank goodness!!<br /><br />I was afraid you were gonna tell us you poured Amzoil into it.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: It really does help!

Originally posted by JB:<br /> Thank goodness!!<br /><br />I was afraid you were gonna tell us you poured Amzoil into it.

JB, if there was a place to pour it.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: It really does help!

Originally posted by deputydawg:<br /> Talking with a geek at Best Buy, he said it was not possible my Pentium II was still running after 6 years. He said they should last about 2 years.

If your computer only lasts two years you're doing something seriously wrong. Any computer should last well over a decade even run 24/7. I still have a 486 that I use and works great...

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: It really does help!

I guess it depends on where you buy it. <br />The cheapy power supplies they use in econobox PCs can take out a computer after only a couple years. Saw a whole line of them that tended to overvolt their +12v rail after about that much service. Usually not much survived.<br /><br />I have seen one case where someone filled their power supply with oil. It was for a silent PC project and they wanted to eliminate the PSU fan. If I remember right, they initially used mineral oil though. Only problem was it tended to swell the electrolytic capacitors in it. <br />Perhaps the additive package in Amsoil will prevent this? Are Group IV oils safe to use for computer power supplies? I've heard they cause the transistors to leak so I really want to stick with mineral oil if this ever happened to anyone ever. Even once.

 

[KaGee]

Re: It really does help!

Typing this on a Pentium II 400mhz Dell Laptop.<br />Works great as a I-net surfing machine.

 

[Ralph 123]

Re: It really does help!

Semiconductors (chips, ICs) usually fail right away (AKA infant mortality) or last a really long time. It's a famous curve known as the "bath tub" curve (because it looks like a bath tub). High heat shortens the lifespan (things like layers of dust, being stuck in a space with limited air flow, etc. prevents efficient cooling and shortens lifespan). That's why things like Microprocessors have heat sinks and in many cases their own cooling fan. Over supplying them would also cause them to run hotter with higher currents. High Reliability applications, like for the military, often requires ICs to be "burned in" (used) for a certain number of hors before being installed. This great reduces failures due to infant mortality. Laptops have lower voltage version ICs to reduce the heat and extend battery life.<br /><br />The biggest bottle neck in PCs is the hard drive (HDD). That is why having as much memory (RAM, DRAM) is important. That way the OS has to go to the HDD less often. It is also why defraging works to speed up your PC - defragging puts related data on the disk so that it can be read quickly by the OS - rather than having to hunt and peck around the disk. If you launch "Taskmon" you'll see that on average 80% of your clock cycles time (time Microprocessor has available to do work) it is simply waiting (idle). Heavy audio/video and CAD apps are some of the few things that can really tax your Processor. Intel has done a great job getting people to believe otherwise

 

[rwise]

Re: It really does help!

A local Vo-Tech computer class has a pc running under water (H2O)(not tap water) has not had a problem. I have many older pc's that still run fine, but have noticed a big failure rate of the old P75's and AMD K6's. The PII's are just going off warrenty, and all 3000 of them are doing fine.

 

[briannh1234]

Re: It really does help!

P75's are known to overheat.<br /><br />I still have at home a DELL P1 166Mhz. I bought it in 96. The mouse died cause I spilled beer on it. The second mouse died of old age. The monitor died of old age. But the PC itself is still going strong. Kinda slow, but reliable.<br /><br />Still running windows 95!

 

[beezee28]

Re: It really does help!

Gentlemen, You all need to get with the technology. No buying of new equipment means no money to the Bill Gates's coffer and Dell's pocket book shrink. Then some dipstick in Washington would say that the economy is back and gas price would go up...(or something like that)

 

[beezee28]

Re: It really does help!

Ooopppsss,<br /><br />Ladies too.<br /><br />Slip of the old typing finger

 

[Elmer Fudge]

Re: It really does help!

You're asking for big troubles around here if you don't quit slipping ladies the finger