When an external HD fails?
- Thread starter The Shadow 2023
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The Shadow 2023
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The world over, way too many external hard drives have hit the trash bin, because of a faulty interface.
And way too many sticks of ram memory have also been discarded just because they had dirt on them, shorting the legs of the memory chips together.
The lack of familiarity with such things has cost the PC owners of the world Billions of $'s.
I've personally saved my own customers thousands of dollars, just by knowing when to clean a stick of ram instead of replacing it with New.
And way too many sticks of ram memory have also been discarded just because they had dirt on them, shorting the legs of the memory chips together.
The lack of familiarity with such things has cost the PC owners of the world Billions of $'s.
I've personally saved my own customers thousands of dollars, just by knowing when to clean a stick of ram instead of replacing it with New.
The Shadow 2023
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Actually, many technically minded PC owners/users have over the years turned to "Cleaning" of components to fix various conditions.
My own case was a little bit different. I had to do it professionally. Almost daily for several years, I worked for a company where I had to repair computer terminals, and terminal controllers, interfaced between terminals and an IBM 370 Mainframe. Many of those terminals were used in less than ideal conditions, that ranged from dirty to absolutely Filthy!
I saved my company millions of $'s, by cleaning plug-in cards instead of replacing them.
I used a little gadget from 3M called a Rust Eraser (no longer made) to lightly clean the gold edge connectors on Plug-In cards, or to clean the pins on 40 pin CPU chips. (Z80, etc.) Always followed by a wipe down with Denatured Alcohol.
My own secret to cleaning Gold Edge Connectors is to clean the Gold without removing it. Likewise on ram sticks.
Cheers Mates!
Shadow
My own case was a little bit different. I had to do it professionally. Almost daily for several years, I worked for a company where I had to repair computer terminals, and terminal controllers, interfaced between terminals and an IBM 370 Mainframe. Many of those terminals were used in less than ideal conditions, that ranged from dirty to absolutely Filthy!
I saved my company millions of $'s, by cleaning plug-in cards instead of replacing them.
I used a little gadget from 3M called a Rust Eraser (no longer made) to lightly clean the gold edge connectors on Plug-In cards, or to clean the pins on 40 pin CPU chips. (Z80, etc.) Always followed by a wipe down with Denatured Alcohol.
My own secret to cleaning Gold Edge Connectors is to clean the Gold without removing it. Likewise on ram sticks.
Cheers Mates!
Shadow
The Shadow 2023
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Years ago, on a now gone forum, I started a thread titled "Wash that RAM!"
Before the introduction of the Surface Mounted memory chips, we had chips that had "Legs" on them that came out of the chip and then went down into the printed surface board. Just a little dirt between those pins could short them out and make the whole stick of ram fail.
Working as a PC service Tech, I've saved many a stick of ram that tested bad, by just washing it with soap and water, and an old toothbrush to scrub with. Then after a warm water rinse, I followed that with an Alcohol Rinse, to displace the water.
I've even 'Fixed' some plug in cards, like video cards, by just washing them.
Cheers Mates!
Shadow
Before the introduction of the Surface Mounted memory chips, we had chips that had "Legs" on them that came out of the chip and then went down into the printed surface board. Just a little dirt between those pins could short them out and make the whole stick of ram fail.
Working as a PC service Tech, I've saved many a stick of ram that tested bad, by just washing it with soap and water, and an old toothbrush to scrub with. Then after a warm water rinse, I followed that with an Alcohol Rinse, to displace the water.
I've even 'Fixed' some plug in cards, like video cards, by just washing them.
Cheers Mates!
Shadow
The Shadow 2023
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Gee, old thread!!!
To add to my last post, of almost a year ago, the only ram that I've had to totally discard was labeled "Kingston".
Every other brand, that showed up BAD on memtest 86, was not really BAD, but just dirty.
So I'd just take it out to the kitchen sink and scrub it with soap and water. Then rinse off the soap with hot water, followed by a cold rinse with Denatured alcohol. The alcohol will displace the water.
After a thorough drying, the ram would work as good as new!
I've saved thousands of dollars worth of ram with that simple trick. Waste not, want not!
Cheers Mates!
Shadow
To add to my last post, of almost a year ago, the only ram that I've had to totally discard was labeled "Kingston".
Every other brand, that showed up BAD on memtest 86, was not really BAD, but just dirty.
So I'd just take it out to the kitchen sink and scrub it with soap and water. Then rinse off the soap with hot water, followed by a cold rinse with Denatured alcohol. The alcohol will displace the water.
After a thorough drying, the ram would work as good as new!
I've saved thousands of dollars worth of ram with that simple trick. Waste not, want not!
Cheers Mates!
Shadow