ReluctantRefactorer - Slashdot User

Comment Don't bother, just bin it (Score 1) 1

by ReluctantRefactorer on Saturday October 10, 2009 @04:38PM (#29705925) Attached to: Software to diagnose faulty computer hardware?

Hardware is cheap!

If you've eliminated the RAM, HD, and PSU (in that order) as the cause of the problem, I'd say just bin the motherboard and put in a new one. It might be a failing CPU, but IME this is pretty rare. Having said that, I tend to have a spare CPU or two lying around to check. (a low-end model of the right socket type; in my case a Pentium D 805; all my PCs are socket 775). Unless your PC has a relatively new and/or high end CPU, I probably wouldn't bother; You'll probably want or need to replace the CPU anyway if the board is more than two or three years old.

RAM, hard disks and PSU (and a discrete graphics card, if the PC has one) are all (relatively) easy things to test and swap out. What components on a motherboard can you easily test/replace? The CMOS battery.

Submission + - Software to diagnose faulty computer hardware? 1

Submitted by Etylowy on Saturday October 10, 2009 @11:21AM

Etylowy writes: Over the years I have repaired my own, family and friends PCs many, many times. While in most cases it turned out to be restoring system after malware/user/windows made a mess or simple cases of "follow the smell of smoke and molten plastic", there were some nasty ones where computer mostly works. By mostly I mean: you can boot it up, it might even work for a while but will crash way too often to blame it all on Microsoft — what do you do then? Once you strip it off any extra hardware (which with todays motherboards with pretty much everything integrated might not be an option) you are left with CPU, motherboard, graphics card, RAM and HDD. You can test HDD, you can run memtest86+ to check RAM, but how do you go about testing CPU, motherboard and graphics card trio to find which is to blame? Replacing it one by one isn't really an option. Do you know any software that would help the way memtest helps with RAM?

Submission + - All of UK population should be on DNA database

Submitted by ReluctantRefactorer on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @05:32AM

ReluctantRefactorer writes: The BBC reports that judge Lord Justice Sedley thinks that:

"The whole population and every UK visitor should be added to the national DNA database".

He continues:

"It means where there is ethnic profiling going on [-] disproportionate numbers of ethnic minorities get onto the database.

"It also means that a great many people who are walking the streets and whose DNA would show them guilty of crimes, go free."

Even people who visit the UK for just a weekend would be included. I bet the UK tourist industry won't be too happy.

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