[OT]Hardware Sanity Check

[Stewart Sinclair]

phil wrote:

> I know only enough about hardware that swapping boards and drives 
> doesn't scare me...much.  So, I'd like to run a scenario past the 
> group for comment.
>
> I bought a new computer yesterday, took it home, connected the 
> keyboard, mouse and CRT, and turned it on.  Instant white smoke and 
> smell of burning plastic!  It's now back at the dealer.  According to 
> them, "something" -- maybe a bad connector -- went wrong with an audio 
> wire that hooks up to a speaker that's built into the case (for system 
> beeps and such).  Apparently, they now need to move all the components 
> into a new case...we'll see how that goes.
>
> Two things strike me as odd: after 30 minutes of running time, it 
> immediately died when next turned on (well, OK, maybe that's not so 
> odd); but, is there really supposed to be enough *juice* running to a 
> little internal speaker that could fry a foot or so of insulation that 
> dramatically?
> ============insert===================

*juice* or current (flow of electric charge) is a function of voltage 
(eletromotive force or electrical pressure) and electrical resistance. 
If the resistance of some circuit is almost 0 even the 5V of the system 
board will push enough current through the wire to "cook" the 
insulation.  Some wire probably touched the frame and grounded itself.  
It's usually called a "short" (short circuit to ground) by-passing all 
the resistance of the electronic components in what should have been 
it's normal circuit.

In other words the tech that put it together f_cked up.


> ........................
> Phillip Mills
> Multi-platform software development
> (416) 224-0714
>
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>

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