[Tfug] Hardware reliability

[Malcolm Schmerl]

John Gruenenfelder wrote:
> I think it's like the others have said, half luck and half knowing components
> well enough to generally buy decent hardware.
>
> Thinking back to the first PC I used extensively as a kid (a Tandy 1000-SX)
> through to the machines I have today, I think I've also manged to fall mostly
> in the "lucky" camp.
>
> At home, I've had video card fan and a power supply fan die on me, but I
> replaced both before anything bad happened.  And... actually that's about it.
> No bad caps, never even lost a hard drive.  I have had a CD/DVD drive or two
> get progressively worse, where it became harder to get it to recognize/read a
> disk, but they were replaced before becoming useless.
>
> At work it's only slightly different, and includes machines I've built and
> those built by others.  We came close to losing an HD back in the P3 days
> (don't remember what year that was).  I actually thought it was fan or PS fan
> noise, but it turns out that god awful sound was from the HD.  Oops.  :)  Got
> the data off it, though.
>
> We did lose about 3 memory modules in our current two main systems.  Corsair
> memory, too.  But I'm going to have to chalk that up to manufacturer defect
> since they came as a group and largely failed as a group.  The new modules are
> fine.  And just a couple of weeks ago we lost our relatively cheap UPS.  At
> first all it needed was a new battery.  So I purchased a replacement, put it
> in, and the damn thing wouldn't shut up with its alarms.  Finally stopped
> after charging for a few hours, but then refused to use line power, only
> battery.  Que?  So we replaced it with a better model that can handle more of
> our equipment.  Oh well.
>
>
>   
For what it's worth, aside from the occasional noisy fan, I seem to go 
through quite a few power supplies. I'm wondering what could be the 
cause. I live out in Avra Valley. Our electricity is supplied by Trico. 
All my machines are on surge protectors. Could the input power still be 
the cause?