Re: FC5 INstallation Killing Computers

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On Sat, Aug 19, 2006 at 09:43:28AM -0400, Robert Gann wrote:
> The strange thing is that all of these computers were working properly. 
> Three were running Windows XP Pro or Windows Server 2003. One was 
> running FC4. They all died during the FC5 installation. My thoughts, in 
> rough order are (1) some problem with the electrical poser in the room 
> (although three on Windows installations on 32 bit machines done at 
> about the same time have caused no problems), some kind of issue 
> involving overheating, if somehow, FC5 is not correctly controlling the 
> fans, or (3) FC5 has trouble with dual AMD computers, at least with the 
> motherboards we are using.

It's possible the RPM transaction processing ends up being more
CPU-intensive than the Windows installation, and the added stress is what
causes the problem. The theory about FC5 not controlling the fan correctly
is remotely possible (the FC5 installer uses a kinda-old-by-now kernel,
after all), but usually the fans should fail-safe and just go on full. And
in either of these cases, the built-in protection in the CPU should cut in
and turn off the system before you get an actual dead machine.


> 
> The behavior of the computers is really odd. The one that went “poof” 
> near the start of the installation is totally dead (this one had running 
> FC4 and I was doing a fresh installation). After trying to do the 
> installation a couple times with the other computers, I cannot even turn 
> them on. Letting them sit for a while (a period like overnight) which 
> would allow the computer to completely cool and discharge its 
> capacitors, I can get it started. However, it only runs for a little 
> bit. For example, with Knoppix, I cannot get past the “Hit Any Key to 
> Boot into Knoppix” screen. I checked one that I did get into the BIOS, 
> and the BIOS indicated that the power supply voltages were correct.
> 
> Most of these computers were plugged into UPS units, although these are 
> a bit old.. I’ve requested Maintenance to check the power in our lab. 
> The 32 bit computers have 400 watt power supplies and the 64 bit 
> computers have 450 watt power supplies. They have lots of cooling fans, 
> and the cooling units on the CPUs are very robust. These computers have 
> all worked fine in the past running FC4, Win XP Pro, and Win 2003 Server 
> for 2 – 3 years.
> 
> If I had to guess it is going to turn out that the power in our lab has 
> problems and that Linux is less tolerant of that than Windows.
> 
> Being an old timer I remember something called the “Hacker’s Test”. 
> It had a number of things you had to do to qualify as a true hacker. One 
> was to break hardware with software. I never thought it was possible, 
> except by mis-configuring video cards pr or over-clocking a CPU.
> 
> I’m going to try to test the lab current and the power supply current 
> this weekend if I can get in to campus. (I live about 20 miles from campus.)
> 
> Thank you very much for your thoughtful replies. They are greatly 
> appreciated.
> 
> 
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-- 
Matthew Miller           mattdm@xxxxxxxxxx          <http://mattdm.org/>
Boston University Linux      ------>              <http://linux.bu.edu/>


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