47 replies to this topic

[NervousNerd]

This is one thing that has been plageing my mind lately.Why do console/computers die?
I`ve tried to think of a logical answer but i just can not come up with one.
I`m using an old Xbox 360, and it`s not that reliable to put it in short terms.I was playing a game the other day and it deleted my save file, other times it would render a game properly.


Thanks

[SpleenBeGone]

Basically, the resistors burn out due to heat.

[NervousNerd]

How come? i mean if it`s so hot for them to burn out why does it take so long?The console/computer is cool enough because of the fans etc.

[SpleenBeGone]

It's a slow process. As an electrical current runs through a circuit it pulls particles from one side to the other. Heat and voltage increase the rate this happens. If you could keep at chip cool enough, it would in theory not allow the particle transfer and not wear out.

[NervousNerd]

Let me see if i`ve got this, it`s because the computer/console gets overheated/doesn`t have enough ventilation, that courses the component knackering?
Not overtime usage?

[SpleenBeGone]

Time and heat. The root cause is particle movement.
Either through enough time with low heat, or a short time with high heat. (relatively speaking.)

[tlh1123]

Time and heat. The root cause is particle movement.
Either through enough time with low heat, or a short time with high heat. (relatively speaking.)

I was reading something like this a couple months ago. Not sure why it surprised me when I had first read it, but it makes perfect sense. Everything eventually slows down over time and dies. Sounds kind of depressing the way I put it

[SushiKitten]

I had an interesting conversation with one of my lab instructors last year about this. Most computers still have a lot of moving parts to them inside. As long as there's still mechanical parts in a computer, those parts won't last a very long time, and therefore the computer won't last a very long time. The fan and the hard drive are both things that are constantly moving when your computer's on. They're also the two parts that end up dying most often. Coincidence?

That's not to say a computer with no moving parts inside will last forever, there just won't be as much wearing down of these parts and it will probably last much longer than what we have now.

[No-Danico]

Curse you, analog! I didn't know the hardrive moves. Even he brick looking one on the top of my xbox? Cuz that thing's a paperweight.

[SushiKitten]

I'm not sure about the one on the xbox, though I assume it's the same thing.

I took apart my failing HDD and it's interesting how it works, it kind of looks like a record player in a way. There's a disc that spins around inside and a little needle that magnetically stores the data in the disc.

[SushiKitten]

Keep the magnets, they're a blast to play with.

Haha I really wanted to keep it together as much as possible. I wanted to make a spinning clock out of it eventually.

[SpleenBeGone]

http://www.instructa...ive-Desk-Clock/

[No-Danico]

Ahh. What I was imagining was WAY more steampunk. Like with little pistons and tubes.

[SpleenBeGone]

That was just the first on on Instructables, there are quite a few.

[idk]

Curse you, analog! I didn't know the hardrive moves. Even he brick looking one on the top of my xbox? Cuz that thing's a paperweight.

All they are is a small hard drive (IE: laptop hard drive) in a fancy case, so yes. they move as well.

The only hard drives we have that don't move are SSD's (Solid State Drives) However they are more expensive, and they don't allow as many read/write cycles as a conventional hard drive.

[The Robstar]

Normally the companies use the cheapest components possible to cut costs. When you take shortcuts you will inevitably face problems...