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Why Do Computers/Consoles Die?


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#1 NervousNerd

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 02:19 PM

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

#2 SpleenBeGone

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 02:20 PM

Basically, the resistors burn out due to heat.
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#3 NervousNerd

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 02:42 PM

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.

#4 SpleenBeGone

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 03:31 PM

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.
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#5 NervousNerd

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 03:35 PM

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?

#6 SpleenBeGone

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 04:12 PM

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.)
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#7 tlh1123

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 09:00 PM

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 :blink:
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#8 SushiKitten

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 11:20 AM

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.

#9 No-Danico

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 01:59 PM

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.

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#10 SushiKitten

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 02:42 PM

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.



#11 Guest_ElatedOwl_*

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 02:51 PM

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.

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

#12 SushiKitten

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 06:20 PM

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.

#13 Guest_ElatedOwl_*

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 06:29 PM

I think I saw a guide somewhere that used the platters to make a clock, looked pretty neat from what I remember~

#14 SpleenBeGone

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 06:38 PM

http://www.instructa...ive-Desk-Clock/
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#15 No-Danico

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 06:52 PM

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

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#16 Guest_ElatedOwl_*

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 06:58 PM

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

The one I saw was just the platters and I think they had used street number pieces for the numbers.

#17 SpleenBeGone

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 07:00 PM

That was just the first on on Instructables, there are quite a few.
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#18 Guest_ElatedOwl_*

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 07:04 PM

It's probably on there somehwere, then. I'm just a lazy ass. :3

#19 idk

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Posted 21 January 2013 - 08:26 PM

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.

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#20 The Robstar

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Posted 30 January 2013 - 08:45 PM

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