Re: [Sheflug] computer that won't boot after power cut

[Richard Ibbotson <richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Friday 06 July 2012 20:34:10 Adam Funk wrote:
> [06/07/12 18:43] Richard Ibbotson wrote
> I guess those "surge protection" extension strips aren't always
> effective?

Read through a load of electronic/electrical engineering since the 
1970's.  Should work.  As far as I understand it the sudden failure of 
hard drives and PSUs is mostly a mechanical thing.  Fans fail. 
Mechanical parts of a failing HD can produce a spike which produces 
internal failure. Magnetic field inside a PSU does incur some physical 
mechanical damage eventually.  Then there's the electrostatic charge 
over a surface.  Back in the 80's no one belived me when I told them 
that I'd seen so many comuters fail due to moving electrostatic charge 
over a building or a computer case.  They told me that I was either an 
idiot or I was a liar.  CMOS integrated circuits put me onto that.  
Common sense told me it was an electrostatic charge that was 
destroying so many large scale commercial installations.

I think it was an IT scientist from the University of Sheffield who 
eventually wrote one of the early research papers about this ?  After 
that it became big business to test buildings and IT installations for 
static and other envorinmental considerations.  Probably don't bother 
too much these days.

-- 
Richard

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