Quote from Forum Archives on May 26, 2000, 10:08 am

Posted by: ahein <ahein@...>

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions on how to figure out what was wrong with
my system. Here's what eventually happened. The following is my reply to a
message from someone on my own mailing list:

On Fri, 26 May 2000 07:22:53 -0000 Wayne Shaffer wrote:

>Ok, I'm sure I've given you WAY more of a response than you wanted.
>I hope it turns out to be of at least SOME help. Better yet, I hope a
>moth crawls out of the fan, and it turns out that the problems were
>transient, and literally "bug"-induced.

Yes, you came up with lots of good advice - as did many others. However, in the
end your "moth" came closests...

Since yesterday afternoon, I spent many, many hours trying to figure out what
all the puzzling error messages meant. This involved countless reboots,
followed by lengthy scandisk procedures. The few times that I was able to boot
all the way into Windows to the point that I could email, the system was slow as
molasses in an Alaskan snow storm. Internet Explorer did load (keep your hands
off my favorite browser, Ms. Reno), so I could chase online descriptions of the
error messages I got.

Problem was that there was no rhyme or reason to the errors. All system
utilities, third party tools and MS configuration tweakers reported that there
was nothing wrong with the system.

I did go the entire MSCONFIG route. Basically, that's Microsoft's way of saying
"We have no clue as to what could be wrong, but why don't you check these few
hundred possible causes so you won't feel like you're doing nothing about it..."

Of course, each step in that process required rebooting, but that monotony was
broken by a steady stream of increasingly bizarre error messages.

By this time, the vendor had informed me that such behavior is not covered under
any warranty, and had helpfully suggested that my list of error messages meant
the processor was about the quit. His main competitor even recounted several
anecdotes of customers whose computers had suffered a similar fate.

Having exhausted all other options, I got ready to reinstall Windows. However,
I figured that before doing so, I might as well look inside the box to see
whether any print or connection may have come loose.

Now, keep in mind that the box was open just last month when, on April 20th, my
cable modem was installed. At that time, the tech guy commented on the nice
work done by the folks at Vobis. Indeed, having seen the inside of many
computers, I consider this one a work of art by comparison.

Apart from a little dust, the machine was clean.

So I was certainly not prepared for the sight awaiting me when I opened the box
this time. The entire machine had been turned into one giant spiderweb. Not a
normal web, mind you, but one of those things seemingly created by a drunk
spider with abstract tendencies.

Owing to the fact that the machine has a powerful fan, this spider mess was
coated with a thick layer of dust and carpet fibers. Frankly, given the fact
that I vacuum about every other day, I have no idea how all of that stuff could
have been collected in the space of just 5 weeks. But there it was - a blanket
of dust so thick that it had clogged the Pentium chip's own cooling fan.

Suddenly, all those idiotic error messages made sense. When a Pentium chip gets
too hot, it starts acting erratically. Sure enough, when I put the thing back
together, everything worked as advertised.

I'm flabbergasted. So's the spider.

I did call my vendor back. After I explained the whole deal to the manager, he
invited me to stop by to pick up a free box CD-RWs 🙂

His competitor, meanwhile, insists my processor is about to konk out. Spider
brains!

Anton
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