If you'd like to follow this thread, it will be about the death of one
Gibabyte GA7ZXE
I don't remember when I got it. I could roll over to the other side of the room and look at the receipt in the box, but I'm typing and if I break my concentration I won't finish this post.
It's not over two-years old yet, but close I believe.
This was a replacement for one
ABIT KT7-RAID that suffered the same untimely demise. This board is soon to be resurrected or at least a replacement will be in it's place.
What is it that's taking a toll on these defenseless piles of circuitry and fiberglass?
Blown capacitors.
I know, I know, it's hard to believe something so trivial could do this to something of such a vital importance, but it happens. This is actually the third in a rather regal line-up. The first to go was an
MSI 649D Pro. These machines were not abused and not a lot was expected of them. The daily grind of crunching DC was there really only daunting task. Along with this board, a few IBM 'Deathstars' met there early demise. They to were unable to handle the taks of being continuously spun 24X7. That's not a lot to ask. I mean, we've got people walking around on the moon, can't we get PC parts to last more than 6-12 months?
I'm rambling on now. That's okay, if you've read this far you're liable to follow it to the end.
Back to the GA7ZXE. The first sign of illness was the brown dis-coloration on a capacitor close to the ZIF socket. This is where it always seems to start. It's like a cancer. I knew it wouldn't be long, but I didn't let my emotion show. I plugged everything back in and powered it back up. I couldn't let it know that I knew that it knew it wasn't long for this world. Power was applied and fans were spun. DC projects continue, but at some point, something has to give. While in another room I heard the ever-so-familiar sound of POST.
was I when I walked in and started looking for the also ever-so-familiar sight of Power LEDs. One, two, three, four, five, six, . . . hmm, everything seems to be normal. Back to the task at hand, then I heard it. That mind numbing drone of "Windows XP Startup.wav". I lowered my head and I know now it's going to be over soon. The "for no reason reboot" is a tell-tale sign.
There's nothing more to do really than let it fight it's battle until it can't fight anymore. I'll promise it that I'll try to find a replacement or at least fix it. Who knows if I will.
This concludes this portion of the story. More will follow . . . or maybe not. This is actually the longest I've sat behind a computer and typed anything. I may not do it ever again.
Until then, or until not.
That is all, now go back to what you were doing. There's nothing to see here.
Edited for topograpical errors. 
hardware
prices 
Free Scan: Update Your PC's Outdated Drivers to Optimize Performance 
