Hello JIM.

30 Aug 03 15:09, you wrote to all:

 JH> This little known fact is called "built-in
 JH> obsolescence"! This is a very little discussed problem in today's
 JH> society, but we all face it at some point or another.

Where has this guy been hiding?  This has been known for years and years. 
I could say the same thing about cars, boats, planes, you name it.


 JH> There have been known problems with ATX power supplie over
 JH> the last 2 years and on up to today. The power supplies have been
 JH> shorting out, due to lousy cheap parts, and in the process, burn out
 JH> the motherboard, an just about any and all other devices attached to
 JH> it including the hard drive.


I've witnessed this.  I would like to add that in many of the small cases
where space is a factor I've seen HD cables catch fire but I suppose that
has nothing to do with ATX other then that is all you see these days.  So
far nobody has been injured that I am aware of but have to wonder aloud
whether any building fires have started this way.  Call me paranoid but I
am always nervous turning my back on a running generic computer.  I am
liking DC input, cabless computers more and more as time goes on.


 JH>  I am sure you know someone this has
 JH> happened to.

Oh yes!

 JH> It is what drives our economy. It really
 JH> upsets me to kno an electrical engineer can and does make chips and
 JH> components that fai specifically on a given date or thereabouts, that
 JH> a chemical engine does make plastics for your car for instance that
 JH> disintegrate just a warranty is up! I understand that if they did not
 JH> do this, people wou of work... but, give me a break, not in our hard
 JH> drives too!

Perhaps lives as well.  After all you can't take it with you.


 JH> This is th
 JH> important part of the computer! Whatever you do keep a good backup!

Amen.

Maurice

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