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Questions tagged [hardware-failure]

Hardware failure refers to the act of a piece of physical hardware failing to meet its designed standards during operation.

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Can some software physically damage hardware?

I know a question similar to this one has been asked before however it was about installing a 32bit OS on a 64bit laptop. My question is more about damaging the hardware. I was wondering if there was a way of interfacing with hardware from the OS or…
n0pe
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Does leaving your laptop powered on unsuspended and moving it around risk damaging the hardware?

This is a very unscientific, and most-likely poorly phrased question (due to my complete lack of expertise) to be sure, but any responses will be greatly appreciated. My dad told me that walking around with my laptop in my bag, or leaving it in a…
Jack Pan
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My computer freezes irregularly

My computer started to freeze at irregular times for 3 weeks now. Please note that this question change with each things that i try. (For additional details) What happens My computer freezes, the video stops. (No graphic glitches, it just…
maaudet
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I have been told to accept one error with Memtest86+

Bought a new computer back in August with 4x4 GB RAM. Had problems with the RAM. They sent me four new sticks, which also generated errors. Singled out four sticks (from the eight I now had) that didn't generate any errors. Discovered by coincident…
DustByte
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Is it safe to keep the GPU on 100% utilization for a very long time?

I am currently performing number-crunching using CUDA on my GPU, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. These operations often take months to complete, and during that time I leave my PC on 24/7. Is doing so safe? Am I risking a potential overheating of my…
Klangen
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Why is my HDD so slow on the "4K" speed tests?

What is wrong with my speed at 4K? Why is it so slow? Or is it supposed to be like that? Is that speed okay? Why do I have such low speed at 4K?
User6539
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USB flash drive not working or is appearing as an empty disk drive, Disk Management reports "No Media" with 0 bytes size

I have a USB flash drive which is no longer recognized by my computer. Windows Disk Management and DiskPart report No Media with no storage space (0 bytes) on the drive and I cannot partition or format the drive: Source If the drive appears in…
bwDraco
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Can a power failure or forceful shutdown damage hardware?

Can computer hardware suffer damage from forceful shutdowns (holding the power button for five (5) seconds) or power failures? I believe that normal PC hardware does not suffer from this - after all, it's not much different than what they…
Vilx-
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How do I troubleshoot when I have no clue where to start?

I am looking for hints, tips and answers on how to get started on troubleshooting when: The problem is intermittent The problem could lie literally anywhere - operating system; free source software; my own software developments; purchased software;…
Chris Walton
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I plugged in a molex cable the wrong way and the power supply exploded. Did it kill my hard drive?

I bought a cheap kit allowing me to use a 3.5 SATA hard drive with a laptop, by plugging it in with USB. It still requires external power supply so I used an adapter that came with this kit but I plugged it the wrong way - the molex cable has four…
jy196
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What PC parts can produce bright flash, and smoke, with the PC still appearing to work fine afterwards?

I heard some strange noise from my less than a year old PC when it came back from 'sleep' mode; For about 10-20 seconds I could see bright light visible through ventilation holes (somewhere near the back panel); gradually the fire/flash died down,…
Joe
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Running Windows with defective RAM

Is it possible to run Windows (7, x64) with a defective RAM module? More precisely, is there some way to tell Windows not to allocate a known bad address or block of addresses? For Linux, there is BadRAM. Is there an existing implementation for…
Bob
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How to diagnose computer lockups and freezes?

I built a desktop computer a couple years back with the following specs: CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz 6 MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q9300 Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX…
Scott Mitchell
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Can data on a hard disk degrade without Windows warning me that this has happened when I attempt to access the data?

Is it likely that a physical degradation of a hard disk could cause bits to 'flip' in file contents without the OS 'noticing' and telling you about it when reading the file? e.g. could a 'p' in an ASCII text file (binary 01110000) change to a 'q'…
Нет войне
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How can I physically destroy data from a failed HDD?

I have a broken HDD that contains sensitive data. Since no software can access the disk, I can't wipe it using any of the tools generally suggested. Breaking the disk physically into very small pieces would probably suffice, but that would require…
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