It started last night, I think. At least that’s when I became aware of it. My main computer was occasionally making small sounds of the “frrzzt!” type. You know, not unlike the sound of insects being fried to a crisp in the electric insect killer. Now, you occasionally hear about the being bugs in the computer, but it seemed unlikely to be literal. At least since the sound repeated from time to time. Usually this computer is running night and day, since this is where I run “folding at home”, a program that contributes to the science of protein folding. But this night I turned the computer off. I really didn’t want it to catch fire during the night!<\/p>\n
This afternoon, after work, it was much worse. \u00c2\u00a0I also noticed another disturbance in the electric force, which I had also noticed a few times yesterday afternoon: \u00c2\u00a0The kitchen ventilator made FRRZZT sounds randomly when off. \u00c2\u00a0Yes, they were louder than the ones made by the computer. Also, the light blinked. \u00c2\u00a0Today, the computer also rebooted. \u00c2\u00a0But only the big black quad-core computer. \u00c2\u00a0The slightly smaller and a good deal cheaper tri-core computer that stood beside it was fine. \u00c2\u00a0As the afternoon went on, the computer rebooted more and more often. \u00c2\u00a0Cutting off the power to the kitchen equipment did not stop it. \u00c2\u00a0Eventually I took the computer into the living room (which is uncomfortably cold at this time of the year, by the way) and booted it there, with an older screen. \u00c2\u00a0It purred happily. \u00c2\u00a0No suspicious sounds, no reboots.<\/p>\n
Back in the home office, I connected the tri-core to the big widescreen monitor. \u00c2\u00a0It may be slightly slower than the other, but not slow for ordinary use. \u00c2\u00a0A bit slow when playing Sims 2, but that is pretty much it. \u00c2\u00a0Well, after a short while it rebooted. \u00c2\u00a0Actually, it just turned off, but the effect was much the same, since I turned it back on. \u00c2\u00a0And a while later, it rebooted again. Not nearly as often as the other had, and there were no strange sounds, but occasionally the lights would flicker, and sometimes when they did, the computer would reboot.<\/p>\n
Well, it must be the monitor then, logically. \u00c2\u00a0But just to be sure, I carried the widescreen monitor into the living room and connected it to the big PC. \u00c2\u00a0Since then they have been running happily for hours. \u00c2\u00a0No symptoms of any kind.<\/p>\n
The tri-core mostly works fine too. \u00c2\u00a0But once every few minutes there is a small flicker in the light, and once every couple hours there is a major flicker and the computer turns itself off. So clearly there is still something in the room that sets it off. \u00c2\u00a0But what? \u00c2\u00a0I don’t know. Perhaps a rodent has been gnawing on the power cables in the wall somewhere. \u00c2\u00a0Or perhaps there is a defect in some minor electrical equipment in there, some small gadget I have not suspected. I have a lot of gadgets each drawing a tiny amount of power. \u00c2\u00a0Also, I have the Linux laptop up and running again in that room. \u00c2\u00a0It had been off for a few weeks. Hmm… but it does not blink or act strange in any way. \u00c2\u00a0Still, perhaps I should turn it off before going to bed. \u00c2\u00a0And the tri-core too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It started last night, I think. At least that’s when I became aware of it. My main computer was occasionally making small sounds of the “frrzzt!” type. You know, not unlike the sound of insects being fried to a crisp … Continue reading