On 05/19/2014 02:53 AM, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 9:23 PM, ToddAndMargo <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> On 05/18/2014 11:38 AM, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
>
>>> Motherboard battery? Can you boot an Ubuntu Live CD, because those
>>> tend to have more recent kernels than SL, and more stable ones than
>>> Fedora.
>>>
>>
>> Hi Niko,
>>
>> Thank you! I don't think I have ever changed its
>> battery either.
>>
>> This only happens when the machine has been off for a day
>> or more.  So, you may be on to something.  I will go into
>> bios and check to see it the date is all messed up.  Maybe
>> change the $1.35 battery anyway, just because it is really
>> cheap to do.  (I change those batteries for free for my
>> customers -- a nice customer relations gesture.)
>
> Why do so many nice people misspell my name? It's "Nico", short for Ignacio.

Oops.  My apologies.

Probably got you mixed up with someone famous:
http://www.famousbirthdays.com/names/nico.html

>
> Yeah, sounds like the battery. The various capacitors can keep charges
> on relevant low power circuitry going for a while, especially the
> bulkier electrolytic caps. I don't get to play much with hardware
> anymore, sadly, but we could have some *long* talks about capacitor
> behavior under extremely low load.

Capacitors seem to be the week spot on most motherboards.
That, and burning out the USB ports.

I have noticed that Asus and Supermicro have started using
solid Japanese capacitors.  Things may be looking up.

-T

-- 
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Computers are like air conditioners.
They malfunction when you open windows
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