Miark wrote:
On Fri, 23 Sep 2005 13:48:42 -0600, Ron wrote:
Remember what happened when trying to install 10.1 (I think
it was) on a LG drive? It killed the drive! I also understand
that driving a video card with the wrong settings can destroy a
monitor. I've never done that, but I've had a couple occassions
where Mandrake/Mandriva chose the wrong rates and caused the
monitor to do ugly things that worried me. Point being, there
are ways for software to affect hardware.
Miark
Overdriving the monitor is not a problem with the newer monitors - they
simply turn off if you try it. Basicly, if the monitor uses a popup menu
for setup, then you don't have to worry about it. If you adjust things
by turning nobs - one for each setting, then you may have to worry about it.
As far as the CD drives went, I would call it a matter of defective
hardware. (firmware) When you can erase the firmware of a drive by using
an instruction that is part of the interface specification that has a
completely different "documentated" use - that is a hardware defect.
I can think of one a couple more - some IBM Thinkpads dies when you try
and configure LM sensors on them. The will not even boot after it. (The
newer version of LM sensors does nto do it, because they added some
tests to prevent it.) Poor design on the part of IBM.
An easy way to break most systems is to start a BIOS upgrade, and pull
the plug when it is part way through. Unless the system has a BIOS
recovery option, you are sunk. (You need special hardware to reprogram
the chip.) You can do the same thing when upgrading the firmware on just
about any hardware. I had a nice IDE RAID card in my junk box from when
someone pulled the plug during a firmware upgrade.
You can also break hardware by upgrading with the wrong firmware. A
point to keep im mind when upgrading wireless NICs. This is especialy
true when upgrading under Linux, as the Linux tools do not always have
the same safty checks.
Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for thou art crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!
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