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gzt

gzt

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#312441 16-Apr-2024 17:41
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I recently eliminated two cable faults on my system. Ethernet cable - I initially blamed my recently acquired cheap switch failing intermittently when on for long periods. Finally dug out the receipt to take it back. Swapped around some cables to make sure it was the port and then the other port appeared to fail. Swapped the cable. Fixed.

Next one is not exactly a cable fault. My machine sporadically refused to boot or posted very very slowly. Bios flashing and various diags and settings months later did not change it. I started to suspect a faulty PSU or MB. One day by chance I used the master switch on the multiplug. It made a sparking noise. Replaced multiplug. No more boot issues!

Mini-DP cables are just a pain every which way. I avoid that interface at all costs. Mechanically unreliable. Daisy chaining is very tidy but always seems to introduce new and weird cable related failures. Best avoided. For reliability I think I prefer Standard DP before HDMI. I'll be happy to see those monster cables both gone when USB-C video takes over. It's taking too long!

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networkn
Networkn
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  #3219325 16-Apr-2024 21:51
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We had a customers 'server' randomly drop the network during the day with no rhyme or reason. We tried everything, replaced the NIC, the cabling, the switch, the firewall, the UPS, everything over 8 months.

 

Turned out a dentist on another floor had installed a large high voltage power cable which wasn't shielded from the basement, and whenever they used the equipment connected to it, it would mess with the networking cables near the server, which was near the wall the cable was inside of. 

 

Took 8 months to find it, was a total fluke finding it. After going in on the weekend to look at the problem, and rode the lift down with the dentist. I noted he didn't usually work the weekends and he said he was operating this equipment for a specialist job he was in, but they were getting a weird thing happening with the equipment that had been going on 8 months since they had it installed. 

 

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, I had buried probably 70+ hours in diagnosing it, and had lost so much sleep and the customer was so annoyed understandably that we couldn't find the issue. 

 

The guy disappeared no longer after that, and has never been seen since. It's an unsolved mystery to this day.


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