Classic Banjo Radio

[Hal Allert]

If anyone has noticed lately, my radio station has been down for over a week now. I serve the tunes from my desktop PC. Recently, I took the box outside to blow the dust out of it. When I brought it back in and plugged it in nothing happened. After many hours of troubleshooting, I finally had to take it into a shop. He informed me the motherboard was dead, the CPU was burned up, and one of my RAM sticks was dead. I ordered the requisite replacement parts and nothing happened. I visited my newly acquired banker again. He said the power supply was not adequate for powering the motherboard. I ordered a new, larger power supply and took it to him. He said, after a few days, my power supply was intermittent. My board worked with his smaller power supply but not with the one he recommended. He is now looking for a real large power supply to test it with. I, essentially, have a new computer sitting in his shop that still doesn't work.

I know that many of you are sickened by the loss of the only radio station you listen to and some of you have questioned my continued existence and freedom. I thought you would all be comforted to know that I am still "waiting for MOBO". Don't pay the ransom yet. I will let you know when the radio station is up and running so you can all sleep easy again.

[Jody Stecher]

What is "the box"?  And how/why did it get full of dust?

[thereallyniceman]

Hi Hal,

Computer full of dust eh? I know that problem.

I used to run a website server on a PC from a cupboard in my office and apart from the constant noise from the fans on the power supply, case and CPU..oh, and the electricity bills for 24/7 operation... oh, and the fan failures due to constant use... oh, and the dust accumulation due to the fans sucking all the dust from the air and depositing it everywhere...oh, and the CPU and motherboard overheating and failing due to the dust.. oh, and the hard drives failing..........

..I then realised that I should have TWO computers as I needed a backup in case of failure. Suddenly it dawned on me; home computers are made as cheaply as possible from components designed to be used intermittently and are destined to fail with time

...Solution?  Rent space on a hosting server where they use military grade computers that constantly run backups, are maintained and updated and are FAST.  The price of our "Second NING server", that is used to run all the viewers, players and database functions that NING do not provide, is located in California and spread across several servers and costs around $120 per annum. Then there is about $50 domain name registration..BUT it is CHEAP compared to the cost of repairs and the previous computer/servers at my home.

My recommendation.. go for hosting (We use Dreamhost.com who have been very good to date)

[Joel Hooks]

I've noticed it has been down. I put it on when I am in my shop. I've been spending a lot of time out there sharpening pitch forks and making torches.

I just thought it had something to do with you reworking your site.