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Questions tagged [hardware]

Computer hardware is the collection of physical elements that comprise a computer system.

There are multiple, physical components that are required for a computer to function. This is collectively referred to as the "hardware". The most notable components inside of a computer system is the RAM, Hard Disk (or hard drive), CPU, and Power Supply.

Outside of the case, however, hardware exists as well. Some of these components include the keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

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Something is burning in the server room; how can I quickly identify what it is?

The other day, we notice a terrible burning smell coming out of the server room. Long story short, it ended up being one of the battery modules that was burning up in the UPS unit, but it took a good couple of hours before we were able to figure it…
Chad Harrison
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Moving Servers Within The Same Building

Here's my scenario: I'm a developer that inherited (unbeknownst to me) three servers located within my office. I also inherited the job of being the admin of the servers with a distinct lack of server administration knowledge and google /…
Gareth
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Where did "Wait 30 seconds before turning it back on" come from?

I guess these are the kinds of things I think about on the weekend... When I was growing up (not that long ago) my parents always taught us to wait 30 seconds after shutting down the computer before turning it back on again. Fast forward to today in…
Brandon
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Do you continue to use your end-of-life server/network equipment?

So you spend lots of money on nice servers, storage arrays, or network equipment and it works wonderfully for you for years. But after 3-6 years your vendor no longer offers maintenance for the device, but it is still working. Under what…
Zoredache
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How to prepare computers for donation

We are decommissioning around 40 Dell desktops. We would like to donate them but drives need to be wiped. What's the best approach to wipe them all as efficiently as possible? Is it standard practice to reinstall the OEM OS before donation or is…
Sandy
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Why is a 19" rackable box only 17" wide?

I'm about to buy (for the first time obviously) a bare rackable box to build a server. As I understands things, standard rack size is 19" wide. But some boxes specs (Antec's one to be specific) says they are 17" wide... Is this a problem ?
alci
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Exclusive of cost, what is the ideal monitor set up for a team of programmers?

Given a new office, new desks, and very little limitation on per-person costs (within reason - virtual reality helmets are not likely) what is the ideal number, size, and orientation of (presumably flat-screen LCD) monitors to maximize productivity,…
davebug
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Where do you find your MTBF data?

Mean time between failures may be difficult to interpret, but there is a wealth of statistical method that you can use if you have some hard data. Trouble is, nobody reports their MTBF numbers anymore. (Other than hard drive manufacturers,…
user9495
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How can you reduce ambient noise from servers?

I have recently installed a IBM x45 with two DS4100 (SAN) and due to space constraints it is generating too much noise in adjacent rooms. Are there any good ways to isolate the noise from servers? There doesn't seem to be much vibration, but the…
Tedd Hansen
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How do I donate obsolete or surplus computers?

How can I donate older, unused or surplus computers? What facilities or organizations exist? Can I ship equipment to them? Is it tax deductible? I'd like them to go directly into educational or low-income use, rather than being recycled for scrap…
Mark Renouf
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what to do with old hardware

What do you do with your old / unused hardware? Cables, Hard drives, motherboards, and others peripherals you have around? Stuff that is broken or just too obsolete to use.
Decio Lira
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What is this(server hardware)?

What is this adapter called?
met78
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Conference Room Input Devices?

I really need to find a good wireless mouse and keyboard combination for a conference room. I've used a few that seem to need to be within 5 feet of the receiver... which doesn't work as the conference room is 24' x 18'. Also a long battery life…
Brett G
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What desk chair do you use?

I'm thinking about getting a new desk chair and since a lot of us in the IT industry are sitting for a good part of the day, I was wondering what everyone here uses.
Brett G
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Should server spare parts be stored in climate controlled storage?

What is a best practice for storing server spares (hard drives, RAM, power supplies, etc) with respect to how/where they are stored? Some options are storing them in climate controlled storage or just a standard warehouse-type stockroom? My…
Shane Wealti
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