Dunno what to call this.

I've got about 45 minutes to kill--not enough time to start something and finish it, so I'll just do a stream-of-cos -cunsc I'll just type whatever I'm thinking about.

What I'm thinking about mostly are my certs. I've mentioned I fix computers; I'm even certified on some things. I should be certified on more, but I am, basically, kinda lazy. I get home, I don't want to do some boring CBT. I want to drink a beer, eat some dinner, and play with my rats. Maybe play a little Wolfenstein.

In short, I don't want to keep working.

Every year, I have to get re-certified on the computers for a Certain Really Huge Computer Manufacturer, and I'm bored to tears with it. I've been getting certified on their computers for over ten or fifteen years now, and the training is getting dumber and dumber and more and more poorly written. I hardly ever pay attention to the training--I'll go thru the desktop training, do the 30-question test in about four minutes (you're given an hour), and pass with a score of 96%. Sometimes I wonder which question I missed.

I'll stick the notebook CD in the drive, skip to the part where they go over the model numbers, do the 30-question test in about thirty seconds, get another score of 96%, and wonder if I missed the same question.

I also have to take the warranty basics quiz. It's fewer questions; the procedures haven't really changed in the past ten years or so. A score of 80% or better is passing, and I think I got an 84%, which I don't think is too bad for something I haven't studied for in. . .at all, come to think of it. Maybe ten years ago.

Right now, I'm kind of studying for my A+ re-certification. I'm not actually sure you have to re-certify, but it's been about four years, and I figure it couldn't hurt. I've looked over classes for A+, but I'm not spending several hundred or thousand dollars to have someone read to me out of a book when I can spend forty-five bucks to skim through a book and realize I could have written it better.

Or more accurately, come to think of it. Here's what I mean: This chip houses many more transistors (130,000), so it will run much hotter than the 8088. Therefore, many 286 computers will include a heat sink.

Many 286 computers will include a what? I didn't see heat sinks on CPU's until the Pentium came out, and then it was only on 90 MHz or better machines. Believe me, an 80286 CPU running at (max) 12 MHz didn't get hot to the touch. It got warm to the touch.

Speaking of heat sinks, yesterday I had to replace the system board (you probably call it a mother board) in a unit made by that Certain Really Huge Computer Manufacturer whose desktop certs I've just re-certed on. In order to do that, you've got to remove everything on the old board, and move it over to the replacement board. In this case, it was a video card, two sticks of RAM, and a Pentium-4 CPU & heatsink.

Now, a heat sink sits right on top of the CPU, and it exists to get hot. It's made of aluminum (or copper, in more expensive models) and has a fan sitting right on top. The CPU gets hot, the heat transfers via convection to the heat sink, the fan draws cool air thru the many pins on the heatsink and out into the computer case where other fans suck the hot air out.

But the bottom of the heat sink, where it touches the CPU, isn't exactly mirror smooth, so you apply a compound called thermal grease to the bottom of the heat sink that fills in the gaps and gives you maximum surface area contact between the CPU and the heat sink.

In order to remove the CPU from the old board, you have to remove the heat sink. You also have to remove all of the old thermal grease with rubbing alcohol--it can't be reused, and the manufacturers know it.

Here's what torks me off: There isn't a computer manufacturer around that includes more thermal grease with their replacement system boards.

Fortunately, it's pretty cheap, especially when you buy the cheap knockoff of the best thermal grease available, Arctic Silver, at CompUSA. I keep a couple of tubes of it in my toolkit.

(No, I'm not using the good, expensive stuff on my customers. I pay for it out of my pocket--it's that cheap.)

OK, the clock in my system tray says I've got about ten minutes to go--so it's time to do my timesheet. That's a whole other rant.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Since I'm new here, maybe you could explain more about your rats. Thanks. :-)

[robert]

I am looking for a manufacturer that makes a good heat pipe, or heatsink (NOT a heat spreader) for the etx cpu circuit board assembly. It seems this modular design would be prevalant enought to warrant a second party manufacturer to design such a passive heat sink device.....??
Anyone out there ever heard of such a device??
Thanks
Robert
(I am not a sparky, but a nuts and bolts guy)