Air Cooling Tragedy

Rubber band saga – Matthew Bidinger

Be advised prior to continuing through this article, geekdom may be contagious.

Briefing: I use an old Thermalright SLK (700 I think) with a Panaflo L1A on my 1800+ pally – the sink isn’t made to accept this fan size.

The Story: So anyway, my computer starts to give some errors and I have to reinstall some applications and drivers to eliminate them, but then the errors start coming back within an hour or so. Mmmmmkkkk – completely uncharacteristic of my system.

So I go to bed for the night and leave it for tomorrow, and a few times throughout the night I vaguely recognize the sound of a spinning up CD ROM drive. My PC is fairly close to my bed, and it didn’t really wake me up… But in the morning I was thinking to myself – why was I having dreams about spinning up CD ROM’s last night and what the hell is wrong with me?

I’m 22 – I should be having dreams about beer and loose women.

As I’m getting dressed for work the CD ROM spins up again – I look over at my monitor and see the PC is rebooting – it’s been doing this all night. *rolleyes*

MMmmmkkkk. So I press the reset button and go into BIOS to check my insocket thermistor readings – yup, about 65ºC or so – idle temp way above my normal load temps! I continue to crack the case, and low and behold…

MY HIGH-TECH COOLING METHODOLOGY HAS FAILED! HOW COULD THIS BE? I USED ONLY THE FINEST PARTS AND THE UTMOST CARE IN CONFIGURING THEM! DISASTER HAS STRUCK… *eeeeeeeek*

…The rubber band holding the fan on the heatsink appears to have snapped – it lays stretched out in a straight line atop my 3dfx card. Yes, 3dfx. Its a Voodoo5500 – for those familiar with this card, it’s no wonder it landed here; it would have been nearly impossible to miss. I lift the band’s broken carcass from its resting place and inspect its status closer. Rubber banbrokeney, no more worky.

I guess these things happen; that thin little band served me well for many months. What to do next? How can I replace this loss?

Mildly distraught, with misty eyes, I go upstairs…

BEHOLD! Within my supply drawer, hidden amongst pens, erasers, stamps,paper clips and envelopes…

A SLIGHTLY THICKER, PERFECT FILLER FOR THE VOID IN MY HEART!

Needless to say, I’m back up and running at normal temps, thanks to a new little rubbery friend. 😀

To anyone out there who suggests alternative solutions and offers warnings – save it sister. I’ve always been one to do things I know I shouldn’t. I’ll stick with my rubber bands… It gives me some edge in my life of geekdom!

Matthew Bidinger aka I.M.O.G.