Re: Can a computer virus kill the CPU?

"w_tom" <w_tom1@xxxxxxx> writes:

What sells as cheap would cost massively if done from scratch. No,
those cheap motherboards have massive design and experience within
them. For example, today's Intel CPUs cannot overheat destructively
because of designs well proven in the 1980s.

Yet I know of several laptops which inadvertently turned on while
in a case and then subsequently died the "heat death". (Stuff
actually melts inside and they no longer work)

As Todd says, it is an interesting question. But then designers
appreciate things that users would never even know. Let's take a
simple example. Take all outputs from a power supply. Short them all
together. Connect the +5 to the +3.3 to the +12 to the -12, etc. Now
turn on power supply? Is anything damaged? No - not if the power
supply contains functions that were even required 30+ years ago.

Really? The most common cause of power supply failure seems to be
a short in the system (e.g., one cause by a loose screw).

I've lost three power supplies last year until I discovered that
the case speaker had attracted a loose screw and cause a short.

(Some lasted longer than others and some died more vehmently than others;
but they all died, cheap and expensive)

Casper
--
Expressed in this posting are my opinions. They are in no way related
to opinions held by my employer, Sun Microsystems.
Statements on Sun products included here are not gospel and may
be fiction rather than truth.
.

Quantcast