Are PCs still this shitty?
I just got a warning telling me some stupid fan isn't working anymore :-(

It's the one that is supposed to cool my CPU.

I assume it's bad (again) to use it like this...?

PCs plain suck.

Will it help if I buy a sun system?
I don't need Windows, just Linux.

My hardware always seems to crash.

Advice is welcome.

EDIT: I really want hardware that is as stable as my software (Debian and Solaris on this crappy x86 box)
EDIT2: As expected, it's not just the stupid fan.
I get unstable temperatures after only 30 minutes.
This system is for the the junk yard (*again*).
EDIT3: I'm serious about buying something else.
Intel and AMD both suck, any recommendations?

If you,re going to buy a new PC Start by buying a good MOBO do not save money on it
Intel or AMD well what do you like , I think the are both good
Find a retailer that is good , my PC has total warranty time of 3 years and is special assembled for me
His main clients are business world

That's exactly what I don't want

Intel (including Mac) and AMD are both horrible and killed "the PC" by only caring about performance.
Still remember your first 386? It's probably still alive in your basement. those things never died.
Even my Nintendo Wii (the only good system I still have) runs a server way more stable.

I want something else (and I'm currently looking at some possibilities... advise is still welcome).

Ummmmm.....I'm seeing a bit of thrashing going on here.

May I suggest simply repairing or replacing the fan?

You don't say how old the computer is........e.g.: when was it last cleaned? If you don't have filtered air going into the computer, there will be a build-up of dust which could easily cause a fan to start sticking. (I just fixed a similar problem.)

Just repair or replace broken part. No need to buy whole new PC because of one broken component.

Yeah, like the others said, you could just replace the broken fan.

But you're lucky that Robotnik didn't have anything to do with it, otherwise you'd turn your computer on and find that you have a broken PINGAS!

Yes.
Ones with low quality parts suck. Ones built by 'get the lowest price components, they are the ones that sell' suck. I'm assuming that when you take a lesson from this experience it won't be 'buy a good quality fan'?

Well, it will help Sun. Honestly, you are unlikely to find this sort of problem with kit from a reputable supplier and Sun is one of those. But then, so are some others.

Well you've got the choice of dealing with why this should happen or giving someone else the problem to deal with. The latter costs more.

There are issues with either of those organisations, but you can build hardware that is long-term reliable using processors from either. You don't seem to have got that from your suppliers, but to blame Intel or AMD for that is a bit like blaming dinosaurs for the quality of fuel (gas).

Ok, but can we blame the dinosaurs for not spreading out more evenly, so that crude was found in more places, and breeding more, so that more of the black stuff was available?

It's an A8N-SLI with a plain AMD64 3500+ processor (so yeah, it's a few years old). I clean it every month.
The fan actually wasn't the real issue (as mentioned), I'm not sure why my bios went wrong here (as with many readings).
EDIT: Perhaps the fan did stop running at some point, but it was happily turning when I opened my box after getting that bios message...

The processor just slowly died.

Ah well, having to replace two desktops in just two weeks is painfully expensive.

My apologies for the previous rant, but I honestly don't trust either AMD or Intel anymore (old systems just kept running).

On another computer I have AMD 900mhz Thunderbird CPU that's about 5..6 years old and still working. That CPU survived 1..2 week long overheating due to the dehydrated thermopad and motherboard being fried by PSU. It still works just fine. I also had no problems with other AMD cpus I've been using (Sempron 2800+, AMD 5000+). So I can't blame AMD for bad hardware.

As it was already mentioned, many problems arise from using very cheap hardware. I've assembled very cheap machine once (out of curiosity, from used parts), it works, but it doesn't feel "stable". (especially because of faulty GPU which seems to be half-dead, and can't work with OpenGL acceleration for long time).

In the end, everything will break eventually, so instead of being emotional about it, try to analyze situation and think how you can avoid such problems in the future.

That's exactly my point. Old hardware doesn't crash.
Really, I'm not blaming AMD (The intel was way more expensive and died faster).

This wasn't a cheap system at all (Apart from the inbuilt Realtech sound, I actually liked that mobo, plain AMD64 processors are supposed to last and most other parts are from a previous system).

That's what bothers me. I can't avoid these things in the future (using modern PCs).

That's what bothers me. I can't avoid these things in the future (using modern PCs).

Stop using computers... or at least where you have to maintain them. (no, seriously - I'm personally getting sick of them, I cannot see myself using computers on a regular basis say 2-3 years from now).

Hehe, that's exactly what I had in mind a few hours ago
Sadly reality kicked in (I need them for my job).

I'm still open for any recommendations to replace this one (It only needs to be stable. As for software, I only really need Vi, Emacs and the GNU compilers)

PS: I really like your blog.

Thanks for your interest in my blog...

But if you need computers for a job, won't somebody else have the headache of maintaining them, unless you happen to be a sysadmin?

As for me, I'm beginning to prefer laptops over desktops for many reasons.

It's honestly one of best ones I've seen in years (I like your cartoons as well).

Building/Customizing software for them is most of what I do (and mostly do that at home)...