[conspire] Another motherboard was _not_ burned out today

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Scott DuBois (rhcom.linux at gmail.com):

> A PIII motherboard is not sensitive electronic equipment in any reasonable
> sense of the term.  Those were pretty damn hardy.  

Yes, I didn't _think_ they ever were -- which is part of why I've been
reluctant to think local PG&E fluctuations have been frying hardware 
at my house, even spread out over 9 years since I moved back here.
(I've had two periods of residence in this house, 40 years apart.)

As I think I mentioned, the funny-looking bespoke PSUs used in all VA
Linux Systems 2U rackmount servers (these suckers:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Converter-Concepts-10-0243-600-560-Watt-2U-Server-ATX-PSU-Power-Supply-Unit-/330729598823?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d01052f67) 
were notoriously failure-prone and, as aftermarket parts, in relatively
short supply, so I stockpiled a lot of them as spares.  Word of mouth 
said those were weak PSUs, had quality control problems, and tended to
conk out.  I don't recall anyone saying they tended to destroy
motherboards, though.

BTW, Michael Paoli tells me that Dreamhost, the firm that hosts BALUG's
mailing lists, often fails to archive postings, so that probably was one
of the ones they missed.