Despite the fact that we mostly use our laptops at home, I still have a couple of desktop machines which provide some extra storage space and a test environment. One of the machines runs Windows 2k while the other one is running an older version of Fedora, this is the playing machine since I usually test new server software on this machine. The windows machine was the first machine that I ever put together and although it is a slow relic, it still does its job (photos backup and iTunes music storage) and it has some emotional value behind it.

Since I was not using the desk machines as much as I had before, I decided to sell my 21″ monitors a while back. One was sitting in the closet and the other one took too much desk space. We wanted to get a LCD to make better use of the desk space but I also didn’t want to spend too much money since we hardly ever use it. After a few weeks watching craigslist I finally found a 15″ Dell LCD. I picked it up last weekend but decided not to install it quite yet. I tested it with my PowerBook when I picked it up so I knew it worked just fine.

I installed the monitor this evening and the Fedora machine did not like the change of hardware though. This happen at the office a while back so I wasn’t too surprised. I switched it off and I’ll deal with it later. I turned on the Windows machine and nothing happen. I checked the plug to make sure it was properly connected since I hadn’t turned it on in a looooong time. I replaced the cable and tried again, this time the power supply sort of started going but stopped before turning on. I moved the cable a little bit thinking there might be a loose connection and pushed the power button once again.

I was surprised to hear my machine turn on but I was even more surprised when I heard a pop come from inside the machine. I am feeling a little sorry for the bug that I just electrocuted but didn’t think too much of it. However, a second pop and the smell of burn electronics made me pull the power cable right away and now I am thinking the worst.

It turned out to be just the power supply which is a great thing since these are cheap and easy to replace. I took the power supply from the linux machine and installed it on the windows machine and everything worked just as planned. I have a few MS patches to apply before I put it back on the network but I am glad I didn’t fry my motherboard or my processor. I really got lucky this time and it reminds me I need to integrate a backup solution for this machine.