pouët.net

Has anyone else had the following problem.

Ever since I firist installed Windows XP when it was first released I have noticed a consistant problem. During Dec-Feb the f'ing OS goes haywire and I have to fresh install. It doesn't seem to understand that I have essays due! Is there something about the winter months that messes with XP? This OS seems to work wonderfully during warm months and I don't understand why I get f'd over when it snows.

No shite. This is when XP given me the most problems.

Maybe it's your hardware. A friend told me, back in the days when he had a SCSI system he had to rewire the hardware every half year. Winter config / summer config. He still doesn't know why, but it worked for him.

You could try getting hold of a norwegian XP-release (a finnish or swedish one might also do the trick, but I havent tested that). They have some special tweaks to cope with the weather we have up here.

One very powerful heating source for cold winters is Povray.
Launch a nice long rendering and your laptop will soon heat any room, and you'll forget WinXP freezing.
Because of cold, that is.

The linux kernel has a special compile time flag for winter and summer modes. So it's just a matter of recompiling and switching the kernel twice per year.

Mine died recently and needed reinstalling too. It's a common missunderstanding that its hypothermia though. Its really just old age. I'm really sorry to say it, but the life expectancy of a windows xp installation is only about 12 months, and much less if it's had an active life. If you can't bear the pain of watching windows get old and decrepit and finally dying once a year, I suggest you get a cat or dog. Or if you haven't the time or patience to look after them, the choice is a unix based os or dos.

Maybe it's because it's been exactly one year since you installed it the last time, you dope.

i've had mine going for several years.

makc: heh, very true. i ran the worldcommunitygrid agent for a while, and it kept my living room at room temperature without turning on the heat. of course, that was in the fall, and it probably added $10 a month onto my electric bill..

anyway, last time my xp setup croaked was.. okay, february.

wtf

Being the simple fool I am, I always thought that computers liked it colder. Especially if you're an overclocking sort of dude. A system failure due to cold weather does not make any sense at all.

Unless you've got a liquid cooled cpu, and frozen pipework! ;-)

cih, agreed.

My XP always dies and goes to heaven during easter.

so does my liver

my computer gets sad when it's raining :(

Maybe your XP has a hangover from New Year's Eve.

seems like the conclusions here are that xp lasts longer if you wrap it in a blanket, and let it sleep for 12 hours a day.

Also, do not get wet or feed after midnight.

And remember, a properly cared for XP can provide many years of loving affection!

my XP gets faster if i boot Ubuntu.. it might get scared i'd swap or so..

It's common knowledge that computers get worn out. After a while, all that strain on the CPU mega-hurts.

...And I've noticed my computers' gotten wheezy ever since I installed Breezy Badger...

My computer has an anal infection, any tips?

Living in the Canadian prairies I can assure you that cold weather can make a difference. Not because the computer becomes too cold, but more it becomes much warmer.

During the winter months furnaces kick in to warm people's houses. This means continuous circulation of heated air within the home. Furnaces become the only source of airflow, and because it's already warm before reaching the computer, ambient temperature inside the case does rise.

I agree with thom, It's 32 degrees in my flat as I type and my windows xp professional acts just fine.

unless it's so cold that condensation moisture developes on your hardware.

back in the olden olden days, ram came in chips, some of which were plugged into sockets on the bottom of the motherboard. The metal expanded and contracted when the temperature changed, and the chips slowly worked loose, and having a ram chip fall out while it was running generally caused a crash. So if you're running xp on an 8086 class machine, check your case for loose ram chips.