Did my bass kill my computer?

[negativefx]

Holy hell! Didn't know so many TBers od'd on snake oil.

 

[fdeck]

Something I've noticed is that experiences with computers can vary from person to person. You can have two people using identical computers and software, in the same environment, doing similar jobs. One person will experience constant frustration, crashes, and roadblocks. The other will just glide along with no problems whatsoever. And software vendors sometimes just have to conclude with: "You must be doing something wrong."

It's hard to guess why one person has more problems than someone else with similar systems. My experience with Windows, from 3.1 on up, has been pretty positive. Installation problems were usually caused by me doing something dumb.

In my view, unless you've just arrived from another planet, you know which platform you like, before you ever buy your first PC. Choose the one that you like. If you've had a lot of problems with Windows, then don't get Windows.

As for the OP, the best explanation is that the PC was getting ready to cut loose anyway. Maybe there's a bad connection inside. If you're a science professor, then it's time to roll up your shirtsleeves.

 

[Forty-Thirty]

Thanks, everyone! Wow, this thread really blew up in the time that I was away...

This post will contain responses to several people. The computer is back up and running, so thankfully nothing seems to be fried. I'll have to go through some files to make sure, but all appears to be well. I am checking out the events viewer to see if it has any answers.

I am running Windows 8. (Edit: I meant to type 7, but my husband was talking and distracting me!)

From what you all are saying, either it was an unfortunate coincidence or there was enough vibration that, even though it doesn't seem to have actually knocked anything permanently loose, it made the computer unhappy. I would feel comfortable opening it up if it were a desktop, but it's my laptop, and I have never been inside one before. We've got a great IT department on campus, so if further problems arise, I'll see if they will give it a look.

AltGrendel, I will update my drivers--good suggestion.

I'm taking a deep breath and crossing all my digits... but I think just in case, I'll keep the amp a little further away next time.

 

[Duke Damn]

Interesting. The amp was about a foot away from the computer, and I was standing right in front of it while I was playing. It could have been just a fluke, but this computer has never done anything like it before in the years I have owned it.

My amp has been less than a metre from my computer tower and both monitors for the past four or five months at least, and I haven't had any blue screen of death crashes (or any crashes at all, for that matter) since I had my last computer 3-4 years ago. Considering you got the blue screen of death, i'd bet everything I own on it being your computer and nothing to do with the amp. There's many, many different computer-based issues it could have been, though I've never heard of an amp wrecking a computer. Just consider it bad timing, IMO.

Edit: Also, if it was some kind of vibration/electromagnetic issue, I very highly doubt that you would have even gotten the blue screen as opposed to a total freeze or simply shutting off instantly. Might just be time to run extensive virus scans or get a new computer altogether.

 

[BazzTard]

It NEVER hurts to put some space between electrical devices.

 

[GaryCorby]

A power surge will NEVER cause a BSOD, sorry.

Sure it can, though as I said right away, it would be very unusual. Consider if there's a brown out on the power while the system is paging. The CPU can still be running at marginal voltage while the hard drive becomes unable to respond on reduced power.

If in the middle of a page fault then the operation will time out and the kernel will have an unable to load page exception. If the retry also fails then the kernel declares a corrupt or missing pagefile, at which point if the required page belonged to a driver then it's blue screen city. It's very similar to what can happen with a faulty controller.

This sort of weirdness and other strange phenomena are often reported by people who overclock, normally because components that usually work in lockstep get out of synch. But do please feel free not to believe a word I've said.

 

[Inertialsky]

A few years ago I sat down to play at my computer (with headphones on) and as soon as I hit the first note we had a little California earthquake at the exact same time.

I had brief "did I cause that?" moment...

 

[Bassbubble11]

I'm gonna post this again because there seems to be no other actual answers to the OPs question.

"Powerful vibrations caused near the computer, such as those caused by a subwoofer (in this case a bass amp), may increase the risk of a head crash and of data corruption."

To me that is the only LOGICAL assumption.

Link Removed

Sorry couldn't resist thinking like spock.

 

[static0verdrive]

RIP Leonard Nimoy.

Disclaimer: I work in IT security. I'm a linux guy with a linux server and a couple of mac laptops. I've long hated Microsoft but Win 7 was fine (better than fine actually). I suspect Windows 9 (or is it going to be 10 now?) will be much better than 8 - closer to 7 in stability but 8 in UI. We'll see. I'm starting to get really P.O.'d with Apple and haven't been willing to go Yosemite. And completely off-topic: What's with every one of them and the "new" 2D no-gloss icons?? Looks like Web 2.0 crap from 2000, but I digress.


All that to say - in this case I would have suspected the magnet too. I'm glad a few of you spoke up because I would have gone on believing you need to keep your amp away from everything electronic. Otherwise the vibrations definitely make sense - the hard drive heads operate very closely to the spinning platter.


Anyway OP welcome to TalkBass and glad to hear you're back up and running! Back up your data often and keep that external drive or whatever away from your PC and amp

 

[JoeWPgh]

It could be power supply issues, if the amp was on the same circuit. Rare but I've experienced power issues causing BSODs. It could be vibration affecting the HDD, if it's a mechanical drive. I seriously doubt it's magnetism, unless the computer was somehow placed directly on the speaker's magnet. But my best guess is coincidence.

 

[Killer Of Giants]

Thanks, everyone! Wow, this thread really blew up in the time that I was away...

This post will contain responses to several people. The computer is back up and running, so thankfully nothing seems to be fried. I'll have to go through some files to make sure, but all appears to be well. I am checking out the events viewer to see if it has any answers.

I am running Windows 8. (Edit: I meant to type 7, but my husband was talking and distracting me!)

From what you all are saying, either it was an unfortunate coincidence or there was enough vibration that, even though it doesn't seem to have actually knocked anything permanently loose, it made the computer unhappy. I would feel comfortable opening it up if it were a desktop, but it's my laptop, and I have never been inside one before. We've got a great IT department on campus, so if further problems arise, I'll see if they will give it a look.

AltGrendel, I will update my drivers--good suggestion.

I'm taking a deep breath and crossing all my digits... but I think just in case, I'll keep the amp a little further away next time.

how big was the amp? I have a a fridge setup next to my pc and never had any issues

 

[CGremlin]

Windows tends to be a bit of a s**tshow with that stuff, at worst, due to their shared library model.

What specifically about Windows makes their shared libraries so bad? There's not a single operating system in common use that doesn't use them, and it's not particularly difficult to blue-screen a Windows box or cause a kernel panic on Unix-ish machines using only statically linked code.

 

[mmbongo]

Powerful vibrations caused near the computer, such as those caused by a subwoofer, may increase the risk of a head crash and of data corruption. Accordingly, such vibrations can be limited. One way to isolate low frequency vibrations is by supporting the speakers or the drive enclosure on spikes.

FINALLY somebody gave the right answer.

 

[ShredderMaximus]

Sounds like sorcery to me, I'd suggest a liberal application of fire.

 

[Killer Of Giants]

FINALLY somebody gave the right answer.

I also have a 250watt sub and speaker system for my pc right here no problems yet, been over a year

 

[tastybasslines]

I'm not sure what size your amp is or exactly how close it is, but my trusty little practice Ampeg has been next to my XBOX (also a computer) and my desktop (black box behind it) for 5 years without a problem ever. Same thing goes when I put one of my Aggie 12's there too. I play through the speaker and through my headphones. My computer speakers subwoofer is right behind the desktop too, so it is getting it from both sides.

 

[moles]

Computer speakers are generally shielded. Not to take away from your point, but...

 

[mmbongo]

I also have a 250watt sub and speaker system for my pc right here no problems yet, been over a year

Bass amps are a liiitle louder than PC speakers though

 

[ggunn]

Additionally, if Mac OS is so stable why isn't is supported on anything other than a Mac?

That is a question that answers itself.

 

[CGremlin]

But my best guess is coincidence.

This would be my guess as well. Computers are dealing with constant vibration from the fans so I don't think speaker vibration is a major factor, and even then a head crash doesn't usually blue-screen the machine. Most times a BSOD is from a poorly-written driver or memory problems, and I can count on one hand the number I've experienced (that I didn't directly cause myself while writing/testing a driver) in the last 10 years and still have fingers left over.