A malfunction within the electronic circuits or electromechanical components (disks, tapes) of a computer system. Recovery from a hardware failure requires repair or replacement of the offending part. Contrast with software failure.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- For The First Time in Ages, I Agree With Apple
- Is this how you work? Then don't get angry at your OEM when they invalidate your warranty when you send your PC in for service. Yesterday our own Apple Core blogger Jason O'Grady reported that Apple has now adopted a policy of voiding...
- Blog posts 2009-11-24
- Chrome OS: Some Early Preview Videos
- google should move away from linuxI suppose they could easily take away all those messes of the current os by doing that. Haha! Crummy-um "Chromium OS and Open Source" video-- the guy is calling it Crummy-um! Sounds about right.RE: Chrome OS: Some Early Preview VideosAnd ZDNet falls hook, line,...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-19
- FAA hit with network glitch; Flight plans go manual
- Another glitch with a linux network? Its hard to believe people still use it for anything critical like the FAA and flight tracking. Its a toy OS and should not be used when the lives of people are dependent upon it.Cisco supplies the network backboneIt will be interesting to see...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-19
- Netbook/notebook reliability study shows that technology breaks ...
- Cheaply made partsWell, look at the parts they all are stampedwith 'Made in CHINA'...Quantity over Quality.People are now geared towards a Wal_Mart mentality they do not want to pay for quality and they do NOT care where it is made.Therefore, you will see a lower standard of living because the...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-18
- Apple's "force fed ads" patent more likely related to content, not hardware
- Perhaps neitherHopefully you are right and they'll use this process to allow customers to earn free content. Unfortunatley I see this as being a way for Apple to increase its warchest by forcing its followers to view ads. Perhaps it'll be a blend - view enough ads to put $10...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-17
- Is it OK to use OEM Windows on your own PC? Don't ask Microsoft
- RE: Is it OK to use OEM Windows on your own PC? Don't ask MicrosoftI built my current desktop in July and purchased/installed an OEM version of Vista Home Premium. I also took advantage of Microsoft's free upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium which I installed on the same PC....
- Discussion threads 2009-11-15
- Microsoft opens up Windows 7 to advertisers via downloadable themes
- Windows for freeI think a lot of consumers and businesses also would not object to their desktop being used as an advertising space by Microsoft if this would let them use Windows at no charge. I believe Google is going in the same direction with their ChromeOS.Its an operating system!!Windows...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-13
- Partition Wizard Server Edition 4.2 (Windows)
- Partition Wizard Server Edition is a Windows based partition manager. It supports both MBR and GUID partition table format running on 32/64 bits Operating System including Windows XP, Vista, Windows Server 2000/2003/2008 and latest Windows 7. It manages Windows server quickly and safely. When you use "Move/Resize Partition" function, the...
- Software downloads 2009-11-12
- Garmin plots Android phone
- Why does everyone think they can make a good phone?!Granted Apple made it look easy with the iPhone, but look at Motorola. The Droid appears to have broken their streak of clunkers, but even a company with a long-history of successes in the market can struggle to turn out a...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-11
- Seven great (and free!) applications for Windows 7
- You added Windows 7 to the title for page hits...Any tech enthusiast worth their salt has long known about all these apps. Nah ... ... for page hits I'd have added XP ... bigger user base ... User base yes but Windows 7is what everyone is interested in reading...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-10
- BurnInTest Standard 6.0 build 1016 (Windows)
- Society's reliance on computers means that the cost of hardware failure can be enormous. BurnInTest can thoroughly exercises PC hardware in the shortest period of time so intermittent or hidden problems are found before they turn into a disaster. BurnInTest is an easy-to-use software tool that simultaneously exercises all of...
- Software downloads 2009-11-10
- Argus Monitor 1.1.14 (Windows)
- Argus Monitor is a software for monitoring temperatures and status of several system components, e.g. CPU temperature, GPU temperature and HDD temperature. All temperatures are displayed graphically. Additionally, the status of the hard disk drive will be monitored by constantly checking the so called critical SMART attributes. If one attribute...
- Software downloads 2009-11-09
- The real pros and cons of server virtualization
- PC style virtualization, derived from IBM's zVM ideas and now supported in both AMD and Intel hardware, is a revenant of data processing's failure to adapt to the age of digital computing - an expensive, user punishing, detour into 1920s management ideas in pursuit of that period's holy grail: 100%...
- Blog posts 2009-11-07
- 18 truths: The long fail of complexity
- Agree *****One of the best distillations of what 'risk' actually is, and why complexity exponentially increases it, I have read.But more to the point takes a realistic, rather than optimistic or pessimistic, view of how to asses it. And correctly acknowledges the 'human' factors involved in both cause, and...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-06
- Droid Preview: iPhone's first real competition has arrived
- The MicroSD card is not only expandableIt is hot-swappable. So basically your storage is only limited to how many cards you can afford.Competition is GREAT!I am glad Android is taking off, the future is Linux driven devices/appliances.To the naysayers that Linux distro devices/appliances are a 'niche' I guess Google is...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-05
- Headline 2010: e-Reader device failure
- The market knows best, right? Markets are bloody paths to progress. At this writing there are approximately 52 e-reader devices coming to market in the next 12 months. Fifty-two different devices coming to market (Here's what I wrote about Steve Jobs' approach to reader devices when there were just 45...
- Blog posts 2009-11-02
- Maingear unleashes Shift desktop, child-sized 'personal supercomputer' for $2,199 (or $13,394)
- Without demonstrated Linux or OSX support......what's the point? Who does video stuff on Windows?Plenty do.....You just don't get out much. My XP system with cakewalk software did me just fine and that was on a P4 system that couldn't keep itself cool, ever. But my audio quality...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-02
- Friday Challenge: What can your OS do that mine can't?
- My OS can break 5% global desktop market share!Sorry Mac and Linux! :PBetter/Larger Hardware/Software SelectionMy operating system Windows has a better and larger library of available applications, and a larger ecosystem of supported hardware.Why do you insist in behaving as an idiot?Hope what they're paying you is enough to compensate...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-30
- My Top Scary Technology Trends
- The Most Terrifying:Google.Kills good companies by handing out "freebies". VERY scary.Machines replacing humansI thought they were tools to enhance our experience on earth.The worst is when customer is an AI telephone. "I'm sorry, could you repeat your last phrase. I did not understand". I thought the buttons were bad enough.RE:...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-29
- Five reasons to deliver a virtual service, not a virtual server
- What began as an interesting technological experiment has now become an opportunity for IT to shape its future, says Fortisphere's Lilac Berniker Commentary - As virtualization becomes an increasingly commonplace technology in the datacenter, the breadth of stakeholders in the virtual environment is growing. ...
- News items 2009-10-29
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