Can a computer "age"?

I've got an old computer I gave to my parents after I reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled Windows XP, put the drivers and standard software on it (no unessecary software, just Works and some extra drivers, my parents don't use a computer for much) but after I installed the stuff and defragged it and everything, the computer, being essentially the same as when I bought it except for some extra ram and a new video card, seemed slower than whenI first bought it. I notice this trend in alot of machines that I reformat and try to make factory fresh again, and it's got me thinking...

Do components of a computer age? Do sections of memory and maybe even portions of the processors just stop working over enough years of use? Maybe the hard drive just doesn't spin as fast as it had long ago?

I'm just trying to find out why I can't get a computer revitalized quite like it was new again.

 

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It's an old computer after all. If you are used to the latest-greatest hardware...then old hardware will seem much slower even if it has been "revitalized".

I reformatted an old AMD 2000+ Pally and it seemed "crawling" slow...that's only because my main computer is a quad-core heh.

 

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Yeah, it's like going from a higher resolution back to a lower one, it never looks the same as when you used to use it.

The hardware itself doesn't age. Some sectors of the hard drive might become corrupted but nothing that would cause the computer to run slower.

 

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Oh btw, a harddrive will definetly slow-down with age. If it's smart enabled, run some smart monitoring tools on it and see what it says. As the drive ages, the "error count" would most likely increment.

Capacitors on the motherboard may also blow out which may or may not cause issues.

 

Hardware components can be open to wear and tear. After all years of electricity flowing around a circuit board can generate many concerns (like polarisation), also the dust level that is cooked from heat can cause wear, along with the sources of heat themselves.

Harddrives can develop errors after time through use and RAM can also suffer block errors which can cause anything cached on the RAM to error (Notibly during installations)

Computers therefore aren't Ageless, they just age at a different rate and for different reason in regards to us organic counterparts.

 

Are you sure that all your RAM is still good? Sometimes one of the sticks will die, and you wouldn't know it unless you actually check the RAM via the control panel.

 

A couple of months after I bought a brand new Sony VAIO, the hard drive ate the dust. About 100% of the sectors on it wwere irreparably corrupted. Back up often (even easier if you have a home network and an extra computer).

Also, you'd be surprised at how much dust is under the hood. Even if you have a laptop.

 

The mechanical sections of a computer (Hard Drive, CD/DVD Drives, cooling fans etc) age just like any other component. Hard drives generally have a lifetime of 5 years at 7200 rpm, but this varies with rpm - the higher it is, the shorter the lifespan.

 

Heating and cooling cycles can also loosen soldier joints.

 

Some of you people are absolutely amazing! Aside from things like sectors going bad on a drive, a computer doesn't slow down from age. The type of things listed - blown capacitors, loose solder joints, heat, etc. will cause a system to FAIL or at the very least error out.

Hardware is hardware. Except for occasional failures (crashes) causes by things like heat, loose connections, etc. it either works or DOESN'T work at all. It doesn't just simply slow down. Aarg!

There's several bits of urban legend being generated in this thread - be very ashamed!

 

i disagree.
a power supply can gradually reduce it's power output over time.
in effect it ages.
a CD drive can develop intermittents. in effect it ages.
a computer can pick up viruses. viruses can slow down computers. in effect the computer shows signs of aging.

a 286 is an older processor than a 486. you can argue that the 286 has aged.

lets not forget the turing test. computer intelligence has progressed to the point where a test is needed to ascertain whether one was dealing with a machine. are computers really intelligent? they are as dumb as a box of rocks, but they can seem super intelligent.

 

Those really aren't good examples, Leo. In fact there aren't any good examples of "aging" actually slowing down a system with the SOLE exception of hard drive loosing sectors to the point that it takes longer to get data from it. Low power won't do it - it will either be enough power to work or not enough power - in which case it either won't run or will crash. But NOT slow down. Intermittents on a drive will also cause a failure. A virus could never be consider an effect of aging - just a sloppy user. The 286 hasn't aged at all - it's still just as fast as it ever was - it hasn't slowed down one bit.

 

neither is a machine "intelligent". so why the turing test?
edit:
turing test, is a proposal for a test of a machine's capability to demonstrate thought.
By extrapolating an exponential growth of technology over several decades, futurist Ray Kurzweil predicted that Turing-test-capable computers would be manufactured around the year 2020, As of 2007, no computer has passed the Turing test as such. Simple conversational programs such as ELIZA have fooled people into believing they are talking to another human being, such as in an informal experiment termed AOLiza.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_test
end edit.

the fact of the matter is computers can indeed show signs of aging just like they can show signs of intelligence but we both know a computer isn't intelligent at all. computers have also evolved. in fact computers have shown quite a few traits of being alive. about the only traits they lack is ones of reproduction and self awareness.

 

Yes, we both know about the Turing test, Leo, but that has nothing to do with the topic at hand - aging. Unlike a purely mechanical device - an automobile, say, it cannot exhibit any slowdowns due to aging. It's primarily an electronic device (except the mechanical drives) and either works or doesn't. It - the computer itself - neither slows down or speeds up (performing the same application).

 

i bring up the turing test because of inference.
a person that knows how a computer derives its intelligence would argue a computer is not intelligent.
just like a person would argue a computer wouldn't show signs of aging.

i cannot argue this point because i am not familiar with the aging curve of solid state devices, but, a computer can exhibit slow downs as a direct result of the length of time they are in service, just like a human. this, by definition, is aging. it's also the reason i bring up the turing test, because people have a problem with calling a computer "intelligent"

 

Actually some peripherals can fail due to low power, but the main system will start up. It's mainly due to how the different voltage limits are split between the peripherals and the Motherboard.

Changes in the power output can cause problems in regards to Memory sticks along with hard-drives. The only time the system completely fails is if there is a break in the overall architecture. (Basing this on a simple Von Neumann architecture)

What computers tend to do with age however is develop these small intermittent faults that we as humans characterise as "individual traits", as if the machine itself has taken on a personal identity and works when it feels like. Before long people are praying to them or other things to get it to work, or just threatening it with turning it into a desktop calculator should it yield a start-up unbecoming of a machine in servitude.

Even in physics you could suggest that the molecular structures will eventually have bonds break over time, especially if certain conditions (like electrical charge, chemical reactions like the CMOS battery leaking or bacteria breaking plastics down on a landfill site.) are met. However it's a really pedantic understanding to have.

The humble computer obviously however doesn't age at a rate similar to ourselves, but then again it's not built organically or to synthesis organic compounds. It's built to follow specific rules within specific boundaries and deal with complex mathematical tasks with it's main occurrence of erroring down to human input.

 

Is it possible for a hard drive to spin slower over time due to the bearings wearing down juuuust a tad over many years of use? And if so, would that make a hard drive read and write slower, or just not work at all?

 

From what I know, hard-drives usually have the bearings (which are usually stainless steel) sealed (sometimes with lubricant, which is why you might spot a small lubricant hole on the hard-drive casing). They are therefore hard wearing. The main thing that could possibly slow a hard-drive down is dust, however the more recent hard-drives are sealed units so dust doesn't get in easily.

The main wear and tear on a hard-drive is from knocks and bangs, they can alter the alignment of the heads and even the cylinders creating a hard-drive that can't be used. (The only way to retrieve the information then is either if you are skilled at adhoc repair work or it's sent back to the manufacturer for a fee)

 

Actually, the biggest problems with hard drives is the wear and tear on the head positioning mechanism. Once it finally develops a little wear, it begins to loose the ability to position as precisely as it needs to over the full range.

and the sealed drive is hardly recent. Every one on the market has been hermetically sealed for over 20 years.

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I'm sure I have one out of a 386 that isn't quite sealed, takes up the entire drive bay and some.

Mind you I've been dealing with peoples "hand me downs" for a number of years, obviously we aren't getting any younger.