Transporting a PC tower

[Rocky]

Something just ocurred to me. Won't the constant bumping of a PC console while transporting it on say, a plane or even over land (even with a 'fragile' sticker on) damage delicate components such as the hard drive? Are they that delicate??

What's the best way to trasport PCs over long distances?

[mjc]

Well according to most manufacturers, in the box it came in. But that doesn't help too much if it was a self built system.

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/highrise/11/index.htm)

[jinn]

The biggest problem is the hard drive. If it's not running, it can take a little more abuse than if it were running. Cards coming loose is another problem. I bet UPS has dropped more than a few and most come out ok. Pack it as tight as possible and hope for the best http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Rocky]

Well, I guess I'll just have to do that. It is in fact a self-built system.

Thanks

[This message has been edited by Rocky (edited 05-02-2001).]

[tjaymadison]

To be extra safe, you could take the HD out and put in in your suitcase/carry-on luggage, or pack it extra carefully and ship it separately. Same with the CPU. A pretty easy precaution. BTW, other than hand cancelling at the Post Office, neither they nor UPS have any special procedures for handling packages marked 'fragile'. Those big red stickers are largely decoration as far as they are concerned, and occasionally an invitation to mischief. Worked in a UPS warehouse one summer. A common refrain was -- "Fragile? Hey, Joe! This one's marked 'Fragile'. Catch! Oops, Sorry!" (Not that I ever participated.) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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"When I nod my head, hit it with the hammer."
-- (Moe, holding nail, to Curly, holding hammer)

[Randy_tx]

BUBBLE WRAP http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Will XP save Me ?

[Rocky]

Great idea! (both the bubble wrap and taking out the hard drive)!
Btw, if UPS and the postal service are that bad, I guess airlines are even worse!

[joelo]

One other thing to consider is recording all your BIOS settings in case the CMOS battery gets jarred loose and your BIOS resets to default settings (I'm speaking from experience). In my case, I didn't realize this until I had spent hours trying to troubleshoot a random reboot problem after I had moved. Finally I figured out that The CAS latency setting had defaulted to 1, when my RAM needed a setting of 2 for the machine to run stable. Just something to be aware of. I was almost off to buy a new vid card (which I initally thought was the culprit), when I finally figured out my BIOS had been reset after the battery had re-seated itself.

[hiredgoonz]

It depends alot on the system...mine got dropped so hard (by the movers) it cracked the bezel on the front of the case and knocked the floppy drive bracket loose, but the computer still works, 2 yrs later (shouldn't have said that though, probably break tomorrow)

Some of the hs/fan combos on Athlon systems are so heavy that they can break off the mobo and then you can imagine what a big, heavy heatsink rattling around in the case for awhile can do, not pretty from what I've heard...

Really old systems actually had a "park" command to prevent the hard disk from bumping against the read/write head and being damaged, but on newer computers it shouldn't be too much of a worry...

[AwARe]

hmmmm well if youre moving id suggest not only removing the HDD but also the cd player (the lazor is a bit fragile) and the cpu etc.....ship the case with the mother board in it and not much else wrapped in a box..........if you are taking any other clothing etc for example well if it were me id get some anti static bags take all the cards out the cd rom hdd etc and put the cards and the cpu in the bags and inside a box with clothes...........in the center of all the clothes........this should give them lots of cusion..........i say all this because I have persoanlly had problems just simply moving a comp in a car on an hr or 2 drive in the backseat.........ya with me? hehe
Good Luck!

[KMEZA40]

Wow maybe that is my problem my computer will not read the a drive or the c drive and I cannot Access the CMOS and no command works in the DOS mode. My son and I shared the computer and we would transport it often back and forth. I will go home and check all that out. I hope that is it. I really miss my pc