Preventative Maintenance

As with all computers, the major contributors to computer death are:

	Heat
	Electronic Static Discharge (ESD)
	Clumsy operator, or user damage.

Heat Damage
  Most chips are susceptible to heat damage.  For example, first generation
pentium computers could not be faster then 90 mhz, because they would
overheat and die.  For a lot of computers, the manufacturer may have relied
on: 
natural heat dissipation
a power supply fan
a heatsink, without a fan.   
a heatsink with a fan


ESD
  Whenever you opening your case to add a card or do any work, ground 
yourself.  The best way is with an ESD workstation or ESD wriststap connected
to your work.  If nothing else is available, at least grab firmly any metal 
in the case


Analog
  All computers contain their analog/mechanical parts, most often failures
occur because of a failure of these parts, causing intermittent problems.
The most important thing for analog preventative maintenance, is to remember
 computers like to be kept clean and dry.  Your computer can certainly use an 
occasional cleaning and a once over to ensure it is kept at it's best.

Digital
  The heart and soul of your computer, "the electron, the bit...", harder to 
diagnose, but at most times the hardest to fix.  Often damage to a digital part
occurs well after you've repaired analog problems.  If you're lucky, you've
aquired spare parts of the major boards and are simply swapping out.  If not
then you have the challenge of finding parts, or paying a high level techie
to search the board with a voltmeter and logic probe.