Computer Died – What Happened?

By Martin Jansen, Owner of Jansen-PCINFO

My main computer is a Dell Optiplex 7010 i5-3550 Mini-Tower with 12GB RAM and a 240GB SSD.  It’s an old computer that runs Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.1 beautifully.  I can count on one hand the number of times this computer has locked up – this despite numerous updates and upgrades of the OS.

So imagine my consternation when I was multitasking on the computer when it suddenly died.  I couldn’t turn the computer back on.  Remember that this computer is also my Plex server and does have an LG M-DISC for ripping DVD movies.  In fact, I was ready to rip another movie when it died.

This computer also contains additional storage in the form of a 640GB WD Black 3.5” Hard Drive (for movies, music and TV) and a recently added 512GB SP NVMe on a PCIe adapter card.  The 7010 also has plenty of USB 3.0 ports for additional storage in the form of USB backup drives and a 7 port expansion hub for desktop connections.

Needless to say the computer is fully loaded taking just about every possible connection available.  Maybe too many connections?

So, faithful reader, what do you think happened to my lovely computer?