Author Topic: Let's fix my computer (and maybe have a bit of fun doing so) (Read 15594 times)

iomkiwi · « **on:** May 04, 2012, 09:08:28 PM »

Those of you on Google Plus may remember me saying a while ago I was having trouble with my old PC, it was locking up and/or giving out bad static noise - usually when I actuallly ask it to actually start usinfg it resources a bit more.
I thought I would start documenting the times when it plays up so we can find the problem and maybe fix it witout spending any money (I'm still paying for the weather PC)
The PC is not essential to me, I have the wx pc (that I am typing on now) that is more than capable of handling the work of the station plus surfing, I also have an old laptop I could use.
The PC is a Dell with dual core running XP prof with 3GB ram about 5 years old.

Today 4/5/12 it restarted itself while looking at a thread that had this gif

it would have been runnning a couple of times in the thread (in the original post and in a reply)
Also in the thread is this you tube video

and it was while watching this video that it restarted.
I went back to the thread after the pc restarted and while watching the video the pc just locked up (everything unresponsive but picture still on screen) I have to hold power button down to shut down when this happens and restart. I then went back to the thread to watch video and the pc restarted itself again - so I got on the wx pc to type this

I suspect it is something to do with the graphics card.

gabba · « **Reply #1 on:** May 04, 2012, 09:52:26 PM »

Nice gif!

CPU - is it a combined CPU / GPU?
Memory - amount and type?
OS?

Dunno - Jenny is better at these things than me, but I like guessing games

JennyLeez · « **Reply #2 on:** May 04, 2012, 10:00:07 PM »

Its a dell I rest my case!!!!

iomkiwi · « **Reply #3 on:** May 04, 2012, 10:08:15 PM »

Quote

CPU - is it a combined CPU / GPU?
Memory - amount and type?
OS?

graphics card is seperate
memory 3GB (as I mentioned in OP)

OS - Xp Prof ( " " " " " )

Jenny - that doesn't help even if you are having fun saying that

(you could have said something constructive like 'replace it with an HP')

JennyLeez · « **Reply #4 on:** May 04, 2012, 10:38:11 PM »

HP!!!!!
and you know the answer to that

Ok u want constructive.
Whats the MOB?
Whats the size of the PSU?
What is the motor ( CPU )
What is the size of the Graphics? Sounds like its integrated - yes?
If so see if MOB will take an AGP card. Then buy from work.
hahahaha just let us know what the MOB is and I will look it up. You should have the MOB manual that came with it to get details off.

Then there is the cleaning. Install ccleaner. Its free on net:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner
Also run Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk clean.
Then check Hard Dive:
My Computer - right click on c drive and select properties - Select Tools Tab - click on Check now - tick both boxes - click start - ok ok and reboot. Go and make coffee at this point as it will take a while.
Once back - Then defrag her.

Hows that for constructive.

OhauitiWeather · « **Reply #5 on:** May 04, 2012, 11:04:47 PM »

I am with jenny on this, it's a Dell and that does not help any. HP is not much better either! However . . .

Somewhere on the system case, usually on the back or the bottom there should be a sticker with a Dell ID tag number, if you can tell me what that number is then I can access the full system spec for your computer from the Dell Website, that might help here.

From your original post there seems to be two issues here and they may be related:
1. The computer has been generating "excessive noise", I presume electrical, for some time.
2. It has started rebooting itself at random. This might be a Windows error issue or it might be a mainboard Bulging Capacitors issue (See Below).

Both issues occur when the system is under load, the "noise" is more noticeable. I presume that it is stable if just sitting at the Windows desktop and not actually doing anything?

Windows issue:
Do you know how to set Windows XP to not restart the system on error so the "Blue Screen of Death" error message remains on the screen? The F8 thing at startup? If so restart the system by using F8 & selecting the Windows option to not restart on error. then select the Start Windows normally option, do not restart or reboot again. Let windows start and then try playing the same items in the same order as outlined in your original post. if the system restarts at random is should stop at the "Blue screen of Death", document the details especially the name of the error (usually in caps) towards the top of the screen and the "Stop" numbers at the bottom, plus anything else that looks specific. If you post that info I can look up the details and work out a solution.

Hardware Issues:
There could be a number of things causing this, the most likely causes are:
* A faulty or failing Power supply.
* A graphics card problem
* A mainboard problem
* A noisy (Electrically) hard drive Motor

I would try the following:
1. Replace the Power supply and see if that solves the problem. it might just solve both issues as it might not be supplyng the correct voltage to the Mainboard in the computer.
2. If the mainboard has built in graphics I would remove the add in graphics card and try it using the built in Graphics. If no onboard graphics I would try a different graphics card.
3. Check the capacitors on the Computers Mainboard to see if they are bulging either on the tops or the sides. If so basically you need a new Mainboard or a new computer but I could do a rebuild using as much as possible from the Dell like CD/DVD. HDD, Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor etc depending on their repective age and condition.

4. Try running the computer with a different Hard Drive, this will only to check for noise not the rebooting issue.

See if any of this helps, let me know how you get on.

PS. I presume that you have a good Antivirus & malware programme installed, it is up to date and you have runa a full scan recently?

gabba · « **Reply #6 on:** May 04, 2012, 11:07:40 PM »

CPU - is it a combined CPU / GPU?
Memory - amount and type?
OS?
graphics card is seperate
memory 3GB (as I mentioned in OP)

OS - Xp Prof ( " " " " " )

[/quote]

Sorry - was too mesmerised by the pic. Paris is getting fidgety!

gabba · « **Reply #7 on:** May 04, 2012, 11:13:30 PM »

I'm still in guessing game mode - antivirus? What do you use and when did you last do a scan. Yes I know it's a longshot, but just exploring options

intrepid · « **Reply #8 on:** May 05, 2012, 06:02:01 AM »

Here's another angle for you.

Can you tell us what it is running in terms of programs? How about a list of its startup programs?

There's a number ways of seeing what's starting up but its likely that its trying to start two things of the same type or there's a program that should have been deleted and hasn't. Babs had two or three Epson status monitors running when one was required.

ato2 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 05, 2012, 06:58:09 AM »

Yes, I would go along with this angle as well: I always try for a software solution first...be interesting to see a list of what is running at start up and also what services are running at idle and a list of what programs are installed.

Weather Display · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2012, 09:57:35 AM »

it could even be a crack on the solder on motherboard?
love that cat jumping...how high?

iomkiwi · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2012, 08:03:00 PM »

Not sure if I'm having fun

For those not on Google + this is the same PC that fried a hard drive in about October last year, so it had a replacement drive and full system recovery then, and has had ccleaner run thru it a few times since. Antivirus (Avast Professional) is up to date.

I went to Dell's site today and found they had a diagnostic tool there so thought I would run it. Went to run and it only works on IE7 or greater so I had to update (I use FF) after the upgrade it told me I had to go to windows update to update the update. After applying all updates I now have a monitor in stunning 640x480 resolution and glorious 4 bit colour!

While on the Dell site I did find that the PC may only be recognising 2 of the 3 GB it has installed.

Has been a busy 24 hours, the pc started shutting down every 10 minutes or so about 10pm yesterday - The Fourth was definitly not with it on Star Wars Day, went to a friends place this morning to sort out their new PC - a wireless printer that kept demanding a cable. Then this morning also Mum's PC wouldn't start (guess that is Revenge of the Fifth) was coming up with 'unmountable_boot_error'. Ran a chkdsk on that and it seems to have kept it alive for now, but it is a Dell the same age as my one - albeit with a lot less use.

Will let you know what comes out of the dell diagnostic, and whether I get back to a decent resolution on this 22" monitor

JennyLeez · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2012, 08:11:08 PM »

What happens when you try and change the resolution in Display properties?

iomkiwi · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2012, 08:15:08 PM »

there is no other option

iomkiwi · « **Reply #14 on:** May 05, 2012, 09:00:01 PM »

I went to the nvidea site and got the right drivers so resolution is back to what it should be

Doing the diagnostic check again, so far the only thing that has failed is the external hard drive, says it is in a state of immenent failure - not surprised as that is the one that used to be inside the pc

iomkiwi · « **Reply #15 on:** May 05, 2012, 09:48:17 PM »

It passed all tests except that external hard drive.

according to the Dell site it does look like it is only recognising 2GB of the 3GB Ram it originally came with.

But the system properties still say it has 3GB Ram

iomkiwi · « **Reply #16 on:** May 05, 2012, 10:24:05 PM »

So after all that I went to watch a youtube video and it crashed again

Here are the specs, hope everything asked for is there

General InformationService tag 971LR1S

Express Service Code 20016998704

Computer Model Inspiron 530

BIOS Vendor Dell Inc.

BIOS Version 1.0.18

BIOS Date 02-24-09

Window Version Microsoft Windows XP Professional

ProcessorManufacture Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4400 @ 2.00GHz
Clock Speed 2.0GHz
L2 Cahce Size 2048

MemoryAvailable Memory 73.65%
Page File Size 18014398509480961.0MB
Available Page File -414.27%
Virtual Memory 2047.0MB
Available Virtual Memory 97.99%
Memory Slot1 [DIMM_A] 0MB
Memory Slot2 [DIMM_B] 0MB

Network CardAdaptor Intel(R) 82562V-2 10/100 Network Connection - Packet
Scheduler Miniport

StorageDrive Type Driver Size Total Available Space Used Space
C:NTFS465.76Gb361.69Gb104.07Gb

Weather Display · « **Reply #17 on:** May 06, 2012, 08:52:50 AM »

maybe try removing a memory chip, or replacing one, or even running a memory test?
it could also be a video driver dll that is the problem?

Deano · « **Reply #18 on:** May 06, 2012, 02:21:47 PM »

Sounds like the drive all right. If the swap file gets corrupted, I've seen pc's reboot with no error log.

intrepid · « **Reply #19 on:** May 06, 2012, 03:08:51 PM »

Your page file size looks a bit big!! Is that right?

I second the idea of pulling out the RAM and reinstalling it.

If you have CC cleaner, run that and clean out the Windows Log files. Once they get big, it can slow the PC down...

News:

Author Topic: Let's fix my computer (and maybe have a bit of fun doing so) (Read 15594 times)