R.I.P. thank god

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Lemmi
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R.I.P. thank god

Post by Lemmi » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:57 pm

well my computer died again so i said thats enough, im done and im tired of looking at this crappy case

it might be another motherboard problem again (2 MB's in 5 months), but i didnt want to pay to have it checked out so i bought a barebones system for $100, having someone look at it would cost $65 minimum, then the part i would need would have made it go over $150
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so i gutted my 2 hard drives, my floppy, my RAM, and my CDR burner and put it into this one
the only thing i hate about this is installing Windows XP, i miss the easy days of win98, i also changed my surge protector also incase that was failing and causing the failures
AMD sempron +2800, 1.6ghz with 448 ram because im using the onboard video
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the old computer would turn on for 4 seconds then just before the beep to load, it would shut off, i couldnt get into bios or anything, i first thought it was a power supply problem and i borrowed a friends extra and tested it and when i hit the power button it would now stay on but it would now make a high beep sound every 3 seconds and i still couldnt do anything because my monitor wouldnt even come on at all

i had just defragged my HD the night before it died to, and this is what a year and a half old 80 gig HD looks like when its never been defragged :D

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pitsunami
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Post by pitsunami » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:20 pm

Have you tried changing the ram?also you should get a voltage regulator not just a power surge.

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Devin
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Post by Devin » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:20 pm

Terrible! :roll:

Just sorted out a relatives PC, should've seen the mess! About an inch of dust over every component, never defragged as well just like yours. Did the works, Defragged, Registry Cleanup, Virus Checked and removed the dust, works just like it did brand new now.

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Lemmi
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Post by Lemmi » Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:31 am

pitsunami wrote:Have you tried changing the ram?also you should get a voltage regulator not just a power surge.
thanks i will try that out also
the ram is still good i had them check it out before putting it into the barebones system i bought, i took it with me so i wouldnt get a system that didnt support it

i only had the CDR in the top bay and the cords were all in the bottom 2 bays, i had the 2 HD's in the bottom area near the top
and for the dust, i blew out the computer with canned air about once every 2 weeks also, the old computer had so many places for air to get in, i was shocked. i also kept my registry clean and no viruses, or spyware, last time i had a virus i just bought a new HD and formatted the old one as a back up :D

my first computer which is still running doesnt even look that bad and i only cleaned it out maybe 10 times in the 3 years i used it, but now my step dad uses it for his trucking company for making maps and stuff, he used to do taxes on it but the new turbotax doesnt support win 98 anymore
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Post by Dryden » Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:10 pm

Lemmi wrote:my first computer which is still running doesnt even look that bad and i only cleaned it out maybe 10 times in the 3 years i used it, but now my step dad uses it for his trucking company for making maps and stuff, he used to do taxes on it but the new turbotax doesnt support win 98 anymore
Sounds like you've been very good at cleaning out the PC. You've provided a great jumping off point to a quick PC care lesson. People need to take cleaning/cooling more seriously, especially with the newer Pentium 4 processors and similar generation CPUs. The operating thresholds (and the heat generated by these 3+ Ghz processors) blows away what we've been doing for the past 10 years with everything from the 386 to the Pentium 3. Pentium 4s are totally different beasts, but unfortunately, even the most expert of PC hobbyists go about their business as usual not realizing they could be destroying their PC, because they've never developed a habit of routinely cleaning it.

Pentium 4 processors have built-in overheat protection, which includes throttling to consume less power and to reduce heat, as well as auto power off if the temperature exceeds a critical safe level. Older processors generally have nothing like these technologies.

The end effect, though, is that an older computer could (and they usually did) seemingly run fine for years and years without a single cleaning, where a Pentium 4 PC, on the other hand, will really get flaky with even a slight buildup of dust and debris inside. A major contributor to the problem with the P4 is that most modern cases include extra fans that pull air across the heatsink/fan, and therefore loose dust and hair too, and also the Intel design heatsink traps dust quite easily.

P4s run very close to their high-temp threshold already, right out of the box, so there is less margin for error. A CPU running at 40C might be fine, if it gets up to 50C it'll only run at 50% capacity though. At 65-70C the PC will shut itself off completely. You'd be amazed at how little dust inside the case is required to raise the temperature by 10-20%.

I've experienced first hand what dust, hair (especially pet hair/dander), can do to P4s. I've cleaned more than my fair share. The performance loss is astounding when the heatsink starts getting dirty, and the worst part of it is that Windows XP has no dialog to pass the CPU throttling/error messages back to the user, so people go about their merry way with a PC running at 50% speed or even less -- completely oblivious to the fact that their processor is melting it's millions of transistors away. Linux, on the other hand, does actually pass these throttle messages to the console.
:wink:

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Lemmi
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Post by Lemmi » Wed Mar 28, 2007 6:43 pm

my problem was i really dont shut down my computer for any extended period of time, i will reboot so things will run faster if i see that programs are running slow

since i dont watch TV much i do all my TV watching on the computer and i listen to mp3s and Stern

my old computers first MB was pretty much on 24/7 for 3 years before stuff started to explode on it, and it went though one power supply

but i am going to shut this one down alot more now, to cool off

i want to fix up the other one so i can give it to my stepdad and get my original computer back so i can make it a mame machine, and a back up for online and emails only

oh and i found out what might be causing dirty electricity and spikes, its my washine machine (which isnt on the same circuit as my computer but it makes the monitor flicker when it kicks in)
this house is almost 60 years old with original wiring, but it has a pretty new fuse box, i also noticed that 80% of this house is on circuit breaker #8 which i will have to fix this summer, and nothing is hooked up to switch #4 and that just baffels me
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BryWI
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Post by BryWI » Wed Mar 28, 2007 7:18 pm

My computer has run 24/7 with no power saving for years now. That shouldnt be the reason its happening. I would put your money on the electricity thing though unless you are using a surge protector. If you are using a backup power supply, it will really not be the reason though.

also, actually i think the everyday shutdown and power up would wear the hardrive out faster too. It's all about the cooling that will keep the computer going longer.

We have computers at work that have been on for 7 years and i know nobody dusts them out. Somehow they are still running. lol

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Lemmi
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Post by Lemmi » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:20 pm

brywi your probably right, will a 2nd fan help much?
i have a spot for a 2nd fan on the left side of my case, but im not sure if i have anywhere to plug it into
my old power supply had 5 million cords comming out of it, this one only has a couple

i have the cpu fan and one a small one in the back right now

and does anyone know of a cheap but good voltalge regulator that they can recommend? im not sure what to get, it will only have the computer, monitor and maybe 1 other thing on it
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pitsunami
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Post by pitsunami » Wed Mar 28, 2007 8:49 pm

Lemmi wrote: but im not sure if i have anywhere to plug it into
my old power supply had 5 million cords comming out of it, this one only has a couple
you can easily use a splitter for this
Lemmi wrote:and does anyone know of a cheap but good voltalge regulator that they can recommend? im not sure what to get, it will only have the computer, monitor and maybe 1 other thing on it

a 500va voltage regulator is perfect.in my shop i sell them for about 20euro so i think it worths it.

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Post by BryWI » Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:53 am

anywhere you can mount a fan... they always help. on mine I have one on the front that takes in air, and one in the back that spits it back out. A nice air flow there. also i believe my power supply has 2 fans, which i had to cut out the original ones and wire in some better fans because the old ones died. It was much cheaper than buying a new power supply which probably would of came with crappy fans again.

also the fan on my vid card died. it was dying but i just kept oiling the fan. Then i broke a wire on the fan and there was no feasible way of fixing it. so i thought i was going to be putting the 3rd vid card into this thing (i have bad luck with vid cards). I went to my parts bin but couldnt find a fan to replace it. So i bent out the prongs on the heat sink a little and used twisty ties to put a really nice fan from an old pny card that crapped out. lol. I have a ghetto pc.

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Post by triffid_98 » Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:40 am

I'm not convinced those tiny fans do much of anything, though on higher end cards they at least offer a decent heatsink. If you want a quiet and cool PC, 120mm case fans are where it's at. Even running at low rpm they'll move a ton of air.

Most cases don't support them but they're relatively easy to install if you own a dremel tool. Just trace out a CD, coincidentally round and 120mm, where you want the fan to go, grab some cutoff discs, drill a few holes for the hold-down screws, and you're good to go.

While you're at it, cut out any sheet metal grills and replace them with wire ones and run a little silicone around the edges to dampen out any vibrations.

I did all of this (to a crappy $50 server case) back in 2000 and it's still serving me well today. Oh, and don't oil your fans. PC fans use sealed bearings/telfon, oil will do nothing but attract dust and conduct electricity.

Cheers,
-Dave
BryWI wrote:anywhere you can mount a fan... they always help. on mine I have one on the front that takes in air, and one in the back that spits it back out. A nice air flow there. also i believe my power supply has 2 fans, which i had to cut out the original ones and wire in some better fans because the old ones died. It was much cheaper than buying a new power supply which probably would of came with crappy fans again.

also the fan on my vid card died. it was dying but i just kept oiling the fan. Then i broke a wire on the fan and there was no feasible way of fixing it. so i thought i was going to be putting the 3rd vid card into this thing (i have bad luck with vid cards). I went to my parts bin but couldnt find a fan to replace it. So i bent out the prongs on the heat sink a little and used twisty ties to put a really nice fan from an old pny card that crapped out. lol. I have a ghetto pc.

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Post by BryWI » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:08 pm

my turn :) Do I win? lol

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Devin
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Post by Devin » Thu Apr 05, 2007 7:32 pm

Yes you win! :roll: Time to Defrag!! :lol:

I've been looking to upgrade, well actually build an entire new system come to think of it. 64-BIT and x16 PCI-E with SLI options is the name of my game. Looking around for an appropriate case to house the new DFI LanParty UT NF680i LT SLI-T2R Mobo so some sort of window to show off the inners is a must. Can anyone recommend a decent case, needs plenty of room for expansion and look the part for a gamers delight! Want to take the strain off of my good old XP system which is really showing some cracks recently.

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