FA+
Shop
Delays and compy probs
14 years ago
General
Just for the sake of not wanting to repeat myself too many times, my PC is currently out of commission and thus I cannot effectively : a) play any games and b) do any progress on artwork.
What this means for most people? Nothin! I haven't really been posting much artwork anyway (been working on stuff for FC that I can't show as well as a commission or two).
For those who are curious as to what my computer problems are, here is my description and current analysis, as well as my plans.
Over the past 2 years my computer has had issues. They may/may not be related to the current problem, but I figure mentioning them may be worth some value (and I havent got much else to do today since i can't draw or game x.x). Since 2 years ago, I have had a reoccuring problem of being unable to boot my computer effectively. What would happen is that upon pressing the power, the lights would come on, but there was no starting beep, and the fan would simply run but nothing else. A few restarts would usually get things moving, but on some rare occasions I've had to resort to removing a stick of RAM before it would turn on. I would also get an unusual startup message saying that the overclocking failed (when I hadn't even set it up to overclock) before functioning normally.
This occured inconsistently for the next 2 years. I usually dealt with it fine just by turning the power off at the back every time I shut down.
Now the problem has evolved. Once the machine starts running, it gets to the windows loadup and bluescreens immediately after. Every time. I've tried in safe mode, I've tried booting from the install disc. Same problem. The only progress I ever got was when I unplugged the HDD with the install disc boot, and I got to the repair/install windows screens. This doesn't necessarily mean hard drive failure, but it's the probable cause. I do have backups from last month, so I've recovered most of my work, but it prevents me from continuing until I can get something new put together, or this current machine fixed. Hopefully both if possible.
In any case. Hope you guys have a good weekend! I'm enjoying mine so far. <3
What this means for most people? Nothin! I haven't really been posting much artwork anyway (been working on stuff for FC that I can't show as well as a commission or two).
For those who are curious as to what my computer problems are, here is my description and current analysis, as well as my plans.
Over the past 2 years my computer has had issues. They may/may not be related to the current problem, but I figure mentioning them may be worth some value (and I havent got much else to do today since i can't draw or game x.x). Since 2 years ago, I have had a reoccuring problem of being unable to boot my computer effectively. What would happen is that upon pressing the power, the lights would come on, but there was no starting beep, and the fan would simply run but nothing else. A few restarts would usually get things moving, but on some rare occasions I've had to resort to removing a stick of RAM before it would turn on. I would also get an unusual startup message saying that the overclocking failed (when I hadn't even set it up to overclock) before functioning normally.
This occured inconsistently for the next 2 years. I usually dealt with it fine just by turning the power off at the back every time I shut down.
Now the problem has evolved. Once the machine starts running, it gets to the windows loadup and bluescreens immediately after. Every time. I've tried in safe mode, I've tried booting from the install disc. Same problem. The only progress I ever got was when I unplugged the HDD with the install disc boot, and I got to the repair/install windows screens. This doesn't necessarily mean hard drive failure, but it's the probable cause. I do have backups from last month, so I've recovered most of my work, but it prevents me from continuing until I can get something new put together, or this current machine fixed. Hopefully both if possible.
In any case. Hope you guys have a good weekend! I'm enjoying mine so far. <3
I'd go with either of the top two, but uhm... if you're not comfortable replacing your own motherboard you'll either have to A) Have fun finding out >.=.> or B) Get a tech savvy friend to help you.
Too bad I don't live in canada, I'd do it for you for free :V
http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc_new/ you could have a look at that ^.=.^
Decent configurator. Not too sure about the prices, newegg probably has it lower.
The RAM as well, there. Seems to be more like "getting rid of old stock" lol.
take the cheapest route buy a new computer
Yes, it's possible to underclock a computer.
Just go in the BIOS setup by pressing DELETE/DEL at the BIOS prompt and go decrease the bus speed to the lowest value. Decrease the multiplicator if possible. Try to boot. After, you can slowly try to undervolt the CPU.
You can also use...
http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
... to run tests like memory tests for example.
Hiren's Boot CD also has a Mini Windows XP environment. It's Windows XP, but it doesn't need a hard drive to run. It got enough drivers and tools to debug many computers and even surf the Internet.
I've found a portable version of Photoshop CS5, too. It's portable version means that you don't need to install it and you can just run it from a USB stick or CD right from Mini Windows XP or any similar Windows XP PE environment. But if you use a pen tablet, I'm not sure you will be able to use it. Poke me if you want to try it.
Have fun! ^'===='^
This is why the replace the whole PC suggestion tends to be good, as it is an odds-on favorite as a time saver. You find the most broken part and replace it for 90% more up time. Then the next most worn part fails more often because then IT shoulders the most stress and fails next, and so forth. MTTF is a known quantity for every circuit - Mean Time To Failure. And power supplies, hard drives, motherboards, RAM, everything has a rating. This just means a statistical mean. It can have a standard deviation early or late.
One thing you could try is removing the mainboard, setting it up on a cardboard box or something of a non-conductive likeness, and then hook your power supply up and try starting it outside of your case. Keep an eye open for any warping while doing this. There are a number of failures that could occur because of it unfortunately. Its been my experience that a "small" (aka just shy) 1/8th of an inch warp means almost 100% failure rate. A hard lesson learned by MSI back in the day when they were just starting out, and were the common budget board for your grandma's email and virus breeding grounds pc. ;D
Since your computer is a coupe of years old, you might do better just to get a new one. I'm rather bias against pre-fab computers so naturally I'm going to suggest building one. ;) I'd suggest nothing less than an i5 (or whatever the AMD equivalent is) and 8 gig of ram. If you want to splurg a little bit, get a couple of generation 3 SSD drives and put them in a raid 5. Then hold on to your underwear, cause they'll get blown off. (pics or it never happened! lol)
If that doesn't work... then I'd first try a new power supply and then a new motherboard.
On this same note... check the current wattage on your power supply, if it's something like 400 watts and you're running a big graphics card, then your problem all along has been power, you need more than that.
If you're going to be getting any new components, make sure that all your current components are compatible with it. CPU Socket, RAM type, etc.
If you're going to be getting a new power supply make sure you get one that's SLI or Crossfire certified just to be sure it'll give enough juice for your graphics card.
Hope you get it fixed ^.^