Office puter

[speakerman1]

My office computer died. It shows the Windows logo and that is it. I start in safe mode it loads the drivers and that is it. I try a boot disc and nothing. Windows did an update this morning and it did something so I said start from a restore point. It said starting from restore point and went black. I don't need this right now.

Oh I know I lost my internet. So I trouble shot it. It said my driver was bad. That is when I went to a restore point and it went black. Oh I'm so happy I could spit.

Larry

 

[orange]

Go into BIOS (F key) and you probably have to set video to the other setting and see if all your setting are correct.

Windows anything starts in a VGA 'splash screen' mode that all video will use and if you aren't set for the video you use (PCI. AGP, onboard or card) then it won't matter as the OS is looking for what your monitor it hooked to. The screen will go blank.

In other words the video is going to Wheeling not Woodstock.

Your BIOS tells Windows what to do in it's settings when it starts. The first place to check sholuld often be BIOS.

BIOS is aided by a small battery that helps the CMOS memory keep the BIOS settings saved. Long periods of being unplugged and simply discharging over time can bring the battery low enough for that memory to clear or setting can be lost if equipment on the computer aren't working well or even, yes a corrupted settng or file.

If this happens often it may be time to check the drivers, cards and likely change the battery. It's a simple lithium watch battery and easy to find.

 

[Skywavebe]

Hi Larry,
I hope you can get it going again. The other thing to look for is hard drive issues as in clicking, Master Boot Record corruption and one thing that gets past a lot of people with a computer that is not new is the filter capacitors on the motherboard bulging. I have replaced caps on motherboards to get the computer working again and it is almost not worth it unless you have the equipment to do the job. The parts are cheap, it is the labor that is the pain- removing it from the case. You could also open and try reseating all cards and connectors on hard drives. I have had a disconnected connector cause a boot failure.
Upon reseating everything, the unit booted up again for a long time again. Now you know what I am surrouned by several computers that can jump in at any time to do the job I want- kind of a cheap mans Quad core. I select any of 5 or 6 computers through a Cybex switcher so One trackball and keyboard can be used for all of them if I want. I built all of these computers using AMD processors so they were NOT $2000 a piece like some Dell sales are. I bet Jerry can aid you in the repair as he is a pretty smart Computer guy from my experience with him. Let me know if I can be of any further help.

 

[speakerman1]

Hi Sam and Thanks

I'm building a new one. Like they said about Steve Austin. It will be stronger and faster. LOL

Larry

 

[speakerman1]

Well I bought Jerry's gear from him and he put 7 on his HD. I got the parts yesterday. It took me about a half to a full hour to build it. It has been awhile since I have built a computer. I took some pics. It has been so long since I had a mid tower it looks like a giant. LOL I have less in this puter than I did the cheap E Machine that went capoooey.
Thanks Jerry

Larry

 

[Skywavebe]

Hi Larry,
Well you have to get involved in the technology sooner or later and that is for everyone. I had a guys E machine not working for long and it was because the heat sink mounting broke lose on the motherboard. Then the heat sink cocked and the processor overheated.
E machines are not the mid to top line equipment. They are sold at Best buy I bet a real profit maker. If you build your own you have much better control over the quality of the parts in it as well as you are familiar with what you put into the machine. I have build about 135 computers in the last years but now more involved in repair. Also in mounting your hard drives, it is best to place them one drive space apart and to avoid the dreaded cheap Chinese Seagates which will fail on you almost without question. I have used these Hard drive coolers that I bought but with the cheap fans on them they lasted about a year so I took the cheap stuff out and put some good fans in the mounting and my drives keep cool even running 24hrs/day. It is necessary due to the level of technology changing all the time to build new computers but in today's economy and with the prices of technology going up it is increasingly difficult to do so. If you build cheap, you have failures and pay the same price only to the repair person. I have landed on Asus boards as they seem to have the best reliability. I also have some boards from Machspeed with a lifetime warranty made in the USA. They have held up. All of my computer builds have been AMD chips. I have gone as far as dual core processors but at the speed these things are processing there really is no need to go quad, hex or octal core in my systems. I hope you have done well in your new build- any details on what you put together?

 

[speakerman1]

I bought the gear Jerry had for sale. My HDs are right behind a 120 mm fan. So I have all his equipment and my 1tb HD and a CD-DVD burner. Looked like a nice audio card which I don't use. LOL

Gateway owns e machines. I got this one at Walmart. It didn't last long. It might have had 2 months use and I built this one cheaper than the E machine cost me. Oh well. Sometimes it doesn't pay to pinch pennys. LOL

Larry

 

[Skywavebe]

Hi Larry,
I think you may have come out on top this time but the next time you want a machine that does not cost a lot but still works, I would check out Tiger Direct and look over the Bare Bones units that look good. Some of them are the junk they can not sell but there are deals to be had if you know your computer equipment. I have built a number of computers using this method and they all have gone at least two or three years of in some cases not technical persons use. Video cards with fans on them usually need a once a year cleaning and oiling. Fan should be avoided if you can but some deals you just can not pass up and these have fans on them. I oil them and they are good for another year. The computers need dusting out on a yearly basis anyway. just some info for the future.

 

[speakerman1]

I got my tower and PSU from Tiger Direct. I got a 500 watt PSU. Pretty nice tower and I didn't spend 100.00. It has 5 places for fans. I'll get around to putting a couple more in one day; because it sits in the nook of my desk. I have found next to XP I like windows 7.

Larry