PC Hell

[OldRope]

Hello

I've had this PC for just over a year, and it's never been right, it's always had problems I brought it from 'dare I say' Palicomp

For the first few months all was well, had my 6600GT installed and playing EQ2 with no problems.

Then the clicking started and error messages warning that there was not enough power, so I removed my graphics card but the intermittent clicking continued.

I know the card wasn't the problem because it worked fine in another PC. The machine was sent back within it's guarentee period TWICE!! so i am assuming the power supply is not the problem. However, i have still been plagued with ........

Lagging on the desktop
PC taking forever to load and shut down
Intermittent keyboard problems (ceases to respond)
Freezing
Rebooting
Reeboots while rebooting
Intermittent clicking
Wierd fizzy looking frozen screen - kinda tartan looking

The event viewer shows more errors than not - mainly driver conflicts although i have added nothing to the PC

If none of the above is happening which is rarely, i can do nothing more than browse the net albeit slow at responding.

To try and solve the problems i have so far .....

Reinstalled Windows - multiple times, has even crashed during install.
Updated the latest drivers - have even tried rolling back to older drivers
Flashed the bios to the latest update
Checked the ram for damage
Checked for dust in the obvious places.

I have all the necessary protection and my PC is clean.

My basic spec

Intel pentium 4 CPU 3.40 GHz (2 CPU's)
HD 200 GB Maxtor 6L200PO
Mobo ASrock 775VM800 Bios 1.50
Ram 2GB
Intergrated graphics card

The CPU temp in Bios shows 62 C/143 F
M/M temp 39 C/102 F (whatever M/M means)

I'm at my wits end now and done everything that is within my realms of understanding. Any help and advice will be much appreciated

[icecube]

Did you install the VIA chip set drivers? Should be on the motherboard cd or you can download them.

If thats ok, I'd try another power supply for a start.

[OldRope]

Yes i have installed the VGA drivers. My daughter mentioned that my PSU may need replacing but i am worried now that if it is a faulty PSU it may have caused other problems.

In your experience is this a possibility and are the symptoms i'm having the kind that would occur should this be the case.

[Gecko]

Hello OldRope,

The "Random clicking" would worry me, a long with crashing during reinstall.
I would look into testing the hard drive
Maxtor has been bought out buy Seagate so you can use there new to check the drive.

Just follow the link and download the media of your choice, floppy or cd.
Create the media, boot the system from it and run both the quick and full tests.

[OldRope]

Hi Gecko,
Thanks for the advice on running that test. It failed the short test and found 6 errors on the long test - all of which were repaired. Now i know the hard drive is ok i will invest in a decent PCU like Icecube advised.

We have had a few issues with the power where i live, the slightest thing flicks everything off plus at least 6 power cuts in the last year while the PC is running. It's highly likely my PSU has been affected as it's a cheap old generic one with no protection. I feel stupid for not realising that

Thankyou both for your help I'm feeling a bit more optimistic now.

I dont suppose you can recommend a reasonable 500W PSU - with the added protection in the £40 - 50 price range. I would rather a recomendation from someone who knows what there talking about hehe

[steffworthington]

Some of you may be interested to know that my g/f bought me a palicomp pc and it didn't work from the beginning, we sent it back and they kept it for 2 weeks. Getting in touch with them was a nightmare... they were never there and just kept me on hold forever.

They returned the pc with a smashed in side panel 8 weeks ago...I'm still waiting for them to replace it. The pc works fine now so my anger had cooled...until I recieved my phone bill today:
£66 just trying to get a hold of palicomp!
Their helplines 75p a minute but that isn't the worst bit...What they have neglected to mention is that (and I found this out from BT because it doesn't say it anywhere on Palicomp's literature) they charge a minimum £1.15 connection fee.
I am currently consulting with my family's firm of solicitors to see if I have a case in the small claims court.

[cking]

as there are only certain things that move in computer that can cause noise I would narrow it down to either a fan or hard drive. clicking tells me that you have a bad hard drive, along with random reboots crashing on install. Also it sounds like either you need a higher powered PSU or your Mother board is bad as you have replaced the PSU along with graphics issues I would lean towards replacing the motherboard first as the low power being produced could be causeing your HDD to be acting poorly. (Note: if you look at the capictors the tops of them should all be flat if they are rounded in any ammount replace the Motherboard and your all set. If replacing the Motherboard doesn't fix your problems move towards the PSU and HDD,

[dunedinict]

You should try a different memory stick. If one or more of your current sticks are faulty then you can get some pretty wierd results...