Noisy computer and other problems...

[noswald]

Hi,

I don't really know very much about computer hardware, but here's what I know about my system's setup (I'll tell you all I can think of, because I don't know what is relevant):

Its got a Pentium III processor,
128Mb of RAM
13GB Hard Drive
A reasonable graphics card ( http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif I dont know the name)
A reasonable sound card ( http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif told you I didnt know much!)
A CD/DVD player and a CDRW
Its running win98 and I bought it new about 3 years ago.

I am having several problems at once, which (judging by posts I have read on this board) I think may be related. Here is the long story...

The first sign of trouble was that the computer got a bit noisy. I tried cleaning the fans but that helped little - its still noisy. Then I started to have problems like the computer locking up and/or spontaneously rebooting and other times the system would refuse to shut down.

Then I had a major disaster - I booted up the computer one day and it stopped, saying that the system.ini file was missing. After much gnashing of teeth I ended up trying to re-write the disk image from my system restore pack but during the writing it stopped at exactly 79% and said that the image was corrupt (it could not decompress the image file). I reformatted the c: and tried again, but exactly the same thing happened. A detailed scandisk check (with the surface check etc) said that everything was ok. I ordered another restore pack from the manufacturer and tried again, but the same thing happened - it stopped at 79% again, asking if I wanted to retry or abort. Out of desperation I hit retry about 10 times, and it started working again!, but stopped again at 83%. After repeating this for about half an hour, it finally got to the end and the system was restored as normal.

But now things just don't seem right at all. Everything seems to be a little bit slower, and the computer is still prone to spontaneous reboots, lock-ups and hanging during shutdown. Even more bizarre was when I tried to install a game - during the installation it stooped and said that the media could not be decompressed, but by just hitting retry over and over I amanged to get it to limp to a normal installation, just like when I was writing the disk image.

After reading the posts on this board, I am getting the feeling that this could all be caused by a faulty power supply. Do you guys think that this could be the case? If so, then if I buy another one and they quite generic, or do I need a specific one for my machine, and is fitting the supply a job that a reasonably competent person such as myself could perform? If not... what else do you think it could be?

Thanks in advance,

Nick. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by noswald (edited 03-21-2002).]

[bassman]

Hello Noswald,
Well, I'm a little curious. If you are unable to complete the system restore, how are you able to run a scandisk operation?
Did you clean the fan in the PSU?
I would have to lean towards a dying harddrive here. Is the noise like a whinning motor noise, or more of a chattering?

Power supply is certainly a possobility here and most for that style machine would be a generic fit. Some manufacturers do silly things like put on custom plugs to the mobo, or turn them vertical.
What manufacturer is it and have you checked warranty info on the HD and PSU?

Good luck

------------------
A real Christian is one who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.
Frank's Place (http://dreamwater.net/tech/frankscomp/)

[psabi]

Can you narrow down the source of the noise by running the PC with the cover off? Hard drive failure can be a source of the ruckus.

Have you tested the power supply alone? My PSU's are from PC Power and Cooling; at one point I thought one was failing but by shorting a green wire with a black ground (using a paperclip on the ATX motherboard connector) I was able to flip the supply on and off. If your supply is failing, you could also try putting less stress on the supply by disconnecting one of the CD drives and seeing if that helps the spontaneous reboots/crashes.

As bassman said, in a perfect world a standard ATX PSU would be - standard. Alas, many manufacturers pride themselves on making the PSU non standard in their own special way...

One other thing: are you running in "compatability mode"? Right click on my computer, choose properties and then click on the performance tab. Does it say "your system is configured for optimal performance" or is there a window that lists each of your drives with something like "MS-DOS compatibility mode" or something similar?