m6oo
CAGiversary!
I wanted to mention one quick thing to those of you having eratic PC problems. It's easy to check and is worth a look before tearing your hair out with more exhaustive methods.
Check your Motherboard, expansion cards, power supply for bad capacitors. There was a big problem a few years ago with large numbers of defective capacitors hitting the market and getting put into all kinds of computer systems, even those of well known brands.
The problem has been reduced, but you can still find them around today.
To see what to look for, check out: www.badcaps.net
If your caps look good, read on.....
The toughest PC problems to deal with are the seemingly random freeze-ups, BSODs and reboots. Normally, these things are normally related to some common issues:
SOFTWARE - malware or corrupted or misbehaving software. Try running in safe mode (f8 on bootup) or use a live-CD like ubuntu or knoppix. If you can manage it, reinstall windows on a spare HD. Try one of these things and see if the problem persists. If it goes away, then you've got a software problem. The easiest way to fix this would be to to a clean reinstall of windows on your system.
HEAT - Excessive heat can cause all kinds of strange behavior. Make sure your case/video/cpu fans are working and that all heat sinks and vents are clear of dust (don't forget the fans/vents in the power supply as well). The easiest way to check for heat problems is to run your system with the case open and aim a large household fan to blow lots of cool air into the case. That should eliminate any heat build up. If the system is stable when running like this, you have a heat problem.
RAM - Like heat, faulty ram can cause all kinds of problems. Try a memory diagnostic program like those found on the Ultimate Boot CD (www.ultimatebootcd.com). If you have some known good RAM to swap in, try that. If you are running multiple sticks, just try one stick at a time. See if the system stabilizes after that.
HARD DRIVE - A failing hard drive can make your PC throw fits. MHDD32 is an excellent drive diagnostic program that can also be found on the Ultimate Boot CD. The interface is spartan, but it is worth learning how to use this program. BE CAREFUL, you can erase your whole HD using this program.
RESEAT CONTACTS - All of the cards and RAM that are plugged into your Motherboard depend upon a metal-to-metal electrical connection for signal transfer. Like any mechanical connection, oxidation over time can weaken the electrical connection between components. Simply unplugging each card and RAM stick and then plugging them back in will "clean" the electrical contact between components and things will start working again. This also applies to peripherals like hard and optical drives.
POWER - A failing power supply can also cause strange problems. The best test is to get a known good power supply and swap it in. If you can't do that. then you are going to have a hard time isolating a bad power supply.
SIMPLIFY - If things still aren't working, you've got to simplify your system, see if that works, and then build it back up a piece at a time to see what component is causing the failure. Remove every expansion card and all RAM except for 1 stick. Leave your video card connected. Leave one optical drive or floppy connected. THAT'S IT. Boot with a diagnositc floppy or CD and see how that works. If it works, add components 1 at a time until it fails.
Check your Motherboard, expansion cards, power supply for bad capacitors. There was a big problem a few years ago with large numbers of defective capacitors hitting the market and getting put into all kinds of computer systems, even those of well known brands.
The problem has been reduced, but you can still find them around today.
To see what to look for, check out: www.badcaps.net
If your caps look good, read on.....
The toughest PC problems to deal with are the seemingly random freeze-ups, BSODs and reboots. Normally, these things are normally related to some common issues:
SOFTWARE - malware or corrupted or misbehaving software. Try running in safe mode (f8 on bootup) or use a live-CD like ubuntu or knoppix. If you can manage it, reinstall windows on a spare HD. Try one of these things and see if the problem persists. If it goes away, then you've got a software problem. The easiest way to fix this would be to to a clean reinstall of windows on your system.
HEAT - Excessive heat can cause all kinds of strange behavior. Make sure your case/video/cpu fans are working and that all heat sinks and vents are clear of dust (don't forget the fans/vents in the power supply as well). The easiest way to check for heat problems is to run your system with the case open and aim a large household fan to blow lots of cool air into the case. That should eliminate any heat build up. If the system is stable when running like this, you have a heat problem.
RAM - Like heat, faulty ram can cause all kinds of problems. Try a memory diagnostic program like those found on the Ultimate Boot CD (www.ultimatebootcd.com). If you have some known good RAM to swap in, try that. If you are running multiple sticks, just try one stick at a time. See if the system stabilizes after that.
HARD DRIVE - A failing hard drive can make your PC throw fits. MHDD32 is an excellent drive diagnostic program that can also be found on the Ultimate Boot CD. The interface is spartan, but it is worth learning how to use this program. BE CAREFUL, you can erase your whole HD using this program.
RESEAT CONTACTS - All of the cards and RAM that are plugged into your Motherboard depend upon a metal-to-metal electrical connection for signal transfer. Like any mechanical connection, oxidation over time can weaken the electrical connection between components. Simply unplugging each card and RAM stick and then plugging them back in will "clean" the electrical contact between components and things will start working again. This also applies to peripherals like hard and optical drives.
POWER - A failing power supply can also cause strange problems. The best test is to get a known good power supply and swap it in. If you can't do that. then you are going to have a hard time isolating a bad power supply.
SIMPLIFY - If things still aren't working, you've got to simplify your system, see if that works, and then build it back up a piece at a time to see what component is causing the failure. Remove every expansion card and all RAM except for 1 stick. Leave your video card connected. Leave one optical drive or floppy connected. THAT'S IT. Boot with a diagnositc floppy or CD and see how that works. If it works, add components 1 at a time until it fails.
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