9 year old Desktop PC (Advent 3418), running XP Home Edition. SP3
Hard drive is a Maxtor 6Y200P0 (200GB). The original one fitted.
First switch on of the day results in what sounds like the hard drive clicking/clunking for approx 10 to 20 seconds, then eventually boots up.
It's been happening for a few days now, but today it just kept clicking/clunking away and not booting up. Switched off/on again and then it finally booted up.
If I leave the PC in standby or hibernate mode the hard drive doesn't do it and the PC come back to life without any dramas.
Ultimately I should invest in a new PC, but I want to wait until after Christmas for the sales.
For now I'm just contemplating getting a cheap hard drive and replacing the faulty one. However I don't have a copy of the operating system - it's one of those PCs where it's in a hidden partition of the hard drive and you have to put in a restore disc, which I do have.
My question is, if I were to copy the entire contents of the failing drive to another one, would the operating system also get copied across as well?
I can't actually see the hidden partition when going into "My Computer"
I have a vague recollection of when I put in a 2nd hard drive (only for back up purposes) the computer asking me if I wanted to copy everything across from the default hard drive - but I might be wrong.
I do have a back up copy of most things, but I'm sure I've forgotten something.
Before the hard drive finally dies (if that is what is making the noise) how easy is it to copy the operating system across to another hard drive?
Or do I just create a boot up disc onto several floppies?
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Sorry for the long post.
I'll summarise in case my question gets overlooked.
With the operating system in a hidden partition (that cannot be seen) is it possible to copy the entire contents of the original hard drive to another hard drive and then would the new drive be plug and play? ie, just unplug the original drive, plug in the new one and everything will be just as before?
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If you use one of of the low-level imaging / cloning tools that takes the partitition table information, then yes.
Acronis' drive clone function would do it and I'm sure there are other similar utilities too. You used to be able to snaffle a free copy of the Acronis utilities from Seagate in their tools section...
Most of the better tools will happily resize the partitions as they run to make full use of a larger drive.
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Quick answer - no. Just copying the disk will not result in a bootable disk. You need to use one of the disk cloning tools, Ghost used to be a favourite but there are other free ones (Clonezilla is one, but a but of a geeky interface). Someone else might be able to recommend the best.
Also your old PC might have only IDE connectors and nearly all new drives will be SATA. See here for how to to distinguish the cables www.computer-hardware-explained.com/sata-vs-ide.html
It does sound like your hard drive though, and you'd be wise to get on and do something soon, and ensure your backup is up to date.
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Thanks for the suggestions so far.
Googling this morning, I found the following on the Advent computers website.
www.adventcomputers.co.uk/forums/startup-problems/advent-3418-it-windows-xp-reinstall
Would what has been suggested there by the moderator work?
www.adventcomputers.co.uk/comment/3078#comment-3078
TIA.
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>> Would what has been suggested there by the moderator work?
>>
Haven't read it so I don't know.
I presume you have made a copy of all your data.
Then, regarding cloning/ghosting you need to be aware that getting a bootable clone is not straightforward where the hardware is not identical.
www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=418&page=5
Ideally you need to find a PC repair shop near you that might have stocks of new/used 200GB Maxtor IDE drives.
Then you can use a free cloner such as Macrium Free.
To make a bootable clone on a different size/make/spec hard disk, you may have to buy
something like Macrium Pro.
www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWM79HCzdDA
other tutorials on the right hand side column there.
Last edited by: John H on Fri 7 Dec 12 at 11:02
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Sounds like damaged boot sectors on the hard disk! - this may be a simpler solution for now, get a new h/drive and op sys, to boot from, then slave your original up to it, start using the new disk as you would, and copy over any apps you need, or run them from the slave. If it`s not being used to boot from, but only accessed passively then it may last quite a bit longer yet.
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sounds like sticking head! Dont power it down till you have it fixed, the head is going to take lumps of your disk away at some point at one of these start ups.
Anyway, as all the other boffins have said, clone your disk to a new one, not copy.
and, as insurance, if you dont know it, use a tool to extract your license key from your existing installation. Copies of windows XP are dowloadable form the web if it all goes TU.
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What I think I am going to do is use the 2nd hard drive that I currently use to back things up on.
It's a Maxtor 300GB drive, partitioned to 200GB and 100GB.
Hopefully I can cloan the main HD to the partitioned 200GB part of the 2nd HD then change the jumper from slave to master and use that as the main HD.
I'm guessing 90% of the stuff on the 2nd HD has the data from the main HD on it anyway. I've just not been that efficient at maintaining backups.
I'm just hoping the 100GB partition won't be affected by the cloaning. I take it that it won't?
I've also been given some helpful info from the Advent PC forum like following the guide from www.support-pcs.co.uk/quicklinx/driveupgrade.html
and using the Partition Manager cloaning tool from www.partition-tool.com/copy-wizard/upgrade-system-disk.htm
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How this might or might not work depends on how you partitioned this second drive. The bootloader used by XP will started from the Master Boot Record on the disk so on the second drive you need the MBR to point at the XP bootloader on the correct partition.
I'd personally go for another drive to clone the entire system disk to and keep your backup one for backups.
Also with the PC being so old, the current 200Gb Maxtor will be an IDE/PATA drive not SATA. I bet your external backup drive is SATA. If the system only supports IDE/PATA then your going to be a bit limited on new drives as they are mostly SATA now. But you're probably talking £50-60 for a new drive around 250GB in size.
And to answer the original question, as well as the bootloader etc. the operating system consists of some (hidden) files on the root of the drive, the contents of the Windows folder and some programs will be in the Program Files folder.
As others said, you ought to clone the disk as is. To clone it to another IDE drive you're going to have to risk powering it down. You could instead use something like Clonezilla to write the cloned image to a file on your external USB drive. Then at least you have a copy you can write back to a new drive later.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 7 Dec 12 at 14:49
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>> I bet your external backup drive is SATA.
>>
I bet you might lose that bet, based on VxFan's post at Fri 7 Dec 12 12:54
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Indeed... he mentions slave to master swap too :-)
I'd personally not risk copying over using a clone utility to a disk holding my backups. So my suggestion changes to getting a new external USB drive to back all data up. Then use the other drive to clone the original disk to.
Depending on how the second disk was setup, to make it bootable he might need to rejig partitions etc. We don't know how he has it partitioned in detail and telling a non-techy to do something that loses data.... not a good idea.
Remember if the drive fails when he is cloning it and he wipes out the backup he loses everything. If he lived nearer I'd lend him a disk.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Fri 7 Dec 12 at 19:08
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>> What I think I am going to do
....
>> and using the Partition Manager cloaning tool from www.partition-tool.com/copy-wizard/upgrade-system-disk.htm
>>
Certainly worth a try. I think it should work.
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I've used the Easeus utility to do about half a dozen clones in the last year without any issues, only limitation of the freebie version I can think of is that you can't clone to a smaller partition. Random selection of HDD manufacturers used. bit of a pain really as any new IDE drive bought won't be any use in a new PC, which will be SATA: unless you get a USB caddy for it and use it as an external backup in the future.
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Is your drive one of these? Any use?
r.ebay.com/mMMYDl
Edit - sorry, I see you told us it's a 6Y not a 6L...
Last edited by: Manatee on Fri 7 Dec 12 at 19:57
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One here, a bit pricier though...
r.ebay.com/hyrN5u
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>> One here, a bit pricier though...
>>
;-)
VxFan is a tight ... ; hence "Ultimately I should invest in a new PC, but I want to wait until after Christmas for the sales."
Ultimately it may cost him a lot of time and hassle to try to clone his failing disk, while the current pre-Xmas price cuts to be had may be as good or better than those post-Xmas.
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>>I think my hard drive is failing<<
= = = = > www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbqra7kRXbk
:-))
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have you tried scan disk defrag, and fix boot sectors, you could buy a sata to ide connector and pair the old drive with the new sata one or as what others suggest use a image program.
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YMMV but I've bought a couple of IDE to SATA converters and I ended up binning them, as neither would work 100% reliably.
In terms of new stuff then under 200 notes for anew desktop:-
www.ebuyer.com/395305-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1071
Then buy Win8 upgrade for 25 quid and install it on the PC using your Win XP COA (I think that will work)
Or basic new Dell with Win7 HP for under 250:-
www.dmxdimension.com/dell-uk/vostro-deal-comparison/#vostro-260
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Plan C - assuming your current external drive is IDE.
Buy one of these portable drives from eBuyer for under 30 quid, transfer your back to this drive and then use your current backup drive as a 'new' boot drive.
www.ebuyer.com/237690-intenso-250gb-memory-station-portable-hard-drive-6002500
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>> Plan C - assuming your current external drive is IDE.
>>
>> Buy one of these portable drives from eBuyer for under 30 quid, transfer your back
>> to this drive and then use your current backup drive as a 'new' boot drive.
>>
>> www.ebuyer.com/237690-intenso-250gb-memory-station-portable-hard-drive-6002500
>>
This is my hard drive -
ST316031 8AS SCSI Disk Device (160.04 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 6VY3JKY2,
Would that device do to back up the operating system and data so I could just reload after a failure?
And would I need any additional software?
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That I believe is a SATA drive and providing you can connect it to the PC (either internally or externally via USB) and it's big enough then yes you could clone your PCs hard drive to this. Lots of software discussed in this thread and some others recently. One that is based on a LiveCD of Linux is CloneZilla but it's a bit geeky. Not difficult.
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Thanks for all your advice guys.
Between you, the techy guy at work, and the guy on the Advent forum, I've decided on what to do.
I've bought a 1TB external drive of which I'm going to back up the files from the 2nd slave internal hard drive (which has approx 90% of my back up files on).
I'm also going to try and back up the master internal hard drive to the external drive as well.
That way I should have copies of everything.
Once that's all done, I'll then wipe the internal HD slave drive and clone the master internal HD drive to it so that then becomes the master HD drive.
That's the plan anyway. The slave internal HD is partitioned (as previously mentioned). One of the partitions has backed up successfully, but the larger partition gets about an hour into backing up, then throws up an error. Tried 3 times now with the same problem each time.
I've now resorted to copying/pasting the data across from the slave HD to the ecternal HD to see if I can identify what is causing the error rather than using EaseUS to automatically do it.
God it's taking forever. I'll be up all night at this rate.
ps, using my laptop at the moment, which although newer and faster than my desktop PC, I still don't like using it.
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>> I've now resorted to copying/pasting the data across from the slave HD to the external
>> HD to see if I can identify what is causing the error
It turned out to be a corrupt video file.
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I was up before you went to bed:)
Pat
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>> I was up before you went to bed:)
>>
>> Pat
I do worry about you, Pat.
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Its a strange world, the Fens.
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Don't worry about me Duncan, I love my eary mornings alone!
It was entirely self inflicted anyway:(
Confession time...Had AC/DC Live at the Rive Plate recorded and watched it yesterday evening with a good bottle of wine and Ian told me I wasn't too old to headbang anymore.
Memo to self: He tells lies to make me feel better!
Pat
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>> I was up before you went to bed:)
Bed is for wimps
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As Victor Meldrew would say "I don't believe it!"
All files backed up from my internal slave HD to my external HD.
The master HD cloned across to my slave HD, swapped leads over inside the PC, as well as the jumper link so the slave HD is now my master HD.
Switched PC off last night and unplugged from the wall. Plugged in tonight and went to switch on. Same fault grrrr!!!!
I had to press the power on button 2 or 3 times before anything happened, then the replacement HD started clunking and the light in the PC switch kept flickering as well as the LEDs on my Logitech transponder for the cordless mouse & keyboard. PC failed to boot up. Press power button to switch off/on again. Did the same thing. Left for approx 1 minute, then tried again and the PC booted up straight away.
Surely the 2nd internal HD I have isn't faulty as well? Once the PC is running, it works fine. No odd noises, no fuss at opening files, and does everything it's meant to.
I'm beginning to wonder if it's actually the power supply that's failing. The PC was left plugged in and put into hibernate mode when I wasn't creating backups, etc. No sooner that I shut it down and pull the plug out the mains, the problems occur once more.
HELP!! I've spent all weekend on this and seem to have got nowhere other than my pocket being nearly £70 lighter by buying a 1TB external HD.
edit - forgot to mention, when swapping over HDs inside the machine, I left the original master HD disconnected. I know its not that one making the noises.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 10 Dec 12 at 19:50
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It may be a number of things, including the disk controller. However, if you have one disk which is a good one (probably the new one) which has a complete copy of everything, then disconnect it from the computer and put it off to one side securely.
You can then experiment safely.
Problem is, it may be a number of things, including the power supply.
If I was you and I intended to buy a new machine anyway, and if I knew I had a complete set of everything safe, then I'd just live with it and keep using it until it blows. Hopefully you'll have a new machine by then, but if not you'll just have to go and buy one. At least you won't have lost anything.
Probably not a lot of point in complex problem solving on something that you don't care about for more than a few weeks.
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Power supply is a favourite, the 5v is probably failing. At this point the advice is BIN IT.
Seriously its old its time it was put out of its misery.
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He's right, it will need binning. But having secured your data there is no real problem with just trying to get every last day out of it - use it till it goes bang.
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Thanks guys. I know I said it could do with replacing, but JohnH up above got me bang to rights by saying that I'm tight.
Having repaired VCRs, radios, and various other electronic items in the past, some sucessfully, others not, I'm loath to let this get the better of me. I'm just one of those people who don't believe in throwing something away until it's dead and unrepairable unless the repair cost amounts to too much. The outlay for the external drive I can bear because it has future uses.
I've got reasonable electronic knowledge and the equipment to hand to try and test the power supply. I see there are various guides on the web on how to test it, as well as pictures of the socket connectors and the pin ID references.
One thing I haven't checked yet is to see if the processor cooling fan starts when first switched on. I know that if it doesn't, it can cause the PC to not boot up. I know, it's one of the things I should have checked. When I was swapping over the HD leads though, it was working then, as well as the case fan, and power supply fan. But that was from a warm start up, and not being left overnight completely shutdown.
It's just odd that since I managed to get it to boot up earlier, it's been running fine since. It's almost behaving like a car on a cold morning. Reluctant to start, then once running it's then ok the rest of the day.
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>> It's just odd that since I managed to get it to boot up earlier, it's
>> been running fine since. It's almost behaving like a car on a cold morning. Reluctant
>> to start, then once running it's then ok the rest of the day.
Because start up is the highest load on the PC, specially with two drives. The "guides" on the net to test the Power Supply wont show you how to test load on startup.
Your analogy with other stuff you buy does not cut it. When you buy a new DVD, the new one is not 8 times faster, able to show films faster and better.
If I was in your shoes I could easily fix the PC, but really it would be a complete waste of my time, with next to zilch satisfaction at the end for the effort involved.
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>> Because start up is the highest load on the PC, specially with two drives. The
>> "guides" on the net to test the Power Supply wont show you how to test
>> load on startup.
Now that one of the drives are disconnected, I could hook up a multimeter to the spare power lead and monitor the voltages from first switch on. I'm not going to spend too long on it, but I would be happy knowing the cause of the problem.
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>> Now that one of the drives are disconnected, I could hook up a multimeter to
>> the spare power lead and monitor the voltages from first switch on. I'm not going
>> to spend too long on it, but I would be happy knowing the cause of
>> the problem.
And that might tell you nothing because no current is being drawn down that line, and the power supply is split rail.
And what are you going to do when you find out its the power supply?
BIN
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 11 Dec 12 at 11:16
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Bin the PC or just the PSU Z? A PSU is quite cheap if it keeps the rest of the PC going for Dave and he's happy with it for his needs.
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>> And what are you going to do when you find out its the power supply?
If it's just a failed capacitor, replace it with a new component from somewhere like Maplin, if available.
I did this a couple of years ago with a failed power supply in one of those portable peltier cooler fridges.
If it's something else, then yes you're probably right - file it under B1N
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 11 Dec 12 at 13:00
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>> >> And what are you going to do when you find out its the power
>> supply?
>>
>> If it's just a failed capacitor, replace it with a new component from somewhere like
>> Maplin, if available.
>> I did this a couple of years ago with a failed power supply in one
>> of those portable peltier cooler fridges.
A PC power supply is not the same monkey at all, how are you on split rails and switch mode power supplies? you might need get a security bit screwdriver as well to get it open.
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>> how are you on split rails and switch mode power supplies?
I'm not claiming to be an expert, but have had some success with electronic repairs in the past. I'll just look for the obvious first (dry joints, darkened components where they might have got hotter than they should, capacitors that have swollen metal cans) and go from there. I also have a capaticance meter at work to test any capacitors that don't "look" right.
>> you might need get a security bit screwdriver as well to get it open.
I already have a set but not necessary as it's just held together with normal Philips screws. 4 holding it to the tower chassis. Then a couple more Philips screws to remove the PSU cover.
Had it apart before to clean the cooling fan and the PCB of dust build up, when I do an annual spring clean of the rest of the internals.
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>> Power supply is a favourite, the 5v is probably failing.
I think you're right. Left the PC in standy mode, hooked up a multimeter to the 5 volt pin on the HD connector and then woke the PC up. Initially the voltage was < 2 volts, then went up to just above 3 volts, then to 5, back down to 3 and finally settled at 5 volts.
Will do some more tests from cold start up though.
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Got asked if i could change a failed H/drive in an Acer Inspire the other day, was amazed to find when I pulled it out that it was 750Gb!! I knew they did upto 500GB ones but thats the first 750 I`ve seen, how much bigger are they going to get?? - P.s this one was manufactured on 02/07/2011 and lasted just 13 months, are they now making them too big for their own good?
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>> this one was manufactured on 02/07/2011 and lasted just 13 months, are they now making them too big for their own good?
More likely insufficient ventilation and cooling.
When I fitted my 2nd HD to use as a backup drive, the processor cooling fan kept going into overdrive because of the temperature increase within the tower case. I had to fit an additional fan to aid cooling inside the case as the 2 HDs were too hot to touch. /Fortunately the case had provision for the fan and a socket connector on the motherboard. Obviously there for different spec PCs.
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>> Got asked if i could change a failed H/drive in an Acer Inspire the other
>> day, was amazed to find when I pulled it out that it was 750Gb!! I
>> knew they did upto 500GB ones but thats the first 750 I`ve seen, how much
>> bigger are they going to get?? -
Thats small. They come in 1 Tb, 2 Tb, and a 4 Tb is ready for next year.
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1Tb or 2TB are available in 2.5' form factor yes.
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Hmmm!
My PC seems to have untangled its knickers.
Since taking out the power supply Wednesday evening, checking all the output voltages were within tollerance (source of info from 2 separate websites), blowing out some dust from the PSU and putting it back in the PC, touch wood it's been fine.
All I can think is either there was some dust causing some tracking issues on the PSU PCB, which is unlikely as I give the inside of the PC and the PSU a good clean every 6 months to a year anyway, so the dust build up is minimal, or the 20 pin connector to the motherboard had a dry connection and breaking/making the joint resolved it. I know about component creep, and simply pulling out something like the RAM or a video card and putting back into the socket again can solve problems.
Either way, it's working again (for now anyway). Touches wood once more for good measure and all that.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 15 Dec 12 at 15:14
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am getting random shut downs on mine, it like the plug is pulled of and the pc restarts, its a window 7 prof 64 bit, intel i7 2600k gigabyte z67 ud7 b3, corsair ax850 and corsair water cooler a h70 drive are ssd 120 gb corsair force 3, 1tb caviar black and 1 tb samsung f3, temps are cpu idling 19c and system is 35c overall, the room temp is 21.
wonder what causing the shut down?
oh the oc is self built
maybe its dust ?
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I was plonking around inside mine the other day and caused similar to what you're getting.
I'd actually bought and installed a better processor (eBay cheapie, lucky as it didn't work!).
What I'd not done was got all four corners of the processor fan properly clipped in, which meant the CPU was getting too hot. Doubt that's your problem though.
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>> am getting random shut downs on mine, it like the plug is pulled of and
>> the pc restarts, its a window 7 prof 64 bit, intel i7 2600k gigabyte z67
>> ud7 b3, corsair ax850 and corsair water cooler a h70 drive are ssd 120 gb
>> corsair force 3, 1tb caviar black and 1 tb samsung f3, temps are cpu idling
>> 19c and system is 35c overall, the room temp is 21.
>>
>> wonder what causing the shut down?
>>
>> oh the oc is self built
>>
>> maybe its dust ?
If its overclocked, tweak it down.
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not overclocked cpu on standard speed
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The fan is too small, misplaced or not switching in and out appropriately.
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the case is a corsair obsidian 650d with two fans one in the front of the case blowing and a exhaust fan at the top of the case, the watercooled h70 has two fans both set up in the push push set up not the push pull setup, it appears to me that its like the machine goes off, like some pull the plug.
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Make sure the motherboard is grounded to its support posts and all the screws are tight, check and update the BIOS, take out the memory, clean the contacts, and put them back.
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Something is barely within tolerance allowing the machine to run and then slips out.
So;
temperature
- Something running too hot
- cooling ineffectual
power consumption
- perhaps bad connection
- - probably ground rather than live
- - check seating of CPU, Memory etc.
- perhaps too much power demanded when a peripheral kicks in (including fans)
- perhaps flakey PS with incorrect low supply
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sun 16 Dec 12 at 19:27
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The psu is a corsair ax850w so it seems it got enough power to supply the ancillary, i will check out your sugesstions, when i got time off for work
thanks to all for your helpful replies
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i had my psu checked, no faults found, i checked for overheating, no overheating, all temps are at normal temp, i then checked to see if i had a virus.
i downloaded malaware antimalaware program, scanned and it showed that i had a several trojan, which then got them quarantined and deleted.
i then googled pc freezes whilst on internet, went on to microsoft site, had my internet explorer and my pc security setting a going over, result no execute bit was disable so now enabled.
The problems i had was basically my pc bieing infected but microsoft security essentials not found the trojan so therefore malaware program did the trick.
so far finger crossed, not one freeze
thanks for all your suggestion
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>> My PC seems to have untangled its knickers.
And so far have remained untangled. Touches that lucky piece of wood again.
I was rather hoping for some offers to come up over Christmas, but the PC I had my eye on only dropped £30.
Not sure whether to just continue running this 9 yr old PC until it dies, or pension it off for a new one.
If I do replace it I would want a high spec one again so I don't have to replace it in 3 or 4 yrs time because it's too slow.
I'm not a gamer, but I do some video editing & burning to DVD from time to time. If I did go for another PC I wouldn't hesitate in getting another Advent again (PC World own brand one). This is my second one and apart from the recent problem it's been fine the past 9 years. My previous one I sold at 5 years old and the buyer used it for 3 r 4 years before mothballing it in his loft.
The one I was looking at was the Advent DT2412 which has Windows 8 and a Intel i7 processor. Current price is £770 though.
www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/advent-dt2412-desktop-pc-17291827-pdt.html
I see they also have the Advent DT2315, but has Windows 7 and a different graphics card for £520 (reduced from £1100, thus making a saving of £580). Same i7 processor, but has a bigger hard drive.
www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/advent-dt2315-desktop-pc-14553699-pdt.html
And then of course I would probably need a new monitor to replace my 17" one which isn't wide screen. The 23" one on offer with the DT2412 is too big for my office bedroom though. A 20" one would be more than big enough.
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 2 Jan 13 at 21:35
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Any views on the DT2412 & the DT2315?
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Well if I was lucky enough to be in your position I would save £250 and go for the Windows 7 machine. In fact that's also £70 cheaper than the cheapest equivalent spec unbranded machine I could find on ebay - looks like a bargain. You could always buy a W8 upgrade for <£50 on Amazon.
Cheapest 20" monitor on ebuyer is £80 - gets (5) good reviews:
www.ebuyer.com/387394-benq-gl2055-20-led-dvi-monitor-9h-l8jlb-qpe
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BTW some benchmark figures imply the cheaper machine has the better graphics card - AMD 7750 = 1576, GT 630 = 713:
www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php
EDIT: 1576 is good enough for some decent gaming
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 3 Jan 13 at 07:07
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>> You could always buy a W8 upgrade for <£50 on Amazon.
Thanks for that, and the other info.
I see MS are currently offering an upgrade to Windows 8 for £14.99 (offer applies if you buy a Windows 7 PC between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013)
windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/upgrade-offer
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Just found out the DT2315 is a refurbished model (although PCW doesn't mention it, found out from someone on the Advent forums).
And none in stock.
Hardly surprising at that price though.
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Specify your own, and build it yourself.
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I had contemplated that. Not a huge amount to be saved though. I think I'll just carry on running this one for now and see how it goes.
Bangernomic computing rooles ok.
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>> I think I'll just carry on running this one for now and see how it goes.
>> Bangernomic computing rooles ok.
My daughter's otherwise superb 4 year Sony Vaio laptop started doing exactly the same on and off for several months requiring a shake to release the heads - after which it worked OK for several boots. Now for several months it seems to have "fixed" itself but all data is still regularly backed up!
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Win8 upgrade offer
FYI - given the poor uptake they seem to be fairly lax regarding the actual dates - just saying
Last edited by: lancara on Sun 13 Jan 13 at 11:40
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Update:
PC has been fine for 11 months since wiggling a few wires. Played up last weekend again so I unplugged the 4 pin connector from the PSU to the motherboard (this was the fault last time it happened) and when I plugged it back in again, everything was fine again - until last night.
Same symptoms as before. Delved a bit deeper and cleared the dust out of the PSU, then I noticed 2 swollen capacitors. Both 2200 uF, 6.3v.
2 Panasonic ones ordered last night from ebay for £1.78, dispatched this morning.
I know, I know, I ought to get a new PC and be done with it.
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How neat is your soldering?
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Good enough to get my BTEC 1st Certificate in electronic & mechanical engineering a few years ago, and I've kept my hand in since tinkering with electronics.
Ironically at school they said I've never be good at electronics because I'm colour blind. Turned out to a be a hobby of mine, and I do quite a few electronic repairs at work as well.
Granted, I'm no expert at diagnosing faults other than wires off, dry joints, obvious failed components that to the eye look knackered, etc, but I get by.
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2 capacitors replaced. Only time will tell if that's fixed it. Fingers crossed it's ok so far - touch wood.
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So presumably these capacitors are on the motherboard so it's not the hard drive failing?
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>> Back up Dave !!
Important stuff has been to both the 2nd internal har drive and an external drive.
>> So presumably these capacitors are on the motherboard so it's not the hard drive failing?
No, the PSU. Initially I thought the problem 11 months ago when it first happened was the HD because of the clunking it was making when first powered up.
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>>No, the PSU
So get a new and actually also a better PSU. They are cheap and it might avoid a PSU failure causing system failure. And a more efficient PSU will also reduce running costs too.
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It's just not worth it. The PC is on borrowed time now, especially if MS stop supporting WinXP on 8th April next year.
windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/end-support-help
Gotta make a decision soon. Not sure yet whether to donate the little used laptop I have (running Vista) and hook it up to my current 19" screen and USB keyboard / mouse, which will then become the base station, and then get myself a Tablet (most probably an iPad air). Or get myself a new desktop.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sun 24 Nov 13 at 00:29
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You can build a pretty decent desktop very cheaply. I am a big fan of the current Sandybridge based Celerons. With Windows 8.1 it will boot in seconds.
I get increasingly frustrated with XP boxes these days.
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I think my hard drive is failing - VxFan