Ironworks Gaming Forum - View Single Post - *sigh* Frustrating Computer Problem [Long]

slicer15 · 11-23-2004, 05:20 PM

Okay. This is going to be a little long, so bear with me.

I've had this problem with my PC for the past couple of weeks or so now, and it's got to the point where I want to cry. (Okay, over-exaggeration).

A little while ago my computer simply cut out, shutting down with no warning and not coming back on again. Pressing the power switch did nothing. I was slightly concerned, but I guessed the fuse blew, and replaced it. Sure enough, after replacing it, it switched on again, and everything seemed fine.

A few days later, it did the same thing. Switched off with no warning, not coming on again. It was then that warning bells went off in my mind. Surely a fuse can't blow twice within several days? But when I replaced the fuse again, it worked. Or seemed to. Now the problem was recurring. The PC would switch off, and only come on after the fuse being replaced (which, by the way, never blew. I tested it in a different plug and it worked fine, so the second fuse wasn't broken...i.e., it was the computer at fault). I was also later told I would have the same effect if I just unplugged it and left it unplugged for roughly thirty seconds.

I was very worried now. I was told it might dust clogging up fans and causing overheating, so I opened the case and completely de-dusted it. Don't worry, I knew what I was doing, and I didn't damage anything. However, after plugging a couple of wires inside back in (namely the power lead to the motherboard) it wouldn't detect the Hard Drive. I found out the IDE was bust, and it worked fine again after replacing it, but the shutting down problem changed to a rebooting one.

Now all it would do was reboot randomly by itself, again with no warning. However, it wouldn't do it if I installed programs, surfed the Internet or listened to Winamp (a music program). If I tried to play a game like Baldur's Gate however, it would reboot.

Later it worsened to doing it at any time, most commonly during an installation, rarely when doing something else. Games wouldn't run at all. I was told it might the power supply giving up the ghost, so I unplugged the power lead to my writer. It didn't have any effect, but I bought a new power supply anyway, replacing my 550W one with a 600W one. They essentially had the same output though, something which annoyed me. But I figured since the 550W lasted for about a year, the new one should too. No such luck. I've gotten further, like re-installing Baldur's Gate, but I still can't run it. It reboots at the menu, or during startup.

So, after that long-winded explanation, can anyone tell me what's happened, and a possible solution? It may be that I suffered a power surge without breaking the fuse (being 5 amp by the way) and damaging the IDE lead and God knows what else. Or maybe the Hard Drive is dying? I'm considering replacing it, but I want some input before forking out £50 - £70 on a new Hard Drive. I greatly appreciate any help. Here are my stats:

Processor: AMD Athlon 2400XP Running at 2.0GHz
Graphics Card: GeForce FX5200 128MB
On board networking/sound
Maxtor 80GB HDD
DVD Rom Drive
CD-RW Drive
600W, 230V power supply
Asrock K7S8X Series Motherboard

Could I have a virus? Whenever I try and scan using MacAfee or a free online scan it reboots...I haven't tried it recently though.

Again, thank you so much for plowing through this, and I greatly appreciate any input.

[ 11-23-2004, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: slicer15 ]

11-23-2004, 05:20 PM	#1
slicer15 Symbol of Cyric Join Date: November 12, 2002 Location: Banstead, Southeast England Age: 37 Posts: 1,162	Okay. This is going to be a little long, so bear with me. I've had this problem with my PC for the past couple of weeks or so now, and it's got to the point where I want to cry. (Okay, over-exaggeration). A little while ago my computer simply cut out, shutting down with no warning and not coming back on again. Pressing the power switch did nothing. I was slightly concerned, but I guessed the fuse blew, and replaced it. Sure enough, after replacing it, it switched on again, and everything seemed fine. A few days later, it did the same thing. Switched off with no warning, not coming on again. It was then that warning bells went off in my mind. Surely a fuse can't blow twice within several days? But when I replaced the fuse again, it worked. Or seemed to. Now the problem was recurring. The PC would switch off, and only come on after the fuse being replaced (which, by the way, never blew. I tested it in a different plug and it worked fine, so the second fuse wasn't broken...i.e., it was the computer at fault). I was also later told I would have the same effect if I just unplugged it and left it unplugged for roughly thirty seconds. I was very worried now. I was told it might dust clogging up fans and causing overheating, so I opened the case and completely de-dusted it. Don't worry, I knew what I was doing, and I didn't damage anything. However, after plugging a couple of wires inside back in (namely the power lead to the motherboard) it wouldn't detect the Hard Drive. I found out the IDE was bust, and it worked fine again after replacing it, but the shutting down problem changed to a rebooting one. Now all it would do was reboot randomly by itself, again with no warning. However, it wouldn't do it if I installed programs, surfed the Internet or listened to Winamp (a music program). If I tried to play a game like Baldur's Gate however, it would reboot. Later it worsened to doing it at any time, most commonly during an installation, rarely when doing something else. Games wouldn't run at all. I was told it might the power supply giving up the ghost, so I unplugged the power lead to my writer. It didn't have any effect, but I bought a new power supply anyway, replacing my 550W one with a 600W one. They essentially had the same output though, something which annoyed me. But I figured since the 550W lasted for about a year, the new one should too. No such luck. I've gotten further, like re-installing Baldur's Gate, but I still can't run it. It reboots at the menu, or during startup. So, after that long-winded explanation, can anyone tell me what's happened, and a possible solution? It may be that I suffered a power surge without breaking the fuse (being 5 amp by the way) and damaging the IDE lead and God knows what else. Or maybe the Hard Drive is dying? I'm considering replacing it, but I want some input before forking out £50 - £70 on a new Hard Drive. I greatly appreciate any help. Here are my stats: Processor: AMD Athlon 2400XP Running at 2.0GHz Graphics Card: GeForce FX5200 128MB On board networking/sound Maxtor 80GB HDD DVD Rom Drive CD-RW Drive 600W, 230V power supply Asrock K7S8X Series Motherboard Could I have a virus? Whenever I try and scan using MacAfee or a free online scan it reboots...I haven't tried it recently though. Again, thank you so much for plowing through this, and I greatly appreciate any input. [ 11-23-2004, 05:23 PM: Message edited by: slicer15 ]