PC trouble shooting

[tyboogie]

hey guys--im at my wits end here

a couple weeks ago my PC started freezing up and when it didnt freeze up it would tell me my network cable was unplugged (dsl cable) --which it wasnt

ive updated my virus defs through norton and even cleaned out my fans with the little air squirters (noob)

my only other thought is that maybe its my ethernet card--but that wouldnt explain the comp freezing

a friend also advised reinstalling windows and everything (bleh)

any thoughts before i hall ol' betsy into the techs and fork over $ to have em look her over?

i appreciate any time/response you can give


tyler

[benzo]

tyboogy,

you might want to open her up and clean out all the dust inside. Thats usually the main biggest problem I have. those air squirters are handy, but so is a vacuum.

Make sure your video card and PCI slots and ethernet card are secure. If you can, sometimes its good to take them out and put them back in carefully.

If that doesn't solve it, it may just be you have low memory. Or it might be a bigger problem, like an inconsistent hard drive.

Does your dsl service ever give out? I think my dsl disconnects every once in a while, and maybe your cpu doesn't like that for whatever reason.

hope that helps. make sure you unplug the cpu before you touch anything, cus you could hurt urself or bust ur BIOS on your motherboard.

tangent- I just had both my hard drives die suddenly, and then when i was trying to fix them, my motherboard bios busted. it sux. best buy can sometimes recover your hard drives for like 80 bucks or somethin. never get a hard drive more than 80 gig. i had a 100 gig and it didnt last a year. they get fried cus theyre too big. i replaced that with a 40 gig and its fine and plenty and less noisy.

good luck!

[nil]

well, i wouldnt go pulling out your cpu anytime soon. youre asking for problems if you do that. but before you start pulling cards in and out, unplug your computer from the wall. make sure youre grounded (if you dont have an anti-static strap [which im guessing you dont] just touch a bit of bare metal on the case) before you touch any components inside.

the ethernet problem and the computer freezing could well be unrelated. your best bet is to clean out all the dust and make sure your fans are all running. freeze-ups are often due to overheating problems.

try reinstalling the network card drivers. you could maybe try swapping your ethernet card with a friends and see if it stops complaining (if it does your ethernet card is probably faulty.)

good luck :)

[AnarchyAo2]

If you have a recovery disk that came with your computer, put it in, reboot and do a recovery. You can choose between 2, 1 is a full recovery. Everything is erased and new files are stored onto the PC. 2nd, repairs any software damage done to the PC, but if there was a virius, it probably wouldn't get rid of it.
Another method: When you reboot your PC the inproper way, sometimes it creates "bad clusters" on your hard drive. So, next time you reboot the improper way, let scandisk try to repair all of those damages. Also, defragging might be good.

BTW, I'm not a PC expert, but I kept my other computer alive for 2 years (A 4 year old PC, running MMORPGs). I would have to spin the fan with my finger everytime i rebooted. Sort of like you did with those old airplane propellers. And 1/2 the secotors on my hard drive were ruined from the PC freezing so much. I used the recovery disk so much that it eventually broke in 1/2 inside the CD-ROM. So, I've got a lot of personal experience with troubleshooting. But, the methods I've just mentioned are strictly harmless. Its like spring cleaning to the computer.

[tyboogie]

thx alot guys--all good suggestions

ill give em a go--ty

[Aven]

Is your DSL modem USB? If so, you may have too many USB devices connected and the USB bus may have dificulties reading the modem. It is a long shot as you would have to have quite a few USB devices connected and on, but I just thought that I would mention it.

[cybercyst]

If you have a Dell or Gateway or something...couldn't you call your technical support service? Maybe they could help you out.