Vanity: Need Computer Help

none | 09/18/06 | self

[Eccl 10:2]

Need assistance from any techno-geeks out there, please.

OK - my PC (emachines T1840, Celeron 1.8Ghz) died. I went to turn it on a week ago and nothing happened. The power supply fan was not working.

I would like to get this running, and also retrieve our family photos on the hard drive.

So I replaced the power supply - didn't work.

Then I replaced the motherboard - didn't work.

Next I replaced the processor - didn't work.

Last I replaced the RAM - didn't work.

At this point, all I get is a fast ticking sound in time with the hard-drive LED blinking in the front - about 2x per second. That's all. No beeps. No acknowledgement on the screen of any activity.

Help? Any ideas?

[toldyou]

I went away for four days in July, turned my computer off, but left it plugged into the surger. Upon returning, my neighbor told me of the bad storm that went through our area. I wasn't aware that a computer should be unplugged during a storm. Anyhow, I took it to a local repair shop and to Best Buy. Both told me my computer was "fried." It was four years old, and I had nothing on it worth saving.

Also, after having taken at least a hundred pictures on my digital camera during that four day get-away, my memory card showed an "error" while attempting to develop the pictures. Ritz camera shop told me there was nothing they could do about it. I mentioned it to the guys at Best Buy. They gave me a phone # in Denver, who in turn, directed me to these people (below). I sent them my memory card, and they called last week saying they retreived all my pictures. Needless to say, I am most grateful!

They specialize in recovering data from hard drives and camera cards. The service was wonderful!

http://www.sectorlogics.com
1-866-804-1914

Sector Logics, Inc.
8555 West Belleview Avenue
Suite G21-137
Littleton, CO 80123
Attention: Service Department

[ThePythonicCow]

Ah - some more thoughts - on how to avoid this next time. Here's what I recommend doing to avoid this problem:

• Backups ... disk to disk backups to an external drive that you plug in via USB 2.0 or Firewire is the most convenient and practical method at present. Get two external drives and swap them every so often, keeping the other one a distance removed.
• Keep the drives cool. I have had far fewer drive problems once I became aggressive about buying fans and computer chasis and driver coolers that keep the drive temps low.
• I only buy Seagate drives. Perhaps it's superstition, but that brand fails less often for me.
• For serious use at work, we use RAID (disk mirroring) but I haven't gotten around to trying that at home.
• Don't use old drives. I keep upgrading my drives every couple years. I upgrade because I need the space, but it means I'm not depending on old drives either.

[VastRWCon]

emachine? You should have used money for the upgrade that you spent trying to fix it to buy something brand new and something other than an emachine. JMO. Every time I buy a new computer it is faster/cheaper and better than the previous one and worth every penny.

[Lexinom]

djf's point is spot-on. Start with as little as possible. You've replaced a lot of stuff. It is very, very possible that, in trying the fix the original problem you've inadvertently created others. This is not your fault, but is a result of the overall poor hardware quality that characterizes modern PC components.

When I was in this situation most recently it had to do with the seating of the memory SIMMS (or DIMMS, or whatever they're calling them nowadays). Screen would not come on, nothing. Maybe even the clicking, don't remember. What you do is make certain they are making contact and are firmly seated in the sockets. Possibly clean them with a 91% alcohol-dabbed Q-Tip (wait a few minutes for alcohol to evaporate if you do this.). Ensure the notch on the bottom edge matches up with the little hump in the socket seating.

A quick note on processors, fwiw: replacing the processor is a pain, as today's processors are so electrically inefficient you could practically heat a small room with them; make DARNED SURE you've got that heatsink fully contacting the CPU, and preferably with a dab of silicon grease between them. One split second without a heatsink is sufficient to fry it.

This is just from my experience. I defer to the experts of course, but want to emphasize djf's point: minimize the potential points of failure and take baby steps.

[djf]

I've had the same problem with SIMMs. Best once you get them seated and working, never mess with them again.

BTW, you know what I use for the heat sinks? Gives great contact and has never failed on me. Solid at room temp but melts quickly.

Vaseline.

[Cold Heat]

LOL.....Vasoline?

I have a tube of heat sink grease I'll sell! LOL....

Works better because of the lead oxide...

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I haven't tried hitting DEL in an effort to get hte BIOS setup screen.

This is the one thing you should do to verify the hard drive's status. Once into the BIOS you can check to see if the BIOS will do an auto detect of the hard drive. It should be in Standard CMOS or andvanced chipset areas.

If the HDD is bad the BIOS will not be able to detect it.

[JRios1968]

Ahem...are you logged in? (ducking and running...)

[Eccl 10:2]

"Ahem...are you logged in? (ducking and running...)"

---

LOL - i'm on another computer. Hope you can run fast...

[Fawn]

Can somoene tell me the best software program to buy that copies DVD movies? I want backups of my expensive DVD TV shows.
Right now I am on my lst days of DVD Xcopy trial version....but it doesn't play on both of my DVD players....only one.

ALSO.....I need to buy a player for my computer. WINDVD costs alot....isn't there something less out there than $80.00 for a player?

[A CA Guy]

AnyDVD + CloneDVD2 would back up your owned DVDs just fine and you get the needed occasional upgrades for free.

I don't know how much it would put you out, maybe $70 for both?

I let my nephew backup my owned stuff for me. This way we can damage the copies and can save the originals from harm.

[Michael Goldsberry]

I do Operating Systems. Please don't associate my name with this subject again.

Thank you.

[A CA Guy]

Buy any new cheap DVD drive writable or not and it will come with a dvd player for free.
Frys might get a regular DVD player/burner on sale for $29 and various players sell the 16x burnable DVDs with Lightscribe for no more than $39.

[A CA Guy]

Was a pertinent question since so many own these days maybe a thousand dollars in DVDs and they don't want to lose them all to grandkids and such.

[Michael Goldsberry]

Hello, Guy. Good to see you.

[A CA Guy]

Same to you.

I can't tell you how many people always have problems with their computers like the two asking for help on this thread.
The other day I had to spend a bit of time getting someone with a new laptop straightened away registering the thing and getting rid of junk like AOL offers... Ugh!

[Fawn]

I have a dvd recording drive I put in last weekend....no software program came with it ....and I was told that most commercial programs won't copy many DVD's. I do not intend on selling them...or passing them out...I want backups of my expensive ones. Ever hear of DVD Xcopy? What about 1Click Dvd Copy? Thanks...

[Fawn]

I don't know what that means...but I only picked up your name becuase it was on this thread to begin with.....I thought you were helping someone.....won't bother you again.

[Dinsdale]

'DVD shrink' plus Nero burning rom will copy most DVDs.

DVD decrypter will get most of the rest (with the new Disney copy protection).

Nero likely came with you drive. The others can be Googled and downloaded.

[A CA Guy]

Most DVD drives come with software that plays and captures scenes from movies, they do not come with the other kind of software.

The ones I mentioned earlier are the two that work together that are the only ones I know of that will do what you want to back up your owned DVDs.