Need help bigtime.............

[I'ddie4him2]

I have a Dell dimension 2400 here that is majorly messed up.
I have had to reinstall the OS, Windows XP, A couple times now.
I keep getting error messages and stuff saying the system has recovered from a fatal error. The pc shuts down on me and reboots several times in a row.
I am starting to wonder if my hd is about ready to take a nose dive on me. I have a 40gb hitachi hd in it right now. I found a seagate 80 gb for 70 bucks at bestbuy.

Before I go any further, I need to know what I can do besides scan for lost sectors and stuff. I have already tried a check disk/F and no help.
Used the install cd to go thru the troubleshooting stuff with no results either.

Any ideas here folks ?? I'm about ready to pull out my hair.

 

[somedude]

Sounds to me like a faulty power supply or an overheating computer.

 

[micro]

Somedude is most likely right. A weak psu (power suply). It itsn your hd, but hitachi isnt known for making a good hd. seagate does make a good hd though.

A good name brand is prefered for a new psu, like antec or thermaltake. Watts isnt everything. Look for a good +12v rail of 18 amps or higher.

Also a driver may be causing this problem, but most likely the psu.

Also thats why dell can sell things so cheap! They use downgraded or cheap parts often times, Not always though.

One more thing you might try is to go in through bios and up the voltage to your ram to 2.75 volts. and see if it runs more stable.

Go to newegg.com and save a ton of cash on pc parts.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148015
The same hd $56 with s&h

 

[Battie]

I'm not sure I agree that it's the PSU. It certainly could be, but if it were he probably would not be getting error reports when the computer comes back up.

Try this:

Right click on My Computer.
Select Properties.
Go to the Advanced tab.
Go to the Startup and Recovery Section.
Click Settings.
Under System Failure, uncheck the Automatic Restart box.

Now if this happens again, you should see a Blue Screen of Death (properly known as a STOP error). Take note of the information see: write down the number after the word STOP, the title of the error, and the four numbers that follow it which are in parentheses. If there is a driver named (you'll see a file name somewhere in the middle of the screen) write down that too. Then post that here and we'll see if we can do anything about it.

This information isn't always helpful, but sometimes it's a good clue.

 

[Qyöt27]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148015
The same hd $56 with s&h

I'm pretty sure that's the same one I was looking at on Amazon (here), and the sole reviewer mentioned something about two $30 rebates. I know something like that isn't likely now, but how likely are rebates in general on that particular drive (at newegg or Amazon, if they aren't the same one). I was thinking about asking for it for Christmas along with an enclosure, but if the price isn't subject to lowering by rebates I'll have to pass on it. If I had a job I'd save up and get the 300GB model instead, which would completely eradicate my storage space problems, but I'm not exactly in that kind of position right now.

 

[I'ddie4him2]

I did go in as far as I could and checked the case, the fan, and other drivers and stuff. Everything seems to be in order.

As for the bios and upping the voltage to the ram, I will need details on how to do this. I'm not that savvy to do this on my own.

I do have 512 mb of ram in it, I have a P4, 2.65 gb cpu, and also replaced my vid card recently. Could that have anything to do with it ?

The vid card is an nvidea 6800 geforce, with built in 2.56 processor.

Any help is most definitely appreciated.

 

[Orchids]

There was a virus going around a few months ago that continually rebooted the computer. Are you running anti-virus software? Is it up to date? Maybe that is what it is. If you are reinstalling the software, are you formatting the hard drive before you do so? Otherwise, the virus (if that is what it is) will remain there.

 

[simplicity]

I feel your computer might croak maybe because of permanent chip damage. But in the event that it doesn't, I would put in a fresh clock battery (which can affect the startup sequence). I believe your harddrive like many harddrives probably contains a few bad sectors, which only a surface-level scandisk can mark. But you know I have a hard time getting a full surface-level scan completed on my computers.

I actually had a similar problem on my W98 system, which fried its motherboard, powersupply and both harddrives. Fortunately I had extended warranty. I just kept laughing because I essentially got a new computer.

 

[micro]

It isnt a virus.
It is most likly from installing your new video card. Nice card by the way. Was your old card ati or nvidea?
Go to "add remove programs" remove your drivers through there. i know this works with ati, im not sure that it works with nvidea, i dont rember. Its been a few years since i used one.(remove both ati and nvidea drivers, ati control panel etc)

People also recomend that you use a program called "ragcleaner" to make sure that you dont have any driver components left on your system.

Although you have the disk (cd rom) download the latest drivers from nvidea.com . Updated drivers often have fixes for conflicts like these. Reinstall the new driver. If you still have a problem, then you can try the ram voltage.

While the pc is booting press "deleate" I dont rember what option will allow you to change your ram voltage. My pc's mobo is msi so i have different options in bios. Also being a boxed pc often these options may not be there. Search around in there and see if there is an option for "ram voltage" If so just bring it up one step at a time and see if it runs more stable. 2.5v,2.6v,2.7v.....something like that, if you have smaller increments use them. If this is the problem you will notice your system becoming more stable and less crashes. dont excede 2.75v if possible.

So the new video card drivers conflicting with old drivers is most likly the problem. A bad chipset like simplicity said would cause this problem but since you reacently installed a vid card, its not as likely.

Also open "device manager"......
"start" right click "my computer, proporties" "hardware" "device manager" "view, recorces by type" "interupt reuest(irq)"
Scroll down and see if your video card is using the same "irq" as one of your pci cards...modem, sound card, ethernet card...etc..

If so place that pci card into a different slot, you may have to reinstall drivers for that pci card. They maybe haveing a conflict beteen irq port settings. Haveing your video card on its own irq will increase your preformance in gaming.

 

[I'ddie4him2]

I did a full system reinstall today after a full format and so far no problems.
Seems to be doing well and is more stable than before. Only problem I encountered was a little setting with the new video card and the display settings. I had the video card set at 32 bit and the display settings was set at 16. The moniter was blinking a bit on me. I changed the settings so they were the same and no more problems.

 

[Orchids]

I did a full system reinstall today after a full format and so far no problems.
Seems to be doing well and is more stable than before. Only problem I encountered was a little setting with the new video card and the display settings. I had the video card set at 32 bit and the display settings was set at 16. The moniter was blinking a bit on me. I changed the settings so they were the same and no more problems.

Hope you have continued good luck then!!

 

[igeoffi]

I found a seagate 80 gb for 70 bucks at bestbuy.

paying too much
costs about $30 now
I think it's your motherboard or whatever new hardware you put in.

 

[I'ddie4him2]

paying too much
costs about $30 now
I think it's your motherboard or whatever new hardware you put in.

The MB is fine, A friend checked it for me. The new hardware has no conflicts anywhere.

The HD I found was the cheapest anywhere.

 

[micro]

paying too much
costs about $30 now
I think it's your motherboard or whatever new hardware you put in.

Um... $30 ...Where, you cant get one that size for under $50. If you forund one post a link please...

 

[I'ddie4him2]

Um... $30 ...Where, you cant get one that size for under $50. If you forund one post a link please...

My thoughts too.
Link please ??

 

[dkaiser]

My Dell computer did the exact same thing a couple months ago. Had to do a complete format of the HD and reinstall everything. It has been fine ever since. I got a virus from downloading a game.

 

[I'ddie4him2]

My Dell computer did the exact same thing a couple months ago. Had to do a complete format of the HD and reinstall everything. It has been fine ever since. I got a virus from downloading a game.

Funny thing, My wife has a Dell Dimension 2350 and hers never has had a problem at all.
Mine has done this since I got it a year ago.