PC Sick ???

Hello all & Happy New Year!
Okay my problem is this,,my HP Pavillion 8575C that a friend was kind enough to give me a year and a half ago seems to be getting tired I just did a clean install of Win98se because I thought it might take care of the problems. The PC started to lock-up like 10 times a day. That was before the Clean Install. I can tell that its going to start locking up again. All ready has twice in first day. I do quite a bit of trying out lots of software. I keep the registry clean as I know how to. I use RegCleaner by Jouni Vuorio.
i don't know why all the lock-up all of a sudden & with the new install of Operating System has me confused. I would love a new PC but $$ tight right now. Thinking that XP may be a more stable Operating System but something is causing the lock-ups ?
The PC is a PenIII- 550Mhz, 384 MB of RAM, 20GB HD, CD Burner, W98se, Cable Internet, etc. I keep hard drive fairly empty, only use about 2 to 3 GB of space. Sorry, thats all info I can provide. The lockups come at no paticular times.
Thanks,,Paul

 

Doesn't seem SW related, if you reformatted and newly installed
the OS. Maybe take it to a good tech to check all the seatings
and connections ?
regards

 

Sounds like it could very well be heat buildup. Vacuum out all the air vents, both front and back. If that doesn't help, if you're comfortable opening the case, do so and vacuum out the accumulated dust, debris and any vermin which may have made a home in there.

You can also use canned air to blow out the inside of the case, just be careful to keep the can upright to avoid spraying any of that white stuff (what is that white stuff, anyway?).

 

Thank you Merlin & Miz,,I will clean it out but I do clean it with the Compressed Air often. It gets dusty under my Desk...It was fine almost the year & a half till just before Xmas when it started to freeze. I can't restart it with the 3 finger salute (ctrl-alt-del) it has to be unplugged
I leave my PC on constantly,,it doesn't feel any warmer,,I will clean it , can't hurt
Thanks,,Paul

 

Thanks broni,,yup I restart it each morning to get the resoursces back up to 80%. I'm just at a loss as to why the lock-ups now. Would XP be of any help, more stable is all you read!
Thanks again broni for your help,,
~~Paul~~

 

Seen this sort of thing before, might be the hard drive is on its last legs.

 

Hey "T ", I was waiting to see if anyone thought that too. I have had HD go before, not this PC but others. Anyway, they always made the clicking & banging sounds. This one is quiet as can be. Too bad there isn't a test I could run to check out the Hard Drive
My next question is that this PC came with a 20GB HD and I was wondering if it would take a larger one? I don't require much larger, but the 20GB may be hard to find now.
Thank you for the help Tel33
~~Paul~~

 

In my experience hard drives dont always make a noise unless its a mechnical failure, you may have a sticking auctuator in the drive that stops the heads moving over the surface of the platters, this would cause lock ups too.

As you say there is not an easy way of checking this fault, but there are programs that you can use to test the drive, look at the manufactuers of the drive website, they sometimes have utilities that can check the driver for problems.

The other problems might be that the memory is giving problems, again you can find utilities to check this problem on the web. Take out the memory and make sure the contacts are clean, use a rubber on the contacts, blow out any dust that maybe present in the memory slot.

About the heat problem, I suggest you check the fan on the CPU is going ok and the heatsink is seated ok on the CPU, also make sure the power supply fan is ok. It maybe that the power supply is failing, this is very difficult to diagnose unless you can measure the voltage etc. Best leave that till last though.

This does sound like a hardware fault in my opinion, have you tried to start it in Safe Mode to see if the problem occurs then?

If the problem does not occur in Safe Mode then it maybe a hardware driver, Safe Mode uses only basic drivers to run the pc and no other programs are loaded so its just Windows that is running, at least this will tell you if it is a hardware or software fault, although this is not always true sadly.

Oh yes, the size of hard drive depends on the bios, older bios's had a limit, older pc could only take up to 20.4gb, even olders ones could only take up to 8gb and if you go back further they could only take 745mb if I remember correctly, probably wrong though my memory is failing and I am oly 39 LOL!

If you dont need extra space then go for the same size as you have now to be sure it will be ok.

If you have a friend with a larger drive maybe he could fit it in your pc to see if it is recognised?

You might be able to update the bios to accept larger drives, the maunfacturers website might have this but it can be very dangerous to do and can kill the motherboard if it goes wrong. Has happened to me before, nothing you can do either to stop it, it can be fixed but thats another story.

In my opinion if you dont need the space stick with what you have now, 20gb drives are becoming a rarity now but can still be found if you look hard enough.

One last thing, when you vacuum it out, be very careful as it can cause a static build up that can damage componants!! Best to use a can of compressed air rather than a standard vacuum, you can buy special vacuum cleaners that eliminate this problem but a domestic one can kill a pc stone dead!

Let me know how you get on.

Cheers
tel33

 

EXCELLENT!!!

Great post tel33 and by the way, "Welcome to the Forum ". i really appreaciate all the info , helpful is putting it mildly. I will follow your advice & I will let you know what i found. Memory is new (Crucial.com) so i feel pretty good about that, but anything can go down...
Thanks again Tel
~~Paul~~

 

My pleasure and thanks, was on here before but got wiped off due to an attack on the forum if I remember correctly.

PC's are a pain I know but most problems can be sorted.
Cheers
tel33

 

Hey broni,,I just did the clean install this past saturday (Jan.3) I reloaded the basic software I use, nothing newer than I had before the Freeze troubles. i never get an error message & it can happen when I'm on-line, using my printer,trying to think now, seems that I'm always on-line. I'm going to write down the things I have open when it freezes..Thanks again broni ,,
~~Paul~~

 

Your last post is most interesting.

Is your printer a USB connected one?

What modem or way do you connect to the internet, is it by anyway a USB modem?

Are you using USB for anything else?

What chipset do you have in the PC?

Regards
tel33

 

Hello Tel33, yes my Printer is connected by USB. Its a Lexmark All In-One (Scan,Copy & Print) I have a Cable Internet. My other USB stuff is my Camera, to download my pictures from camera to PC. Thats about it on USB "T ". Now I hope you don't laugh, but what do you mean by my Chip set? Do you mean is it a Pentium or AMD I think they call the other.
Okay, Thanks,,
~~Paul~~

 

Hi there
By chipset I mean what is running your motherboard?

For instance I have an Intel chipset, but there are Via chipsets, and others, its not the processor though.

The chipset is a little black normally square chip with lots of small pins coming out of it on the motherboard itself, there maybe two and they may have fans on them although I doubt that as your pc is old.

If you can read the words on it then write them down and tell me. Some chipsets have problems with USB and some USB modems, this might be your problem.

I am guessing its an Intel chipet as you have an Intel processor but you will need to look at your motheboard manual to see what chipset it has.

One thing I suggest you do is disconnect all usb stuff you have now and just leave the cable internet in, is this also connected via USB or by a card at the back?

One other thing is your power supply only a micro atx 180watt one? These have a habit of packing in, I am also helping someone with a power supply problem on here, let me know.

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=133040#post133040

Above is the thread for you to look at.

Cheers
tel33

 

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/hub_search/document.jhtml?lc=en&docName=bph05190#P7_163

Is this your pc specs?

 

Interesting problem eh broni