Blue Screen + Refusal to turn on (lots of details)

[TealJellyfish]

Very Long SORRY

I have been having trouble with my computer for AGES but as I have one at work and I havent had the money to fix it I have been living with the issues.

1) It started with random turning off. Not restarting or shutting down just turning off and wouldnt turn back on. After a couple of hours or over night it would eventually turn back on. That one has stopped (It has changed from summer to winter if thats relevent)

2) Then it started getting slow (I have virus scanned it but mine is out of date am going to go home and down load the recommended ones) I use photoshop and when running a filter my music in Itunes jumps (WTf???)

3) Next it was that it would get stuck loading up at the memory check and stay there. This is the one that worries me the most. I have limited tech skills but I was thinking hardware issue...


Last night it was doing 2 AND 3 and then it pulled something new. I have 2 harddrives and it wasnt showing my 2nd one. So I restarted it. It did issue 3. I restarted again and it did actually start up and it once again had the hard drive there. I immediatly started backing up files to my BFs Ipod.

Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this? I am going to clean out my system tonight with the recommended things but what else can I do that may help? I am saving to have it looked at by a tech and I want to create an image of my computer so I can keep my programs that I either A) No longer have disks or or B) my ex put on my computer and I never had disks for such as photoshop etc.

Some help would be great I have put in everything I can think of. If anything isnt clear Ill try and explain better!

[CancelMyService]

2 and 3 kind of send up flags that it might be a memory-resident virus, which can be a pain in the ass to get rid of. #1 may suggest a power supply issue. Check for dust bunnies, and maybe get a new one if it persists.

Keep us posted on the results of your virus scanners. I recommend running Spybot on it too jus to be safe.

[Pedersen]

This problem screams heat dissipation issues to me. Quick and easy fixes to do that will help to show you if I'm right:

1. Go and get a can of compressed air (Staples, Wal-Mart, Office Max, Office Depot, all of them have it for about $5). Use it to blow any/all dust out of your computer. IMPORTANTDo not hold the can upside down while doing so! It will drip, and you don't want to throw more water into electronics! Hold it straight up and down.
2. Go and get a fan from somewhere in the house. Leaving the case open, point that fan right at the center of the main board, and turn it on high. Use your computer until it either shuts off or several hours have passed with it still working.

If it stays running for several hours after #2, you definitely have a heat issue. Take it to a local mom/pop computer shop, tell them you did the top two steps, and are fairly certain you've got a heat problem. They'll replace the CPU fan with a new one, reapply some thermal grease, and be done.

Estimated repair costs: Less than $100 (and that's with a $50 CPU fan). They won't even have to spend 20 minutes doing the replacement.

[technical.angel]

I really agree with Pedersen, it sounds like a heat issue.

Another thing with compressed air is to do short bursts, and stop when the can starts getting cold.

If you haven't opened the case before, don't worry, just don't unplug anything, and you'll be fine!

Jenni

[Shabo]

The first problem definitely sounds like a heat problem. Another thing to worry about is that your HDD might be failing (possible result of the heat problem). Definitely ghost your drives, and see if you can get a hold of any diagnostic tests for them. You might just want to wait until you can bring it in to a tech store to do that, but either way... make sure you back up everything.

[technical.angel]

Just occured to me. Right-click on My Computer, choose properties, and on that first window, how much RAM does it say you have? (I'm not asking how much you have, but what's listed. 2 & 3 MIGHT be a symptom of a stick going out.

[protege]

I was going to mention that excessive heat might be causing the problems. I have a machine at home that would *not* stay cool if the case's side panels were on. It was constantly locking up, and just being a pain. However, if one of the panels was removed, it worked fine Turns out that the fans simply couldn't handle the heat, and were causing the drives to overheat.

[digilight]

I agree with the Heat issue. I also would like to suggest potential Mother Board issues (possibly caused by the heat). There is a chance that cleaning out the dust will help this as well.

When the computer is freezing at the memory check during the boot or not finding one of the hard drives it is failing the Post Test. (Certain things it looks for/checks/etc prior to launching windows). This could be caused by a number of things such as memory failing, hard drive failing, motherboard failing, too hot in the case, or dust causing issues with the circuitry.

For the record I have a computer in the shop that will "loose the primary IDE channel (the 2 hard drives) if it is too hot.