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Forums  > General  > Off Topic  > bad, bad comp     Display using: Flat View Threaded View   Oldest to newest Newest to oldest Previous Thread :: Next Thread   Author  Thread: bad, bad comp  T'mok Gurzi www.myspace.com Joined: 17 May 2006 Total Posts: 309 Send PM   bad, bad comp Posted: 06 Feb 2007 12:50 PM I want to apologize to all of the folks I've dropped out of conversations with lately. My gaming computer is fast and handles the game well when it's working right but I think it has a heat issue and is slowly turning the HDD to goo. It's a Dell XPS (Xploding Piece of Sh@#$%), but I think the HDD is giving me the finger more often than not at this point. I'm thinking I might invest in an external drive so the overheating isn't as much of an issue with destroying my hard drives every 6 months. Any tips or pointers or better options would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to defrag first, but I think there is no hope. T'mok Gurzi Resident Gnoll Warlord patron for the noble yet drink addled Timik Gorozai the Mistake  pdwalker Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Total Posts: 5692 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 06 Feb 2007 07:16 PM What model xps? Purpose in life: finding better ways of allowing players to kill themselves. Repeatedly. -- "...Cause he mixes it with love And makes the world taste good." -- <@James42> Lawful good isn't in your vocabulary, it's on your menu.  T'mok Gurzi www.myspace.com Joined: 17 May 2006 Total Posts: 309 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 06 Feb 2007 09:21 PM XPS Dimension Gen 2 I've wiped the primary HD and reinstalled the OS numerous times and I've gotten real good at it. This time though it seems my slave drive is getting damaged and that's where I actually keep stuff I want, like NWN. I was looking at networked external HDDs which would be very nice for my set-up, but I'm afraid NW won't load from it. I saved all of my NW files in a shared folder on my other comp last night just as a back up and just to try it I attempted to start the game over the network. Of course it didn't work. T'mok Gurzi Resident Gnoll Warlord patron for the noble yet drink addled Timik Gorozai the Mistake  pdwalker Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Total Posts: 5692 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 07 Feb 2007 01:01 AM 1) Why do you keep reinstalling the OS? 2) Why do you think the slave drive is getting damaged? 3) Why do you think the computer is getting too hot internally? Can you keep your finger pressed without discomfort to the hard drives for a period of 10 seconds? Purpose in life: finding better ways of allowing players to kill themselves. Repeatedly. -- "...Cause he mixes it with love And makes the world taste good." -- <@James42> Lawful good isn't in your vocabulary, it's on your menu.  Arathon vives.dyndns.org Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Total Posts: 1885 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 07 Feb 2007 08:53 AM Is it still under warranty with Dell? Sounds like a newer machine, so worth looking :) Vives Screenshots!  T'mok Gurzi www.myspace.com Joined: 17 May 2006 Total Posts: 309 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 07 Feb 2007 11:42 AM 1) I keep reinstalling the OS because the primary disk becomes unreadable and that's the only thing that can be done to get it back up. Usually works very well for about 6 months before it declines and eventually fries. With back ups in place it's cheaper than a new machine. 2)My secondary drive usually remains intact and it has survived many reinstalls. This time I've noted a marked reduction in load time after a reboot on a couple of occasions that my secondary drive failed to register at all and working on my primary drive seems to cause very little lag. In fact, a reinstall of just NWN might be worth a shot, but it's just another stop gap measure. 3) It has always run very hot, difficult to handle the HDD after the machine's been on a while. The one Dell technician that came commented on it, but she was only prepared to replace the HDDs 4) Dell technicians repeatedly told me it was virus contamination until my warranty ran out. Viruses are handy that way. Later I learned substandard components were used that caused this issue. Even that is just word of mouth. (my fault that I didn't yell loud enough after being put off by Dell service many times until the warranty ran out. Suffice it to say I'll never buy another Dell again) About a year ago I bought a new computer that has been very reliable. My wife insisted because she needed a dependable computer for work, so it's not as available as I would like. Also it's working so well, I hesitate to fill it up with games and NWVault gunk Basically, I'm still trying to get some value out of it without it becoming a complete money pit. The purchase of a new computer was enough. If I can get peripherals that I can use later or from my other machine then I increase overall functionality of my network even if the Dell literally melts. I might strip it down to an OS with internet access and occasional "danger" storage capacity and try to work on external drives. Is that feasible? T'mok Gurzi Resident Gnoll Warlord patron for the noble yet drink addled Timik Gorozai the Mistake  Rosen Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Total Posts: 241 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 07 Feb 2007 11:49 AM There was a recent situation where one of the little, crappy, plastic screws which held down the fan on my friend's processor came loose, so the fan wasn't flush against the processor itself and therefore wasn't doing its job as a heat sink. It created a host of problems as the compy continually overheated. Is there any play if you try to wiggle it around? If so, it's an easy fix. True solace is finding none, which is to say, it is everywhere. -Gretel Ehrlich  T'mok Gurzi www.myspace.com Joined: 17 May 2006 Total Posts: 309 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 07 Feb 2007 11:58 AM *laughs maniacally* If a loose screw is my problem I owe you a sundae...and then I'll go shoot myself T'mok Gurzi Resident Gnoll Warlord patron for the noble yet drink addled Timik Gorozai the Mistake  Tasra www.bgmod.com Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Total Posts: 1364 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 07 Feb 2007 12:11 PM If you're going to shoot yourself over a loose screw, you might just have a loose screw :o  Bolgryn Joined: 07 Nov 2004 Total Posts: 165 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 07 Feb 2007 01:55 PM I had a similar problem when I was upgrading my computer. Except it was a metal screw that found its way under my motherboard, and caused a short - the computer would stay on for so long, then just shut down - out of a built in safety precaution or the problem itself I don't know. Very easy fix though. CHOO CHOO! - - - - - - Bereil Yadashem. Markus Mortriety, Herald of Novus Aristi.  T'mok Gurzi www.myspace.com Joined: 17 May 2006 Total Posts: 309 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 13 Feb 2007 10:26 AM The band-aid for now was a defrag, and a reinstall of NWN and my video card drivers. Have yet to look for the apocalyptic loose screw. T'mok Gurzi Resident Gnoll Warlord patron for the noble yet drink addled Timik Gorozai the Mistake  Applecorn Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Total Posts: 58 Send PM   Re: bad, bad comp Posted: 16 Feb 2007 06:12 AM I find it is better to just build your own computer from scratch. I know, I know, who wants to learn all of that stuff, not to mention by the time you learn it, it’s gone obsolete. But I think of all the times I had to sit on the phone with Gateway and how they where telling me this and that when I didn’t have a clue what they where talking about. Then I had a theory that it would take me the same amount of time to learn about computers as it took to wait on the phone or watch the timing bars on windows as I reinstalled stuff. I am not sure which took longer nowadays because I am always learning new stuff, like now I am playing my drives in a RAID configuration. But one thing I can say is that learning is a pleasure where waiting on hold and reinstalling never was. Previous Thread :: Next Thread  Page 1 of 1   Forums  > General  > Off Topic  > bad, bad comp