I had a major breakdown today...please help

[ShinRa]

Yesterday I woke up to the worst feeling in the world. My computer not working. After only having it for a year it's already messed up. Once again I don't know what happened.

If you've been on this forum for about 2-3 years, you know my luck with computers. I've built 3 top of the line computers in 3 years, and every one of them has failed on me, some lasting longer than others.

I really thought I built one perfectly finally. I sent this one to a repair shop, not caring how much it would cost. I'm so distraught I literally broke down into tears. I just don't know what I did wrong.

The night before, there were no problems at all, ever. Not ONCE did I have a problem. Then I wake up, go to turn the computer on, and when it got to the XP loading screen, the bars just froze. I tried resetting it, and suddenly my monitor doesnt recognize my 1900XT. I run to STAPLES, pick up a regular video card, and try it, still nothing, no connection. I tried the RAM, everythings fine there. At the repair shop, we tested the PSU, 550W Antec and its perfectly fine. The repair guy thinks its the motherboard.

Point of this whole thing is, everytime my computers mess up, I never know what went wrong. I usually just end up building a new one. This one has my life on it though. All my memories, my pictures, my music, everything. If I get this thing back, I don't even care if it works (well I do but), but if I lose everything on that harddrive, I might be right for a mental home. I just don't know where I went wrong. Everything was going so perfectly....

Sorry to trouble you, thanks for reading. I just needed to voice myself, as I'm not exactly in the best of moods.

 

[Qonfused]

Try resetting the CMOS.

 

[Unfocused]

Sorry to hear that, but if you value the data on your HDD so much, can't you just plug it into another computer and burn the stuff onto DVD's (or at least check if the data is intact)?

 

[CyberPitz]

Sorry to hear that, but if you value the data on your HDD so much, can't you just plug it into another computer and burn the stuff onto DVD's (or at least check if the data is intact)?

That's what I would do...hook it up to another compouter and get that data off there.

 

[Tyguy]

if u get past the windows loading screen, run a diagnostic...should tell you where its failing

 

[giant384]

if you get the card to be recognized then try to go into safemode

 

[Zephos]

Lesson is... always back up important stuff.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

ShinRa: I think we should get you the Windows Home Server has a Christmas present.

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/whs_preview.asp

Sorry bout the computer man, but technology can be a bitch. Maybe you don't have enough fans in it or there's not enough airflow around the case. Maybe you're overclocking to get more performance and it decided to blow up? Maybe you just have bad luck with buying that sort of stuff.

Since it sounds like you have the money, go buy a pre-built one from Dell and enjoy the warranty it comes with

 

[Zephos]

Speaking of computers breaking down, mine is a pile of monkey penis and yet it's lasted a good 2 1/2 years without an upgrade... not to mention the tower being placed in a hot, dusty area. Pretty much every problem that my computer has had has been solved by removing the ram and putting it back in

 

[dream431ca]

what you can do is push F8 right before the windows XP loading screen comes up and choose "Load last configuration that worked...that may solve your problem..if it's software.

If it's hardware, check to see if your CPU fan is running. Some motherboards do not automatically switch off when the CPU gets to hot (although it should). Check your power supply and see if anything is unhooked or if something shorted out.

If you have the windows XP disk...load that up when you start your computer go to the command prompt in the windows setup disk and type chkdsk /r

That will repair any bad sectors....but it looks like it may be a hardware problem....unhook everything and hook everything in one by one until you see the problem.

Oh and if you are going to reformat, save your old hard drive. then when you install the new hard drive into your new computer, and you have space for a second hard drive put that one in...I have two hard drives, one running on SATA and the other on RAID. That way I can backup my data in case of a failure.

 

[giant384]

anothor recommendation is to dust out your pc,but its worth a try.

 

[ShinRa]

Thanks for all the support guys. I'm still without my comp, but this is the first time I could get to a computer since my first post. I brought it to a repair shop, the guy looked inside, complimented my comp, and then said "but why this motherboard? It's a very cheap ASUS board." Well that was BEFORE I told him the problem. After I DID tell him the problem, he did a series of tests, checking the video card, the memory, the harddrive, the power supply, and nothing turned up negative. He did a complete sweep over the weekend and it turns out (according to him at least, never know with these kinda people) that it is indeed my motherboard that has failed. Which explains a number of things, such as my mouse randomly not working when I start up my comp, and having to unplug and replug it back in before it works. I guess it was just the motherboards last start-up. Yay for a new $100 motherboard + $100 installation fee. ;(

 

[Qonfused]

$100 installation fee? Ew.

 

[giant384]

100 bux for a computer build???????? i would do it for 30 bux man. that is way to high just for an install.

 

[huntingbear]

don't pay them to put the frickin mobo in for you! do it yourself!

 

[giant384]

don't pay them to put the frickin mobo in for you! do it yourself!

when you think about though you are actually taking everything out and putting it on a new motherboard. its nothing like just changing a component like ram,cpu or some card thats in a slot. still though thats expensive to install all that. i recommend finding a friend who is knowledgeable with computer building or look elsewhere for a cheaper place to do it.