I'm really getting frustrated with computer problems that are plaguing it. My notebook seems to be on the verge of a complete and total breakdown and I'm nearly there myself. Its hard enough to go through class then come back to only have to deal with computer plague issues.
Today: It crashes twice. Don't know why. It just does.
And recently the amount of seeable graphic errors are starting to increase (in-game and while doing simple stuff like Internet).
Is there anyway to know if heat has damaged a hardware component? I'd really like to know.
Thanks.
King
:mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :mad2:
could be a virus, but with grafical errors could be a sign of either a video card failure or your motherboard is dying.
Quote from: iceman on February 28, 2008, 07:02:36 PM
could be a virus, but with grafical errors could be a sign of either a video card failure or your motherboard is dying.
-_- if its a video card failure or motherboard dying.....Gateway owes me big time.
King
I had these same type of crashes when my motherboard was dying, have you ruled out a virus?
Quote from: iceman on February 28, 2008, 07:04:53 PM
I had these same type of crashes when my motherboard was dying, have you ruled out a virus?
Well....there is this worm that my anti-virus seems unable to rid itself of. -_- It can't seem to get rid of it fully but it hasn't spread either so...idk...I really hate this thing.
Running a virus scan to see if its still there.
King
C:\DOCUME~1\Timothy\LOCALS~1\Temp\$3AB84E61.t$m
C:\DOCUME~1\Timothy\LOCALS~1\Temp\$061B5336.t$m
C:\DOCUME~1\Timothy\LOCALS~1\Temp\$0F932386.t$m
These are three of eight files that had a worm/virus in them. these are the same that have been dected for about a week. But it seems they don't move/are undeletable.
-_-
King
No Virus name has come up for this what program is detecting it as a virus or worm.
Avast Anti-Virus is the program. there is no name for the virus.
King
I suggest you go to majorgeeks.com and type in the search window, Norman.
It will bring you to a file caled Norman Malware Cleaner. It was able to detect and remove a virus that I was not able to remove from my computer
This hopefully will work if not try AVG Antispyware or Super AntiSpyware free edition these can also be found on Major geeks.
Let me know how it goes.
John
The other thing to try would be to reboot in safe mode and run your virus checker from there just in case the virus or trojan is disabling it on bootup. Worth a try anyway.
Kevin
Wow, just activated my program called: speedfan and it says everything is at 145 degrees F...this is hotter than when I was playing wow earlier. This computer is just whacked....
King
here is my plan: run anti-virus things until Morning. Get back from school and have a nice long talk with Gateway. I pay them for this anyway.
King
This sounds like the work of your virus, it will continue to get worse until it is removed, you may be better to reformat your drive and reinstall the software, before your motherboard is fried.
Try the program norman, it may fix the problem, it did for me anyway, may be worth the try under the circumstances.
I tried to reformat the drive about two weeks ago. Said: "C drive is not found".
-_-
King
Sounds like a virus I had along time ago called the stoned monkey which destroyed sectors on the boot sector of the harddrive, resulting in me having to buy a new harddrive., Have you tried to restore your computer to a point before the virus?
Running Norman Malware and this might take a while. In the mean time:
No, I have not tried. 1: It might be a month worth of data lost.
2: I didn't set a restore point and am not sure its actually on the system. To be frank, its never worked to have a system restore point. Every time I used one in the past, the system would say: "Error, doesn't work" or something like that.
King
It could be as simple as a cooling fan not working or too much dust on the CPU. You could try going to Radio Shack and get a can ofcompressed air and blow out the unit after you open it up.
Kevin
Quote from: Ktrek on February 28, 2008, 09:25:12 PM
It could be as simple as a cooling fan not working or too much dust on the CPU. You could try going to Radio Shack and get a can ofcompressed air and blow out the unit after you open it up.
Kevin
I have a can of air, but I don't know how to open it up. Certainly without damaging it or shocking myself.
King
Sometimes I just wish there weren't so many problems with this. You know, it would be too ironic if it was just the programs I have running are conflicting. Who knows...this problem had better fix up/Gateway better be helpful or I'm going to start looking for a new Desktop....
King
Norman failed to find anything. I'm having AVG now finish its scan but something tells me its still not going to find anything.
King
AVG failed to find anything. Spybot is going to try, but at this point...../sigh
King
Spybot found nothing of importance. I have no idea what is wrong at this point. I have to put some hope/faith in Gateway....*sigh*
King
This is a laptop right? The laptop my son uses has heat issues at times. You don't have to open it up to clean it - at least a little. There should be some small fans on the bottom and maybe a heat release port on the back or side. If you can find those maybe trying using some air and blow through those openings. Make sure the machine is off first. If it isn't just heat, I would highly suggest backing up what you can and just repartitioning the drive, then format it and reinstall stuff. Computers can be finicky and sometimes require a good overhaul to get them working well again.
Yea, its a laptop and as I've stated before, its clear of dust. Or as best as I can right now. I'm going to be having a nice chat with Gateway in 2 hours (lunch and other stuff first) so...yea. I really hate the idea of formating the drive cause it failed to fix the external. -_- I'm just not having any luck with computers right now.
King
Good luck with tech support. How old is the machine? Frankly, unless you send in the laptop there is very little they will be able to do for you.
I bought it before starting Senior-year High School....so almost two years. And your probably right, there is probably nothing they can do. Even if I did send it in. *sigh* Still, this is a bit BS because these things should last more than two years especially with the specs I threw into it. If it doesn't, I just threw $2,000 down the drain. Cause I expected this thing to last through most of college...
King
If I do find this to be true, then I'm getting a "semi-portable" desktop. Far more cheaper, less errors/bugs and won't kill my damn budget. Still....it sickens me...
King
I still say reformat. It will narrow things down - a lot. If you are having issues with the operating system that would easily explain why the external drive is also having troubles. And what troubles do you mean with the external drive? For example, if you play a video file off your external drive it is still being processed by the laptop. If you have issues while running the file or other software from the external drive it doesn't mean that drive is the problem. If you know what I mean.
Did you get a business computer or a gaming computer? It's my personal experience that business computers, with their less intensive processing needs, seem to last far longer than gaming computers.
You also have to consider your usage of the system. If you were playing WOW at the height of the addiction phase, you were putting a lot of hours and functions onto the computer. Computers wear down if your aren't constantly maintaining them. Once a problem starts, it will constantly get worse.
Another issue is the two years. Unfortunatly, most computers aren't designed to be useful after two years because of advancements and due to that, people tend to upgrade constantly, or in the case of a laptop, they get a new one after two years.
Again, because many business programs aren't graphic or process intensive, they tend to last longer when you are using them to do school work and not as a surogate desktop.
Quote from: Just X on February 29, 2008, 10:43:45 AM
Another issue is the two years. Unfortunatly, most computers aren't designed to be useful after two years because of advancements and due to that, people tend to upgrade constantly, or in the case of a laptop, they get a new one after two years.
Again, because many business programs aren't graphic or process intensive, they tend to last longer when you are using them to do school work and not as a surogate desktop.
-_- Great. just....great. So in a sense, I just threw $2 K away under the hope/impression it would last longer and it won't. If I had known that, I would never have gotten this expensive of a laptop. I would have gone much cheaper......
King
What sickens me is that I had convinced my parents that it would last longer. Now, if what you say is true Just X, I have to inform them that my notebook may not last much longer. The only way I'm going to get a new computer is if I go through them because I do not have the $$ to afford one with my current finances. And even then its not likely they'll give me the $$. So essentially, I get to watch as my computer dies. -_- :old_bash: This is going to be such a lovely end-of-term....
King
So I guess I should ask:
"How does one maintain a computer?"
King
King - in my experience (and I've been building computers for a long time) about 95% of computer problems are a combination of the operating system becoming unstable or other corruptions on the hard drive. Rarely ever is it a hardware issue. Which is why reformatting a drive fixes many, many things. So I would say you are a long way off from having to buy a new machine - hopefully.
Rico is right before giving up, if everything else fails reformat the drive, you may find you have a more stable computer, if after you do this and you still have a problem, then it is more likely to be your computer.
I would definitely be reformatting, regardless of what you find. With all the crashes, Windows is probably corrupted many files, if you cannot even see the c drive when you tried reformatting, then repartition it as well. I agree that Tech Support will not be helpful, as they would only be able to help with some basic type issues, and from the sounds of your issues, could be hard to pinpoint. A lot of those places just work off scripts anyways, and probably would need to be sent in for a closer look. If it is not under warranty, then I doubt Gateway will care much anyways. I agree with Justx as well, you have to see if your laptop can even handle what you are using it for anymore.
But I agree with the rest, you really need to wipe this thing, and start over, and that will at least eliminate the OS. If it is a virus that cannot be detected by scanners, repartitioning, formatting, even maybe a low level format might be needed
Well....man, I do not like this, because I have no ability to back-up my stuff except for Word Docs and maybe pictures. Thats mainly due to the fact that my External Hard Drive no longer works with my computer. How would I reformat the drive?
King
Step one - find someone with a working external drive, or large USB drive and who knows computers.
Step two - buy them pizza
Step three - beg them to help you with your laptop
LOL, I agree with Rico, I like the pizza idea, mmmmm. :)
If you cannot find anyone with an external drive that works, then maybe some thumb drives, and copy data to a few, or if you have to, and you have CD/DVD burner, burn it to some writeable discs, or about anything you can save files to, if nothing large is available.
Step 4: Find out that I bugged his external when connecting to my computer and took 2 weeks to fix.
Step 5: Find out that when we use the restore disks, they do not work.
Step 6: Quit and hope it works out.
Sadly, we tried this already and it did more damage than good. Man...
King
This has probably been mentioned but is this machine under warranty?
I think the word is: I'm screwed.
King
I checked with gateway, this thing has another year+ of guarantee.
King
P.S. Its under the bought warranty so it might not cover what your thinking. (In other words, the extended one)
I was nice and decided to do a quick check for you ... Very good business laptop computers from Dell with 80gig hard drives and a gig of memory start at 399 with free shiping and about 4 hours of work time on the batteries. I know 400 bucks isn't something people have to just burn, but it is a cheaper solution. Expecially if you can sell off your current system to someone that is skilled enough to make the right repairs.
Well, thanks.
Problem is, the last time my family bought a dell, it completely crashed and lost all data without warning. The repair system was even worse. Has dell improved in the last year?
King
I have 3 dells sitting around me and they are all solid.
Talking with a tech guy from Gateway and he thinks that I need to replace my hard drive. My friend thinks its the Motherboard failing. I think this thing is a piece of junk!!! GRRRRRRR
King
And now they are suggesting just to send the entire system into their company.
I say just scrap it and get a new one....I hate my computer.
King
I have always had 'heat' issues with my laptops.. went through two of them.. will never get another one again. I love my desktop.
I think every company is going have a few lemons from time to time, but for the most part, Dells should be alright, or they would no longer be in business if they had bad products. My folks have a desktop Dell, and have no issues. If it were me, I would probably send it in to get repaired, and probably purchase a new computer. If they fixed what I had sent in, I would either sell it, or use it for other purposes. If you do send it in, you still need to backup your data, as they are most likely going to wipe the drive well troubleshooting. Probably a good idea to take any sensitive data off before sending in as well.
Dells are very solid machines. Again, not pointing fingers but computers can be messed up very, very easily. It takes a fair amount of skill and knowledge to keep one working at peak levels. And even more knowledge to fix one when something goes wrong.
My desktop is a Dell and it's great.. the other is a IMac and of course that is perfect.
Quote from: Rico on February 29, 2008, 01:59:17 PM
Dells are very solid machines. Again, not pointing fingers but computers can be messed up very, very easily. It takes a fair amount of skill and knowledge to keep one working at peak levels. And even more knowledge to fix one when something goes wrong.
Then how would one keep it working at peak levels?
As for the suggestions, yea, I'm probably going to go Desktop. If laptops have these heat issues, then its not worth it. Its going to be oh-so-fun talking with my parents about this mess. -_-
Still, the question would be "What company and what computer" something that I've been asking lots and lots of people. Its hard to say.
Thanks again guys. Pretty frustrating this whole mess is. I'm going to have to figure out how to save all my stuff...but maybe I can work something out.
KIng
Dell's and HP's laptops are just fine. Each model is can have it's pluses and negatives.
I think that if you are going to have a laptop, you need to invest time in classes or books that will teach you how to keep it running correctly. Laptops are by default harder to maintain, upgrade, and repair than desktop.
If money is a serious factor in a purchase, you should always fall on the side of the desktop because they can usually be upgraded by laymen to keep in step with advances. You need money or talent to keep a laptop up to date.
Just remember that if you backup the HD you could also be backing up the virus, if there is one. I would only grab what files you need (personal, school related projects etc. Reformat and re-install all your main programs. Thankfully in 20 years of dealing with computers I have never had a problem I couldn't resolve but I did have to reformat one time.
Kevin
After talking with Gateway, you guys, and even friends, we have come to this conclusion:
My hard drive is fried and is dying.
I'm sooooo screwed.
King
A hard drive 120 gig is less than 80 bucks at many stores. All you need to do is install it and run the recovery disk. I would zip all the files I need then Yousendit to myself and dl it when I've reinstalled the OS
How would I install a Hard Drive though? My impression of laptops is that they are just bloody hard to configure. I also remember something I taught myself:
If you change the hardware, prepare to have system problems X2. In my experience, (limited as that may be) changing hardware in a notebook usually leads to more trouble than good. idk......I'm going to be talking with a friend tomorrow who has some idea what he is doing. idk, this problem just leads to bigger problems.
The question is, is the laptop salvageable. We don't know how much damage has been done due to heat. I guess though, the only way to find out is to look at it.
King
If you have the restore disk, they are easy to setup. If you don't it requires a bit of work. There should be a screw or something that allows you to open the hard drive. What type of system are you using, I'll see if I can research what type of drive you need and how to install it.
NX860 Gateway Laptop. Have fun
King
NX860S? X? Xl? which one.
As far as I can tell you need a 2.5" SAtA notebook drive
www.newegg.com
Quote from: Just X on March 04, 2008, 05:41:02 AM
NX860S? X? Xl? which one.
As far as I can tell you need a 2.5" SAtA notebook drive
The X version. Sorry, forgot about that little info.
King
That is the trouble with devices this complicated a number of different causes could produce the same symptoms. Although I would put viruses down as the most probable, hardware could do it to.
Download this:
http://www.memtest86.com/
with a claen computer and burn it to a mini-CD.
Boot your machine with it and let it run all night. It won't test the I/O devices but will give the CPU and memory a work out. If it runs all night I would start looking for viruses. Most Live Linux CDs have Memtest86 too. You could boot linux and operate the computer with that and see if it crashes.
psik
Good luck my friend I hope a solution presents itself soon to you
I sent my laptop into them on Wednesday last week but DHL didn't ship it off till Monday (yesterday). I'm fuming about this and will NEVER use DHL again. I won't have my laptop back till the middle of April or later which is not acceptable as I have to have a computer for college. (They require it). I have no back-up (I mean seriously, who has two computers at the same time) so I'm in for a world of hurt. Me = not happy.
As for that suggestion psi, if this doesn't work, I will try that idea. But hopefully Gateway does what its supposed to do: fix it.
King
Oh, man DHL is the worst. I could of told you that. Only prop replica I ever had damaged when I got it was from those guys. Good luck on the repairs.
Quote from: Rico on March 26, 2008, 04:34:08 AM
Oh, man DHL is the worst. I could of told you that. Only prop replica I ever had damaged when I got it was from those guys. Good luck on the repairs.
At least its insured and everything....that way, if DHL screws up, they owe me big. The problem was, was that Gateway had all the shippping, insurance, tracking, packaging, etc taken care of for $44. However, I didn't know it was through DHL till it got to me. But as I didn't have time to have a new package and etc made for it, I'm just trusting that DHL will take care of it....if not, DHL owes me $2,000.
King