Good Computer Guy In Adelaide

[910trx]

guys i need someone to look at my pc for me

its dead and that sux as i have some great hardware in there going to waste

i think its an issue with the motherboard but i'm not 100%

doesnt even start up, just restarts constantly at random intervals...

please guys i need a bloke who is into gaming pc's and not affraid to tackle a challenge

thanks

Dan

Edited December 10, 2009 by 910trx

[R31Nismoid]

Sounds like PSU just from your brief description.

If not, then could be anything from mobo to ram

[bozodos]

seriously either do it yourself or get someone who's good with computers to have a look at it, not worth paying $100 an hour to a computer shop (unless they are cheaper in adelaide lol)

[nicr4wks]

seriously either do it yourself or get someone who's good with computers to have a look at it, not worth paying $100 an hour to a computer shop (unless they are cheaper in adelaide lol)

You'd be pressed to find someone semi-decent for $100 an hour imo, for instance it's $185 to have me out for an hour.

+1 on the PSU, possible to get your hands on one to try? MSY will do a thermaltake for $40 or so, if it's high end gaming gear you'd want something a bit more reliable than that though.

Edited December 10, 2009 by nicr4wks

[bozodos]

and people pay that much!?

From my IT tech days it used to be 75 dollars for an initial inspection than a flat rate of 100/h plus any components like PSU etc. We'd usually replace parts if it was going to take too long to diagnose a problem though, due to the high labour cost on what is a depreciating asset.

[R31Nismoid]

Ye PC repairs are expensive - plus it can take many hours and be something simple. It's just there are so many things that it could be.

Best to do as much yourself as you can.

[910trx]

ii might try and grb another power supply unit tomorrow and give it a go

i'm swpping parts between my dad's pc and mine to try and see whats buggered.

but a bit of a run down is

had an issue

one of a pair of ddr 800mhz 1Gb RAM died

running on 2GB no worries

buy 2x1gb ram sticks (same part number) and fit

works no worries

looks a bit messy - but pc is running - nah just turn off at the PSU master switch

rejiggle wires and make neat as a pin

turn on

gets to windows and restarts at same point

hit F8 during start up and stop restarting with an issue

BSOD

insert windows CD but drive no longer opens - light flashes but no open - even after manually opening inserting disc and closing...

take hdd out (because thought it was OS error) and took the hdd with me through airport on holiday back from qld to Adelaide. Secrity had a fit!

plug in to oldman's pc, start up, does random shit and asks for win xp cd - so i give it my old man's and reinstall xp

restart works fine

take back to qld after more security and after holiday

insert

nothing...

take into work and it guy sets up another pc so i can extract my data onto my external hdd for safe keeping

my pc just restarts and doesnt even get to the bios stage b4 restarting

tried:

swapping hdds

disconnecting hdds

same with cd/dvd drives

removing vid cards

removing banks of ram till its 1GB but still no work

reapplication of thermal grease to cpu

i have just established my hdd stil works fine, my cd/dvd burner still flashes and does not open in a different pc

its at the stage where i am beginning to not care about how it gets fixed but i have no idea!

i'll grab a psu because the one on my dad has doesn't have the right plug, the big on for the motherboard is 4 pins too short - mine is 450W and his is 400W so no go...

i can swap a spare dvd from dads pc to get it working, but i need it to work first...

if it is the psu it is the 2nd one in 1 1/2 years that has failed on me. first one started shooting sparks but started about 3 weeks after i got it, replaced and no worries.

*super unhappy face*

i'm almost over it...

i got it built through a mate of a mate

my mate is a good friend of mine and would give me the shirt off his back, but i hastled him about the RAM and first PSU, and his mate has gone through a split and no longer builds custom pc's. i dont want to trouble my mate again, he has done so much but i think he is getting sick of dealing with my pc and trying to keep friendships between two seperated parties. esp my mate shipping the pc and stuff at his expense to me in qld while i was up there - i mean c'mon what a pal!

i dont want to cause trouble so if i can find away around this w/o concerning him, then its the best option.

my mate to me is worth more than $100 an hour...

so if i can fix it on the sly then all is good, he thinks shit is ok and i feel good about that.

Edited December 11, 2009 by 910trx

[Mayuri Krab]

ii might try and grb another power supply unit tomorrow and give it a go

i'm swpping parts between my dad's pc and mine to try and see whats buggered.

but a bit of a run down is

had an issue

one of a pair of ddr 800mhz 1Gb RAM died

running on 2GB no worries

buy 2x1gb ram sticks (same part number) and fit

works no worries

looks a bit messy - but pc is running - nah just turn off at the PSU master switch

rejiggle wires and make neat as a pin

turn on

gets to windows and restarts at same point

hit F8 during start up and stop restarting with an issue

BSOD

insert windows CD but drive no longer opens - light flashes but no open - even after manually opening inserting disc and closing...

take hdd out (because thought it was OS error) and took the hdd with me through airport on holiday back from qld to Adelaide. Secrity had a fit!

plug in to oldman's pc, start up, does random shit and asks for win xp cd - so i give it my old man's and reinstall xp

restart works fine

take back to qld after more security and after holiday

insert

nothing...

take into work and it guy sets up another pc so i can extract my data onto my external hdd for safe keeping

my pc just restarts and doesnt even get to the bios stage b4 restarting

tried:

swapping hdds

disconnecting hdds

same with cd/dvd drives

removing vid cards

removing banks of ram till its 1GB but still no work

reapplication of thermal grease to cpu

i have just established my hdd stil works fine, my cd/dvd burner still flashes and does not open in a different pc

its at the stage where i am beginning to not care about how it gets fixed but i have no idea!

i'll grab a psu because the one on my dad has doesn't have the right plug, the big on for the motherboard is 4 pins too short - mine is 450W and his is 400W so no go...

i can swap a spare dvd from dads pc to get it working, but i need it to work first...

if it is the psu it is the 2nd one in 1 1/2 years that has failed on me. first one started shooting sparks but started about 3 weeks after i got it, replaced and no worries.

*super unhappy face*

i'm almost over it...

i got it built through a mate of a mate

my mate is a good friend of mine and would give me the shirt off his back, but i hastled him about the RAM and first PSU, and his mate has gone through a split and no longer builds custom pc's. i dont want to trouble my mate again, he has done so much but i think he is getting sick of dealing with my pc and trying to keep friendships between two seperated parties. esp my mate shipping the pc and stuff at his expense to me in qld while i was up there - i mean c'mon what a pal!

i dont want to cause trouble so if i can find away around this w/o concerning him, then its the best option.

my mate to me is worth more than $100 an hour...

so if i can fix it on the sly then all is good, he thinks shit is ok and i feel good about that.

So did you take your OS drive out from your PC & installed it on a different PC & reinstalled windows using that PC?

If so, that will give u a continuous reboot thing when you plug that HDD back to your PC. Same thing happened to me.

EDIT: Also the other stuff you are describing could be the PSU playing up as a dying PSU can cause all sorts of random failures.

Edited December 11, 2009 by Mayuri Krab

[TALBO]

Imo could be RAM too from what you've described.

[KR4-GTR]

dude, pc parts are so cheap now a days and very easy to put together.

i just built up my parents a kick ass dual core HP media centre PC!

what i suggest you do.. is

a) take it to a standard computer shop and then suss out with them what you need. (they will have repalcement parts sitting around so will be able to test and determine the failed hardware)

b) come back to us all here and confirm it along with your quoted price for repair

c) then check out ebay (happy to help with this part aswell) and then just buy the parts you need on there (depending on the price including postage of course - it may be cheaper buying it from the computer shop!)

d) try and install and fix yourself, most of it is all plug and play!

your thoughts!?

Edited December 12, 2009 by KR4-GTR

[910trx]

took the psu to a pc guy to test and came back fine

tried swaping ram again but no luck

taking it to the pc guy now for a bit of diagnostics and see how it goes

i'll post back with results - this thing has not been running for 3 months - no point having a $1000 pc which does not work...

Edited December 12, 2009 by 910trx

[Tangles]

dude, I can check it out for you no charge

Im in morphett vale, have heaps of spares to test things etc, and enjoy it cause i know its helping someone out

build pc's and am in the know re what does what, what to try next, ect

PM me if you need help still

[TALBO]

took the psu to a pc guy to test and came back fine

tried swaping ram again but no luck

taking it to the pc guy now for a bit of diagnostics and see how it goes

i'll post back with results - this thing has not been running for 3 months - no point having a $1000 pc which does not work...

Are RAM settings in the BIOS set to default?

[KR4-GTR]

dude, I can check it out for you no charge

Im in morphett vale, have heaps of spares to test things etc, and enjoy it cause i know its helping someone out

build pc's and am in the know re what does what, what to try next, ect

PM me if you need help still

^ how very nice of you

[910trx]

i've already taken it to a guy and "he will get back to me"

but thankyou for your offer, really considerate.

i've already told the guy that pending whats wrong to "spice it up"

if it costs me $1000 bucks - i get it back and its faster, reliable and works then i no longer care

all i want to do is play FSX on top (near top) graphics and it was very close before.

its with the "computer depot" in holden hill. the young lad there on the weekend was very helpful and helped do some initial diagnostics free of charge, but because it was a head scratcher i'll let them have more fun with it.

and i cant even get it running long enough to fiddle with the BIOS

starts, flashed a few lights, restarts - as quick as you read this...

[R31Nismoid]

What setup was in there before?

FSX is supertaxing (with the latest patch for multi core).

Im building/advising for someone atm about it actually lol... i7 920 incoming

[Tangles]

yeah Ive been running the i7 920 since it came out, P6t deluxe OC mobo, 3x1gb 1600mhz ddr3 ram, hd5770 x2, dell Physx, raid0, raptors, etc

rfactor with the momo wheel is awesome. gtr ztune around bathurst FTW!

[bozodos]

oh come on guys as if you need anything better than Socket 775

[910trx]

3ghz core duo

4 gb ram (just kingston standard)

big thermaltake radiator thingo (no noise except from the other 3 case fans)

2X 512 ATI Raedon cards in crossfire mode

ideally i'd like to overclock it a bit and throw in some 4-4-4-1 gaming ram with their own fans.

just so on a 40~c day it will still be fine.

i understand that a FS you spend more time in the air than on the ground, but i like seign traffic/boats/trees and the airport on final approach.

and to see it all after dropping below the complex rendered clouds at 5000ft.

pity it is so inefficient in multiplayer where i spend most of my time but single player showed some great results just using 2gb of ram

hmmm i think i have just revealed how much of a geek i am...

[910trx]

its now fixed!

problem was the startup files were all corrupted

after i bought a 64 bit win 7 oem version and shoved that in

on every subsiquent startup after the initial install it doesn't show up anything on the desktop - just the background - no matter how long i leave it

appears to be when it connects to the net to DL updates and has trouble with the drivers for the graphics cards

instead i painfully loaded xp back on...

still works fine

but thanks for all your help guys - no doubt look for a "i cant get 7 to work thread soon"

Edited December 20, 2009 by 910trx