Guest Guest Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I almost cried last night, out of sheer frustration! After a really nice day with the family at the open air market and taking 2 of the grandchildren to see the waterfalls, I finally got to sit down at my computer about 10 pm. I turned on the monitor and nothing happened. I knew I'd left the 'puter on but thought maybe my almost 4 yo granddaughter had turned it off. I pushed the power button; nothing. I asked DH to take a look. He hit the reset in the back and it would come on for a couple of seconds, then die. He pronounced my power supply dead of unknown causes at 10:15 pm. He asked The Little Prince if I could borrow his power supply until he could replace it today. Being the prince that he is, he said yes. He took LP's tower apart and took out the power supply. I was really upset. It bothers me to do things like that, but it bothered me even more that I couldn't use my computer. He put the power supply on my computer and turned it on. Nothing. I really started to get worried. It was at that point I realized how dependent I am on this stupid machine. I had tears in my eyes, frustrated that a machine could have that much influence on me, and that it wasn't working. He did more checking and tried switching different parts, then said my motherboard had died, and that's what killed the power supply. That's when I got mad! It has barely been a year since my last motherboard died! When we went to get a replacement, I was raising cain with the guys 'cause I'd only had my 'puter for a couple of years. We have spent so much money in that store, they knew us, and knew exactly when we'd bought the parts to build my 'puter. (it's a small store) They very patiently explained to me that the lifespan of an average motherboard is only about 2 years, and that most people replace their computers so often, they don't give them time to die out.Since mine was more than 2 1/2 years old, it was time to replace it anyway. I told them that I don't like change, and I wasn't one of those people. I also told them that the upgrade we bought had [censored] well better last for at leat TWO years! Well guess what? IT'S ONLY BEEN ELEVEN MONTHS! As soon as AK gets the box out of the attic tonight, I'm preparing for battle. They may very well see me approaching, and lock the doors. If they do, they should also call the police. I am absolutely furious! AK ended up 'borrowing' LP's tower for me, and just switched my drives so that I could have a working computer. LP said it was okay. He needed to take a break from his 'puter for a while, anyway. I really think he just didn't want to see his Nana go berserk. Pretty astute for an 11 yo, don't you think? Nana Quote Link to comment
mrszouave Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 Goooooooooo get em Nan..........sic em........show em who's boss!! Quote Link to comment
gardnmom Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 I know the frustration that you are going through, did that a few months ago. I had an extra fan put in to prevent overheating again, which is what caused my problems. It sure is frustrating, though. Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted July 28, 2003 Share Posted July 28, 2003 Nanapop.....as a computer tech I can tell you that your 'puter guy is full of baloney....2 years??? I have had my current system for 3 years now and not a problem.....the previous one I had for 3 years and my mother in law is still using it so that's 6 years for that one....as long as the fans are spinning good there's no limit to the lifespan....however if the fans don't cool then the systems can die a quick death.....so as Lois found out ya gotta keep it cool...extra fans are worth their weight in gold. Fans are cheap starting at less than 10 bucks up to about 40+ depending how fancy u wanna get. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted July 29, 2003 Share Posted July 29, 2003 Sorry for your problems nana . Now Cave man can you just put a small fan to blow into your puter???? Oh mynow my keyboard isnot only not spaceing but spaceing too much. Oh well I'll take the key board in tomarrow to get a new one.Di Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Alert time here!... Over the weekend I had a sign in problem, it started with a post that I was typing in dool on saturday morning.... My keyboard died completely , so I had to stop typing. Later the mouse didn't work after I turned the computer back on, that's when I found out that I couldn't sign in..... I have msn as my isp and my computer is... windows xp home edition.... I spent the weekend trying to get back on with msn, finally on sunday evening I finally got back on... I wonder if there is a connection or virus infecting the computers....? Edited to say I got in through what I consider the back door, I had on my screen something about my files and by going into the files, I was able to get on the net, it was monday morning berore MSN was able to let me on the net.... Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Diinmi, in answer to your question you can put a small fan blowing into the case but leaving the cover off depending on the system can be dangerous while it's running....best to get a case fan that's mounted internally ($10-20)and keyboards are ($5-40) Mayjobie, sounds like your problems could be resources being low..how much ram do you have? A simple cleanup or extra ram may help you. Happy computing all! Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Cavey, since I'm computer illeterate(sp) , you may be right, but I was able to get on by not doing my sign in with msn, I found if I typed information into the search area, it would get me on the internet... Now, my concern is did I run up a big phone bill by not going through my isp.... I hope this makes sense to you... By the way, everything started working fine again, keyboard and mouse, just couldn't go through my MSN....Try staying on the phone with them and not understanding what they are saying.... Early monday morning I finally got to talk to an american and it only took about 10 minutes to type in some information and it got fixed....WHEW! PS I went into something on my screen that I think was a file and that is how I was able to get around on the net... Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 Caveman, I figured he was full of something, I just didn't feel like arguing...then. This time it's a different story! One day this week I'm going to take the motherboard back. SOMEONE is going to be very unhappy! Yesterday, AK & I went out to Fry's electronics (60 miles round-trip) and got a new motherboard and cpu. I'm now running an AMD Athlon 1800+ microprocessor and board. I told AK what you said about the fans and he installed a THIRD one, not including the one in the power supply. I now have four fans in my computer so I think it should run cool with no problems. My system is now as big as I'll ever want. I have a 1.8 gig microprocessor, a 60 gig hard drive, a CD-Rom, CD-RW, and 644 megabytes of memory. Along with my 15" TFT flat monitor, speaker system w/ subwoofer, Microsoft split key board, and battery backup system, I'm pretty happy with it. What do you think? Is there anything else I need? LOL! I hope not, I really dislike change... Thanks for the info. Love, Nana P.S. Actually there are a couple more things I need. A USB connecting joystick, and a card reader for my digital camera. Oh wel....maybe later.... Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 Sounds like everything's under control Nanapop.....card readers are not usually needed if the camera has a USB cable to attach it to the system. Mayjobie, sounds like your problem is with MSN explorer rather than the system.....your internet connection will always be through MSN regardless what browser you are using so there should be no long distance charges unless you are not using a local access number. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment
Lois Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 Nana, does your sweetie take your cover off the tower and clean the fans once or twice a year? I found if I clean my fans and give everything a gentle vaccuming once or twice a year it sure helps keep my pc up and running and my frustration level down. Now if I would just learn not to over-write some of my programs, I'd be alot happier with myself Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted August 5, 2003 Share Posted August 5, 2003 While cleaning the dust out is a good idea it's best to do it with canned compressed air as vacuuming it may cause a static discharge which can destroy your components inside the computer...you should never make contact with the components or motherboard with a brush or any other cleaning device....if you use your hand to make contact with components like ram, etc. always keep yourself continually grounded by staying in contact with the metal case itself....safe computing!! Quote Link to comment
Guest Guest Posted August 6, 2003 Share Posted August 6, 2003 Caveman, I have to get a card reader 'cause my camera didn't come with the USB cable. It's the same one I had when we all met for lunch and it's about 3 1/2 years old. I'd LOVE to get a new one... but it won't be this year. Nana Quote Link to comment
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