PC help? SoS {Update}

[Bulletdance]

I took it back to the guy and he changed the fan,but when I got it back it still had problems so I wiped it got all the latest drivers and it's still crashing at random and seems to have trouble when it works like if I play wow and a lot of stuff is on the screen it slows and I never had that before. Also I noticed on starting it up even though there's next to nothing on it, it takes a lot of the cpu up when starting. I'm taking it back to the guy Thursday and he's going to test the video cards since he said the motherboard looked good.I'm going to ask him to check the ram too I did and it seems good,but I'm not the best at this stuff. I'm so nervous cause I really can't afford another one at the moment,but if it's just a video card maybe I can manage. This sucks hard I really appreciate the advice tho if there's anything else anyone can think of let me know.

[CrystalKitten]

From the sound of it, I'd really suggest asking him to look at the ram. I don't know that much either, but if even starting up (something which isn't graphics intensive) is acting strangely, you'd expect it to be something more... basic wrong. Others have been suggestion RAM issues, so I'd suggest making that a priority to check, as your description sounds more and more like something which might be caused by RAM. If it's using more CPU on startup.. don't waste your money/time having the guy check the video card(at least, not as the first check), as I wouldn't connect the video card to a problem like that. I'd say check the RAM first. If you do need new RAM... RAM is almost dirt cheap now.

[AdamSavage]

You can try taking a stick of ram out if you have more then one and see what happens.

[TygerDarkstorm]

You can try taking a stick of ram out if you have more then one and see what happens.

I'd suggest this. My boyfriend is good with computers and when I had a stick of RAM go corrupt we just took them out and ran them one by one until we found the bad one. If you don't want to do it yourself, then it's something the guy you took it to should have checked. If he didn't check it before then you should make him check it this time as it's probably not going to be a video card problem.

[SgtMakkie]

Might sound odd, but when was the last time the PC was really cleaned? All fans wiped clean etc.. Quite often a good spring clean can make a hugh difference to the way the computer behaves. They are basically huge dust magnets

[Miraga]

Might sound odd, but when was the last time the PC was really cleaned? All fans wiped clean etc.. Quite often a good spring clean can make a hugh difference to the way the computer behaves. They are basically huge dust magnets

^This, definitely! My laptop hadn't been really cleaned and was running slow, some stuff wasn't working right, etc. but then my boyfriend cleaned it out and everything. He even replaced some of the thermal paste. Anyway, my laptop runs MUCH better. It'd be easier to do yours too since it's not a laptop! You'd be amazed at what you can find in there. I had this little square of densely packed lint... with a spider inside of it. GROSS.

Good luck with your computer! I definitely recommend cleaning it out thoroughly and checking the RAM also!

[Azunara]

Bullet, the real solution is: When in doubt, duct tape. And if THAT fails, then fall to plan B, Percussion Maintenance.

[SgtMakkie]

i.e. Get a big hammer and hit it repeatedly! xD

[Azunara]

i.e. Get a big hammer and hit it repeatedly! xD

Exactly. *serious*

[Bulletdance]

lol I may resort to brute force soon, perhaps a chainsaw. Pleading with it and death threats have not produced results so far. It's well dusted so I don't think that's the problem. I'm reading through my owner's manual trying to find out what the ram looks like which may be an indication that I shouldn't touch the inside of it... I'm not even sure if I should have it on,but it works when it wants to.

[Poesje]

These areRAM memories of the DDR family, this is how they commonly may look. Some more expensive models have heatsinks at the top, but should look roughly the same anyway.

[CrystalKitten]

http://www.google.ca/search?q=ram&oe=ut ... 01&bih=640 <-- What RAM looks like.

If you aren't comfortable touching the inside, I'd vote to not do it. Just make sure the next time you take it in that you've been doing some research on online resources and you REALLY don't think it's a graphics problem, so you'd like him to check other options first, and that RAM has come up as the potential culprit. If he refuses.. just tell him you'll take your money elsewhere.

The reason I suggest not messing with the insides yourself is something that happened when I was younger. My mom bought us a network card for our computer, but didn't know what kind she should be buying. So when I installed it.. it caused our computer to not power on... If you took it OUT.. it would work.. but she kept saying I must have been doing it wrong.. and had me keep trying.. Eventually, it just permanently fried something and it wouldn't start up even after taking it out.. :/ We had to get it repaired.

[Bulletdance]

Omg guys I am so freaking out lol The computer guy said that there is nothing wrong with my pc except that windows xp isn't recognizing i have as much ram as I do. It's only recognizing 2.3 and I have 8 something. He says the only way to fix it is to upgrade to 7. It sounds a little off to me, but I'm hoping it will work. He said he checked all the ram and the graphics cards so who knows,but if this doesn't fix it I may have a heart attack.

[Poesje]

Well, it is true that XP doesnt support nearly as much memory as 7, but it still should not be that little. Are you running the x64 or x86_32 version?

[Bulletdance]

I'm not sure it's probably the earlier version its media something version I think its about four years old now

[Poesje]

Well, if its the 64 bit one then it shouldnt be a software issue. Are you sure its not the 32 bit version?

[Bulletdance]

Hmm it says Windows Media Center Ed, but I'm not seeing any numbers.

[TygerDarkstorm]

Depending on how old your computer is, it's probably a 32 bit version since it's only recently that 64 bit has become mainstream.

[Poesje]

Okay, I googled a little.

Press Super + R and then run the command winver and report what it says.

[Bulletdance]

I'm using my sisters laptop at the moment since my pc is still in the repair shop I did manage to find my original invoice for my pc tho and am checking to see if it says what bit on that. It is an older machine I got it in 07 tho I've taken good care of it and this is the first serious problem i've had.

It doesn't really say. I hope this repair guy knows what he's doing maybe upgrading will fix it i suppose it can't hurt at any rate lol

I decided to post what was on the invoice just incase anyone thought upgrading it wouldn't fix it and wanted to let me know. I appreciate all the help and any opinons since things are really crazy for me right now and im not sure what would be best to do keep trying to fix it or not if this doesn't work. Everything is probably so outdated now to you guys lol but it's still my baby even tho i understand maybe half of what this stuff means.

Area 51 7500-A
Full tower black case 2.0B Alienware p2 chassis
EVGA Nforce 6801 SLI MB REV D motherboard
CDCR E6750,2660,1333,4M, 2C Prossesor
WM552/XG691 HYNIX 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 JEDEC STD JEDEC STD memory
Western Digital 160GBSATA 10k RPM HDD system drive
LG 20x DUAL-Layer DVD Re writer non lig optical drivers
1.44mb floppy drive black removable storage
Killer nic ka enthusiast essenials
integrated high def audio nividia c55-mb sound card
Nividia GeForce8600GTS 256 MB PCI-E Graphics processor
AlienFx software version 1.05
alienware aliendrenaline (ETPS v3.75) Video optimizer
Microsoft Windows XP MCE 2005 COA Opertaing system
Alienguise xenmorph
NERO 7 r5.9 DL Optical Drivers
PowerDVD 7
Symantecghost coportate version 8
AVC Pentium 5 dual slot core hsf z9h741k001 high perfomance liquad cooling
700 watt oem ztx psu rev 2 power supply
gx2 g80 dual slot card keeper graphics processor
vistia sli configuration graphics processor