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Aiiieeee!

posted by [personal profile] mitchy at 09:50am on 14/08/2006 under
I was planning a big, fat entry yesterday, to catch up on what I've been doing besides memes for the past couple of weeks. Alas and woe! My computer's died!

*wails loudly*

It was working fine, nary a hint of a temper tantrum. I got up to feed the furball, came back and was perturbed to note the monitor was blank and its power light was flashing like it does when it's on but the PC isn't. I glared at the PC....it didn't look good. The blue power light was flashing fast and the hard drive access light was flashing in time with it with a "whine-click-click-click" noise, like when there's a stuck key on the keyboard. Except this isn't the keyboard, I'm assuming something dire's happened to my HD or the motherboard.

I couldn't power it down, I couldn't get the monitor to come up, nothing. The only thing I can think is that when I put the keyboard down, I knocked the sleep button and something went wrong when it shut down. Either that or it just decided to go 'splodey bang and die when I wasn't looking. Which, lets face it, is more likely.

TECHIE PEOPLE! I NEED YOUR HELP!!

Any diagnoses out there? What should I do next? Will I have to entrust my PC to *shudder* PC World's techie department or can I attempt to fix this at home? I've got a perfectly working second box, it's a Win 98 Athlon 800 but it works fine. I could use that to access the newer box, assuming there's anything TO access, as there's an ethernet network connection between the two that's already set up.

WHAT CAN I DOOOOO?? *wails*

*clings to all her techie friends and begs for help*

In the meantime, I'm trying (and failing) to get the modem up and running with the old box. In theory it should work, but apparently I need a new version of DUN installed. Gnng. I shall do some research at lunchtime and if I have no joy, I shall ring Demon and see if they can set up a dial up connection for the duration.

Oh and have I mentioned my sky box failed again last week and I've got a technician coming out on Friday? And that my kettle blew a fuse and died yesterday?

I'm scared to use anything in my house now! :P
location: work
Mood:: 'grim' grim
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There are 17 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 

(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] silenttex.livejournal.com at 11:50am on 14/08/2006
OK, on newer box, if you haven't managed to shut it down yet, pull the power cable to get it to turn off. Wait a minute or so to give things time to stop spinning and cool down a bit. Then plug back in and try to switch on. Does it try to boot? How far does it get before failing? Is there any error message? Does it Boot from a CD? You may need to change the Boot order in the BIOS. The method for getting into the BIOS varies by manufacturer, but try pressing one of Delete, f2, f10, or f12 keys just after the PC beeps at startup. If your BIOS displays a splash screen, try pressing Escape to see what's going on behind it. While you're in the BIOS, check to see if the HDD is being detected. If it is, chances are it's fixable. If not, there's a good chance the HDD is toast.
If you can't get into the BIOS, there's a good chance the Motherboard is toast. Which is less traumatic than it sounds. Assuming it hasn't taken any other components out in its death throes, simply replacing the motherboard will restore the PC to exactly as you left it.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 12:55pm on 14/08/2006
I've disconnected it from the power and I did try reconnecting it but it just kept spinning and clicking. However I left it disconnected overnight, so I'll try again when I get home.

Thanks for the reply, I'll let you know what happens :)
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] silenttex.livejournal.com at 01:26pm on 14/08/2006
Spinning and clicking is usually Hard Drive related. It should still load the BIOS as that's stored on the M'board, and you should still be able to boot from CD, which *may* let you get data off the Hard Drive.
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 01:37pm on 14/08/2006
Snag is I don't have a CD, the OS came pre-installed and I don't have a recovery disc (yes, I know, I'm an eejit).

The big problem is while it's spinning and clicking, there is no power to the monitor, so I can't see a thing. It's like it tried to shut down or power down and didn't quite manage it....

I'm not optimistic of retrieving anything at this stage, I have to say :P
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] silenttex.livejournal.com at 02:08pm on 14/08/2006
You can create a Boot floppy from your Win98 box.
Click Start / Settings / Control Panel / double-click the Add Remove programs icon / click the Startup Disk and create disk.

Or you should be able to download ones from here:http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files010.shtml (I've not used them before)

No monitor image sounds like it may not just be the HDD.
Do/did you have the PC plugged into any sort of Surge Protection?
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 02:22pm on 14/08/2006
No, it was just plugged into a multi-socket extension cable. Nothing else that was plugged in went boom, that I could see. *crosses fingers it's not a surge*

At least I can create a boot disk though, that was worrying me.

You're a star for this, it's appreciated :)
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] silenttex.livejournal.com at 03:03pm on 14/08/2006
A Win98 Boot floppy will only give you the basics of DOS, but will at least show (if it does boot from it) that the motherboard is ok.
If the monitor still doesn't come up (I assume the monitor has its own power lead to a plug and doesn't take its power from the PC), then it's looking more like a blown motherboard (or graphics chip, assuming the PC uses on-board graphics rather than a separate card).
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 03:22pm on 14/08/2006
Ah, sorry, I wasn't clear. The monitor works fine, I used it yesterday evening with the '98 box quite happily. But when it's connected the XP box, the power light goes to amber and it flashes, which is what it does when the PC is switched off but the monitor is still on. This is why I thought at first the PC had gone into sleep mode, until I saw what the box was doing and realised All Was Not Well.

I'm starting to wonder if both the motherboard AND the HDD have gone. Ack.

Oh well, no good borrowing trouble, I'll find out soon enough :) It's only bits and bytes after all. If I've lost anything important, it serves me right for not backing up more often *nods*
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] jenni411.livejournal.com at 05:33pm on 14/08/2006
<
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<<Oh and have I mentioned my sky box failed again last week and I've got a technician coming out on Friday? And that my kettle blew a fuse and died yesterday?>>

Okay, I'm not a techie, nor do I play one on TV, but have you considered getting your wiring checked? :-P

Good luck, m'dear!
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(no subject)

posted by (anonymous) at 07:43pm on 14/08/2006
Wiring, schmiring. I'm thinking a full blow exorcism may be in order :P
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posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 07:44pm on 14/08/2006
*sighs* Yes, that was me. Ah the joys of no longer being auto-logged in to your favourite sites :P
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] jenni411.livejournal.com at 08:16pm on 14/08/2006
Electrician, exorcist, same thing, really.

So - you're here??
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 10:16pm on 14/08/2006
Yes'm! Managed to get my broadband modem to play nicely with my WIn '98 box. And then managed to make all the new and improved software that's come out since I last used the PC to work. Duct tape may have been involved. But I'm here and I have access for the duration :)

I sent you an email, did it not arrive?
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] jenni411.livejournal.com at 12:04am on 15/08/2006
Woo hoo!!! Now, be a good girl & don't make me get the superglue...

Er ... no, but Hotmail's like that. When did you send it?
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 07:25am on 15/08/2006
I've sent you three :) One from work yesterday morning, explaining my 'pooter woes. One when I got home and got my modem and Turnpike working, explaining that hey! I got my modem and Turnpike (my email set up) working :) ANd one late last night about the baseball. All estimates of times GMT.

*eyes hotmail and threatens it with a big stick*
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] jenni411.livejournal.com at 01:32pm on 15/08/2006
Eek! Nope, only got the first one from work.

I really, really need to get that Verizon account set up... *sighs*
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(no subject)

posted by [identity profile] mitchy.livejournal.com at 02:02pm on 15/08/2006
Yes, yes you do :P
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