On the subject of Computers

[Ducky]

Can anyone help me?

My Pc has recently started to play up as well, it seems to be fine some days then others it just keeps resetting itself? the other day it reset itself twice and then when it came on again a black screen came up with windows file corrupt or missing. i have put the windows cd rom in and followed various instructions but to no avail. In the end i gave up and turned it off, the next day i turned the computer on and it was okay for about 15mins and then reset again, only this time the computer was on but the monitor was blank with a message (cant remember what it said now) but its the message you normally get on the front of the monitor when its recieving no signal/input from the computer? I then swapped monitors and still the same so it wasnt the monitor, after leaving the computer off for a few hours i turned it on again and since it has been fine for the past two days, i have norton anti-virus, windows defender and spybot and none have picked any viruses up etc, anyone got any idea's as i am afraid i will get this happening again and i dont want to lose and music/pictues etc.

[Briggsy]

I'd say it's one of three things:

1. Your hard drive could be on the verge of conking out. There could be a dodgy sector which has a tantrum now and again. It could be a sector which has part of the Windows registry stored on it - hence why it can't boot up properly. To check your hard drive, boot up windows, click on the 'start' button, go up to 'run', and then type in chkdsk - Windows will then do a hard drive test. I recommend doing this two or three times at various times just to get three opinions. If it comes up with a fault, then back up everything immediately and ditch your hard drive - it'll die at any time. It could be an hour, it could be a month - but it'll just go suddenly.

2. Part of the Windows registry is corrupt. If you've installed or uninstalled a program, or your PC has done a windows update while you've had a power surge, knocked your PC, etc, then it may have corrupt part of the registry. There's no easy way to cure that problem - the only 100% safe solution is to back up everything, and then re-install Windows from scratch.

3. It could be a worm. Highly unlikely as you've got Norton Antivirus - however, if its not bang up-to-date, then something may have slipped through. Download all of the latest Norton updates, and do a FULL scan. If it comes up clear, then my money is one one of the first two problems.

[Ducky]

Thanks Briggsy, i have alreasy do chkdsk a few times and again just now and has found nothing, my anti-virus is bang upto date and has also found nothing, so i think it must be number 2 out of interest what anti-virus/firewall etc do you all use?

[Briggsy]

Thanks Briggsy, i have alreasy do chkdsk a few times and again just now and has found nothing, my anti-virus is bang upto date and has also found nothing, so i think it must be number 2 out of interest what anti-virus/firewall etc do you all use?

I use Norton at home, and McAfee at work. I think they're both about as good as each other - the best you can get.

It sounds like number 2 to me mate

[Neuro]

My Uni were kind enough to give us free McAfee licences to use on any computer "when connected to the network".

Hope you get it sorted matey...

[Wakey]

Yeah we get McAffee free, they used to force us to use it but now they don't mind as long as you have some anti-virus. Good job as I bloody hate it.

Nothing to do with the cpu overheating Ducky?

[TheSaint]

I'd go for hardware. We have had this happen to a lot of older Dell machines at my workplace. It could be any of the the below:

1. Memory (try re-seating it)

2. Power Supply (try a new PSU if possible or a different socket, some PSUs are fussy about the raw power they get from the mains)

3. CPU/Mobo (they may need replacing, try your hard drive in another machine if possible)