ZLRAC

I got my computer 2-3 years ago. I have Windows Vista Home Premium which has been running okay for 5mths now. I've got MSN Live OneCare for firewall and antivirus protection. Now it just doesn't run right. It takes me at least two or three tries to get it to start properly. I get errors like 'non-system disk error enter system disk and press enter' or it gets hung up on the blue HP screen. When I'm using it successfully, sometimes I have to do so in safe mode, it blanks out and goes to a black screen I can't get out of or it just freezes up completely. The Satellite internet connection goes in and out. It seems like if I use it for more than 10mins or do more than one thing with it I'm bound to have a problem. Here are some details on the computer. It is an HP MultiMedia Desktop w/ the following specs... Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.93GHz, w/ 1527MB of RAM, on a 32-bit operating system. The hard-drive the operating system is on is the original has 86GB w/ 58MB free and a second hard-drive I installed w/ 232GB w/ 180GB free which most of my personal files are on. I haven't installed any programs lately that I think are the cause of the problem. Here is what I've tried thus far... System Mechanic 7, Spybot, AdAware, System Restore, pcpitstop.com, chkdsk, and defrag. None of these worked and most resulted in the computer hanging up again... Any ideas on what the problem is and what I can do to fix it?

Please help!

TheMatt

It seems like there are a lot of hardware issues going on at once. I would shift my attention to the PSU. Download SpeedFan from my sig and post the voltage readings you see. Also post the temperatures you see and make a note of any fans with a reading of 0 RPM.

dai

the original h/d is overfull shift what you can,over to the new drive to free up some space on it and defrag it

ZLRAC

Vcore1: 1.30V
Vcore2: 1.50V
+3.3V: 2.51V
+5V: 2.53V
+12V: 12.86V
-12V: -1.83V
-5V: 0.63V
+5V: 4.87V
Vbat: 3.17V

Fan 1... 2637RPM 51C
Fan 2... 1298RPM 41C
Fan 3... 0RPM 3C

Also I got a new error today. I ran 'repair hard drive problems' from System Mechanic 7. It did some checks then said analysis would be done when I reboot. Then chkdsk started. It seemed to be going okay, then when it went to check 4 of 5 it said... 'the disk doesn't have enough space to replace bad clusters in file 912 of name . then it said the same thing of 913, 914, 915. Does this mean anything to anyone?

dai

it is telling you what i posted in the previous post,if you go over 85% full on a drive you will have problems
you need to clear at least 8g

ZLRAC

Dai,
No offense, since TheMatt posted first I'm trying his suggestions first. It's not that I doubt what you suggested, I just wanted to do this in order. I tried defrag through System Mechanic 7, through Vista, and though the command line, all of which resulted in the computer freezing up. Let me just see what TheMatt has to say, then I will free up some of the hard drive memory and try again. Let me ask you though, based on my initial post 'computer' is showing '86GB w/ 58MB free,' wouldn't this mean it is only 32.5% full?

TheMatt

I would run the Disk Cleanup in Vista and then do a Disk Defragmentation. With the Disk Cleanup, if you put a check next to everything, then it should cleanup a significant number of files. Also, transfer a bunch of files to the other hard disk like dai said.

ZLRAC

Will do... Thanks everyone!

TheMatt

Post back how it goes. You're welcome.

ZLRAC

Okay... I ran clean disk. I didn't check everything because this caused me a lot of problems when I did this before. I moved install programs to my second drive. I deleted programs that I don't use anymore. I deleted previous system restore points. Results? I went from 27gb on my primary drive to 14g. That cleared up 13gb of space! Going to try defrag now and hope for the best. I will keep you posted.

Well, I continued to have problems running defrag both when I tried it through windows and through DOS. Then I turned off Aero, killed some unnecessary for the time being start-up programs and turned off side bar and terminated some unneeded processes and tried defrag again... This time it worked! Seems like all is well again! Going to try and run chkdsk again at some point. Thanks again!

My last post was 'Automerged,' look above. I think I may have posted too soon. Everything 'seemed' to be going okay. Then I ran 'repair hard drive problems' from System Mechanic 7, it's basically like chkdsk. The computer froze up on the 5th step. Then I did a soft-reboot and Vista ran chkdsk after rebooting. It got through all 5 steps and appeared to be finished. The last few lines said... An unspecified error occurred. Autocheck program not found. Skipping autocheck. And then it was just frozen instead of going directly into windows. I did a soft reboot again. Windows frozen up again while I was waiting for my satellite connection to finish. Now I'm in safe mode with networking in order to do this post. What should I do from here?

dai

if it is booting into safe mode ok
go into msconfig/startup
untick all the boxes
if it then restarts normally retick the boxes on at a time,rebooting each time to try and isolate the cause of the problem

pharoah

did anyone stop to think about how far off the voltages are reading.

+3.3V: 2.51V
+5V: 2.53V
+12V: 12.86V

dai

they are too far out to be an accurate reading

pharoah

possibly he needs to go into the bios to make sure.the readings in there should be more accurate.also i have seen a pc function with voltages that out of whack confirmed with a multimeter,but it didnt run to good.thats also a sign of the power supply about ready to cook.if they are really that far out of spec.

ZLRAC

I've never really messed with the bios before. How do I go into it to check that? Also, if it turns out to be the power supply, is that something that would be pretty easy to replace on my own? I've successfully installed additional RAM before and a dvd-drive and the extra hard drive, but have never replaced a power supply. My other option (which I'm hoping to avoid) is to do a new install of Windows Vista Premium.

TheMatt

Check this out: http://www.techsupportforum.com/info...he-bios-setup/

Go into the PC Health Status section. Look at the voltages there.

The power supply is very easy, the hard part is getting a power supply in a case if it is a case from a manufacturer like Dell, Gateway, etc.

ZLRAC

Thanks TheMatt, I will give that a try at some point.

Dai, it is booting in normal mode okay now.

As far as the voltage readings, could it be my outlet power and not my power supply? See, I live on a farm and the owner rents out three other homes he has on his property. The electric is all connected to his house and he pays for it. So I guess it could be I'm getting my power 'second-hand' and what is supposed to come out of the outlet isn't.

For right now, things seem to be back to normal. I'll repost after I've done the bios check or if my computer continues to freeze up.

Thanks for everyones help thus far.

dai

get yourself an ups,if you think the supply is inconsistant as it may also spike sending a surge down the line

ZLRAC

TheMAtt, the link you gave seems to show me just how to get into the bios. After doing so I didn't see anything called 'PC Health Status section.'

Dai, I've actually thought about getting a UPS before. I've got a decent surge protector now, but having a UPS would definitely be the way to go even if the voltage thing isn't my problem. And as far as my power situation is concerned I've been here about a year and a half and haven't had these issues 'til the past week.

And as far as problems... I'm still having them. Although my computer seems to be doing better since I was able to get defrag to complete, It's still freezing up during certain tasks. Nero trying to copy a DVD or downloading a video clip, for example.

I've decided I'm going to reinstall Vista Premium on the primary drive. After doing this things should be fine. If not, then I'll know for sure it's either the hard drive, the RAM, or the power supply.

dai

first check that the h/sinks and fans are free of dust as that is a major cause of freeze ups
run
chkdsk /r