actorman

Hey there guys!!

This forum has been an awfully large help in the past with software problems I've had so I was hoping it could be of equal help with some hardware problems I've been having.

I currently run my computer with the side open and a 19" occilating fan blowing into it... don't ask me why this seems to help but it does. Or at least it HAD solved all the problems until the last couple of months where now I am unable to watch five minutes of a dvd before it freezes up on me. First I hear a click (or a variation thereof), then the screen either becomes a series of lines accross or it goes blue, sometimes I have even gotten it to tell me that it's having a 0x0000009C problem. At first I only needed to run the fan while I was gaming, later I needed to run the fan at a higher speed to game, and now it doesn't matter what speed my poor little helper fan is on... my poor computer can't seem to do any gaming or video watching.

The problem is I'm not sure if the video card is what needs replacing or the power supply. Is there a way to test this? Or is it time for a complete overhaul (which I hope it isn't but...)

Alrighty here's at least some specs :)

CPU BRAND: AMD Athlon(tm) Processor 2800+
CPU Speed: 1817 MHz

OS: Windows XP5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2

Memory:
Physical Total: 1,073,201,152 bytes (1024 MB)
Physical Free: 620,765,184 bytes (593 MB) (and I don't know what's taking up that much ram since nothing else is open but anyways...)
Page File Total: 1,774,657,536 bytes (1693 MB)
Page File Free: 1,416,380,416 bytes (1351 MB)
Virtual Total: 2,147,352,576 bytes (2048 MB)
Virtual Free: 2,094,809,088 bytes (1998 MB)
Pretty sure the RAM is DDR

Harddrive:
Quantum Fireballp AS40.0
Size: 41,107,701,760

Video Card:
RADEON 9800 PRO AGP (0x4E48)
Internal DAC(400MHz)
134217728 bytes (128 MB)

Nothing (as far as I know) is overclocked.

Is this the kind of problem that I can mix myself by ordering certain pieces online or am I going to need to take this into a tech specialist?

Thanks for your time fellas

Terrister

Please post specs about your power supply. There should be a label inside the case on the side of the power supply with this info.

actorman

Okie dokie... I'm not entirely sure which specs you'd like but I figured I've give the ones that I thought were most pertinent and if you need others please simply let me know and I'll dive back in.

Model: KY- 550ATX 500w
Frequency: 60 Hz - 50 Hz
Max Voltage: 407 w

Deleted090308

Have a look at the fans/heatsinks. Remove all dust with canned air.

actorman

I'm not entirely sure what heat sinks look like :( but I did clean out all the dust just over a month ago. You think I should do it again now?

Deleted090308

The heatsinks are made of metal and placed under the fans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink

Yes - clean them again. It can be a little tricky - here's an article on how to do it: http://www.techsupportforum.com/arti...stem-fans.html

You can use Speedfan to monitor the temperatures.

actorman

Okay I"ll go pick up a can of compressed air and I"ll clean that and let you know if there are any changes. Thank you for your patience

Deleted090308

Being summer (in the north hemisphere) causes many computers to overheat. Getting rid of the dust is the first step. If that doesn't help we'll have to look at the cooling system in your computer.

dai

redo the paste on the cpu h/sink with some arctic silver
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm
you need a fan placed low down at the front drawing cool air in
one at the rear exhausting the hot air
this creates a cool air flow from front to rear across the components

actorman

Alright so just to clarify I should pick up some arctic silver too? I do have two fans running on my system (an intake below the exhaust). I would put one in the front but there aren't any holes on the front of my case.

dai

the intake below the exhaust at the rear is not much use,can you fit it on the side low down near the front
is there a fan bracket at the front

actorman

there are no fan brackets in the front no.

dai

then the side panel is your best bet

actorman

the side panel itself has holes but no bracket persay, so just mount the fan overtop those holes you figure?

dai

this will give you a rough idea
http://www.computerpoweruser.com/edi...3u13.asp&guid=

actorman

Alright so the canned air was (obviously) easy to find but the quick silver I haven't been able to track down just yet. I'm going to clean out the dust as intricately as possible and then post from there

actorman

******Cleaning Done******

It has occurred to me that the fan on my video card is not spinning when I power up the computer... could this be the problem? *blush* and if so how can I remedy that? Do I need a new video card or is it possible to repair/replace just the fan.

Thank you :)

Deleted090308

First of all - how does the fan get power? Check the cables.
No, you don't have to buy a new card - there are replacement fans.

actorman

The fan is a black + red set of cords that plug directly into the video card, and the video card in turn is plugged into the power supply (I know I know that much was a given). I tried to unplug the fan and both sides of the plastic connection came off, so I struggled to find how they fit back in, found the two little pointy metal prongs and slipped it back together.

On the fan itself it says 447bb (if that helps at all)

Deleted090308

Sounds like you need a new fan.