PC Matter - Need an opinion

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

My computer's gone nuts lately, and I would like an opinion from you guys on what is wrong, since I don't have the resources to do a component swap to see what's wrong.

Lately the computer's been very crash-happy and auto-reboot-happy. It locks up in most catastrophic fashion; the screen actually blanks out, and my monitor goes to sleep mode, with the LEDs on both optical drives blinking as though it's started a reboot (but it hasn't).

In addition, a funny light metallic noise has been coming from the computer as well, whenever a) I move the mouse, b) there is a screen redraw, c) a program is loading and d) random times. As it is, I think the noise comes whenever a CPU intensive task is going on. And if it gets too intensive, it locks up again!

Right now my conclusion is that either the PSU, the CPU, or the motherboard has failed. I'm leaning towards the CPU/Motherboard combination, but the noise has me thinking that it's possible the PSU is nearing it's EOL, thus giving all these problems. So I'm not sure, and I'm not too hot about spending the money to replace all three. What do you guys think?

[popabawa]

Right now my conclusion is that either the PSU, the CPU, or the motherboard has failed.

If the CPU or motherboard had failed you'd be looking at a blank screen! They are always fatal.

It could be the PSU as you surmised but the noise you are experiencing could be a fan problem (which is probably best case scenario for you).

If it is a fan failing then this could be causing the PC to overheat thus causing the random-ish crashes & reboots.

I think I'd check your CPU cooler first, if this isn't working properly and the CPU is overheating then the CPU could well expire as well so it's important to fix this quickly if it is the problem.

If it's not the CPU cooler then most likely it's the PSU, which is a bit more expensive than replacing the CPU cooler but still not exteme.

Hope that helps & good luck.

Iain.

[The Yaz]

Your problem may actually be your hard drive. I've seen some corrupted sectors drive a computer crazy. on an MS OS, go into my computer and do a error check and a defragmetation. If you see anything like "unknown sectors" or simply "bad sectors", you should look to get a new hard drive.

When you install the new one, remeber to keep the old one installed as a slave. That way, once you've reinstalled the OS, you can migrate your files qiuck and easy (programs will need to be reinstalled).

Otherwise, depending the age of your computer I think it would be simpler to look for a replacement computer than the cost to take it to a tech for repair.

Good luck,

Steve 8)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Thanks guys! :)

popabawa: Sorry, I meant to say CPU/Motherboard near EOL. These things can get very cranky when they start to fail.

My fans are all working, I just checked them. CPU heatsink is seated firmly on the CPU, and it's warm to touch, so I think it's still doing its job. The VIA686B sensors report the CPU at 41C. CPU is a 1ghz Athlon (I think Thunderbird C). Hard to miss the sound when a 7k RPM fan goes down anyway. =P

The Yaz: I just finished doing a surface scan on the HDD. My primary drive is fine. No bad sectors.

I'm dreading a mobo replacement, because it means new RAM. DDR RAM just went up in price lately, and I generally don't trust the second hand market for motherboards here. Goodness knows what overclocking experiments have been done on them.

Guess I'll try to source for a PSU somewhere. Think that's the best course of action for now.