Computer having Hissy Fit TM.
Posted: 2003-12-16 06:39am
Got back from the US to discover that the old machine,
1.2 Duron
128 MB DDR Ram
20 GB Harddrive
Geforce 4 64 mb
Windows XP
Standard Modem
Hauppage WinTV card
One Buggered Monitor
was filled to capacity, it had 17mb left on it, I don't know how long its been like that, my sister had filled the remaining gigabyte of space I had left, now I admit it wasnt in great nick when I left, but now, I don't know whats going on.
My monitor is buggered, I know this, because aside from the fact that it's been left too close to a speaker and now has permanent weird colour on the side, but I also think that the connector cable has been damaged in someway, as I know get a flickering and stuttering display, and every now and again, it simply gives up and displays a pattern of diagonal patterned vibrant coloured lines, this usually coinciding with a total crash.
So, I've cleaned some space from the computer, but the system is now extremely unstable, crashing every time I turn it on after about 5 or 6 minutes, this usually meaning that every attempt to defrag or scandisk or virus scan is totalled within a very short amount of time.
As far as I can see, the only solution to this is a reformatting and a clean slate, which means that I lose everything on it, unless I can transfer it all to this computer, but on the outside chance that it is a virus, (but I'm pretty sure it is extreme wear and tear), I don't want to screw this one up too much either.
Can anyone help me on this one, I've tried doing this in safe mode, but again, same problem, is there anything I can do before I hit the big red reset button - could it be something physical, the computer has been standing idle for a while, could it be dust clogging up a fan or something?
1.2 Duron
128 MB DDR Ram
20 GB Harddrive
Geforce 4 64 mb
Windows XP
Standard Modem
Hauppage WinTV card
One Buggered Monitor
was filled to capacity, it had 17mb left on it, I don't know how long its been like that, my sister had filled the remaining gigabyte of space I had left, now I admit it wasnt in great nick when I left, but now, I don't know whats going on.
My monitor is buggered, I know this, because aside from the fact that it's been left too close to a speaker and now has permanent weird colour on the side, but I also think that the connector cable has been damaged in someway, as I know get a flickering and stuttering display, and every now and again, it simply gives up and displays a pattern of diagonal patterned vibrant coloured lines, this usually coinciding with a total crash.
So, I've cleaned some space from the computer, but the system is now extremely unstable, crashing every time I turn it on after about 5 or 6 minutes, this usually meaning that every attempt to defrag or scandisk or virus scan is totalled within a very short amount of time.
As far as I can see, the only solution to this is a reformatting and a clean slate, which means that I lose everything on it, unless I can transfer it all to this computer, but on the outside chance that it is a virus, (but I'm pretty sure it is extreme wear and tear), I don't want to screw this one up too much either.
Can anyone help me on this one, I've tried doing this in safe mode, but again, same problem, is there anything I can do before I hit the big red reset button - could it be something physical, the computer has been standing idle for a while, could it be dust clogging up a fan or something?