Help me with this f'd up computer...

D

Doward

Banned
Jan 11, 2006
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*sigh*

Reign, where the hell you located? I've got free nationwide calling, PM me a number if you're still having problems, and I'll walk you through it :)

What model Compaq is it? I'd bet you anything it's an unregulated power supply problem ;) See it all the damn time. PSU stops regulating voltage properly to the mobo, and since EVERYTHING IS INTEGRATED, it all goes haywire.

If a Format/Restore doesn't fix it, then use an ATX PSU tester on it, or download MBM and see if you can monitor the rail voltage.

The odds of you actually having 2 items suddenly conflicting in IRQs is highly unlikely.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314068/EN-US/

Windows XP uses a totally different scheme than Windows 9x to handle IRQs, and can actually share them quite well (it's a virtual IRQ scheme in the HAL)
 
Reign_Maker

Reign_Maker

Has cheezberger
Aug 31, 2005
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Florida
If I format, will it erase all the stuff on the hard drive, like folders and stuff?

Restore is just when you go back to a earlier time right? Maybe I'll try to do one 6 months back and see... If not, then I can always go back to this restore point...
 
FoolishOne

FoolishOne

New Member
May 14, 2006
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Bel Air, MD
RM, this happens all the time? Everytime you start up the computer?

Does something that you do cause this?

Do you get error messages everytime? The same one?

What if you just boot it up and let it be, don't even more the mouse (but login) for, say, 20 minutes? Does it come up on its own?

If it randomly reboots without errors, 7 out of 10 times it's the PSU overheating.

»fo
 
Reign_Maker

Reign_Maker

Has cheezberger
Aug 31, 2005
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Foolish: I did an experiment... I left the computer on all day, didnt get on line, just left it alone, and I dont THINK it ever rebooted... Because when it reboots, it gives me a little bubble on the bottom showing the I have an internet connection and what the signeal strength is... However, I dunno if it stays on permenantly until I click the "X", or if you dont click it after a certain time, it just close on its own...

It wont reboot when Im doing anything else, usually JUST the net... I did a virus scan yesterday, and it LITERALLY took over an hour and never rebooted... So, I dunno, maybe the net is causing it...
 
Reign_Maker

Reign_Maker

Has cheezberger
Aug 31, 2005
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OK... Last night... I left the "home" page up, and turned off the monitor... The comp didnt reboot last night... So I have a feeling that there is something on some websites that aare causing the comp to reboot... Maybe a certain flash program thats conflicting... Or something like that... This is just wierd... I'll just tell my mom and let her take it to a comp store to get looked at...
 
S

SupraDerk

The Backseat Flyer
Sep 17, 2005
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I'll be up in Tally-ho in a couple of weeks, you close to there?


But if you want to try wiping it, yeah just save the stuff you really want to keep on like a portable harddrive or CD/DVD or something. Then go here...click "Windows 98 SE OEM" and download that one. Make sure you have an empty floppy disk. Then run that program and it'll make a boot disk for you.

After you have the bootdisk it's time to wipe the harddrive. Restart your computer with the bootdisk in the floppy drive and (hopefully your floppy is a boot drive, otherwise it's back to the BIOS! heh) the disk will load and a menu will come up, I forgot what it says...something about "load with cd-rom support" and "load with-out cd-rom support" ...click either or, it doesn't really matter...probably just type "1" then hit enter.

After that it'll take a couple of minutes to load a DOS type OS, you should have a prompt with "A:/" on the left side of the screen. Type "fdisk" and then you'll be taken to a new screen. type "y" hit enter, then type "y" and hit enter again.

You should come to a screen with 4 choices, #3 should be to delete partition, type "3" and hit enter, an then you should have more choices. I forgot what this menus says too, haha..but you want like option 3 or 4, it should say "non" something "partition"...select that one.

A new screen should pop up, with a "warning" flashing. type "y" and hit enter and that'll wipe your harddrive. Well it'll do it if you're using an NTFS version of windows (Win2k and XP)


After that, exit FDisk and restart the computer, take the floppy disk out and put in the Windows install CD, then it's all just sitting around, waiting and hitting enter from there.
 
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