Comments | mollyswanson: LJ tech support

mollyswanson

LJ tech support

Sep 12, 2008 18:42

You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised that the desktop computer I spec'd to last me through grad school would choose this particular moment to abruptly and completely cease to function ( Read more... )

Comments 6

katie21kmr September 13 2008, 02:22:37 UTC

I have no idea. My ancient desktop at work makes some overly-aggressive fan whirring noises on a regular basis. My colleague's computer actually started smoking/sparking while making those airplane-runway noises.

Ooh, the sketchy little place where I bought my cell phone charger is also a computer repair place.

mollyswanson September 13 2008, 02:46:04 UTC

Hah! Where was that place again?

katie21kmr September 14 2008, 01:41:55 UTC

Uh, I don't remember if it was before or after the T station nearest to you...but it was on that "main" street...the name of which I've forgotten.

How are your moving preparations going?

radiks September 13 2008, 05:17:38 UTC

My guess is a bad power supply (the big grey thing in the top, back of the case...and my guess is that the clunking noise was from the fan in that unit.) You can fix it without a getting a new case, but it's pretty ghetto because removing the old power supply involves drilling out bolts...at least in all of my PC cases. What I have done with my older computers is to put the new power supply on top of the case and leave the old one in with all it's cords dangling into nothingness. New cases (which usually include power supplies) aren't that expensive, but I'm just too lazy to replace my win 98SE computers cases because you have to take everything out (hard drives cd roms, disk drives, mother board) and put it all back in to the new one.
Hope that helps!

arturis September 13 2008, 06:08:42 UTC

I concur on the power supply diagnosis. The difficulty in replacing a power supply depends on how integrated your computer was. If it was built from parts, it'll be pretty easy. If was a Dell or Gateway build, it might be very hard.

And you may find that your power supply did some damage in its death throws.

mollyswanson September 13 2008, 15:25:34 UTC

Thanks guys - it's a Gateway build, so I'll have to figure out how hard it'll be to extract the dead power supply. Might be time to just get a new computer anyway ...