OK I didn't leave or die but my computer died

Lady Lee

I got home from a week out of town only to return home to find my computer wouldn't work.

About a month ago my monitor stopped working so I went out and bought a new monitor.

The new monitor wouldn't fit on my desk (old desk had a drop shelf for the monitor which wouldn't work with the new LCD monitor) so I went out and bought a new desk.

Then the new monitor started causing problems and would just stop working or give me a message that there was no signal.

So called someone who charged me $100 to tell me it was either the battery or the motherboard.

Went out to buy a new battery and still had the same problem.

Went to Staples who said it didn't sound like the battery at all but for $40 would flash the BIOS for me and do a check to see what the problem was. He also did a quick check online (with his computer) to discover that my motherboard was noted for many problems Hooray for me.

So went home put the computer back together, loaded it on the back of my wheelchair and took it into the store.

Surprise. Not the battery. Not the motherboard.

The video card was the problem and it in turn had trashed my power supply.

So one new power source and one new video card and I am up and running again.

$100 for nothing
$ 84 for opening it up and flashing the BIOS (couldn't do this one myself)
$ 59 for power supply
$ 99 for new video card (I installed this myself)
$ 25 for installing power supply (could have done this before but it was already there in the shop)
____________

Total $ 367

Should have gone out and bought a new one except he was quite impressed with what I have in here.

I also checked the new desktops. No way could I add everything I have in this computer (3 hard drives, a DVD burner (somehow lost my CD burner, 3 GB ram. extra USB ports - want to add another USB card, still have a floppy disk drive for those little things like flashing a BIOS)

The credit card companies are loving me this month

Elsewhere

Sucks.

When someone's computer rolls over and dies, and it is move than one or two years old, I normally recommend it be scrapped and replaced. A good new box (just the computer without a monitor) is about $400 ~ $500.

Computers are like TVs now... bringing it to the repair shop just isn't worth it.

Hopefully your computer will keep chugging along for a few more years so you can get your monies worth.

You're new monitor should serve you well for many years... and continue to work well when you eventually buy another computer in the future.

Finally-Free

Aren't computers great? If it wasn't for computers I'd probably be able to retire by now. I've given my credit card a good beating too this year. $2000 last month on some upgrades and another $2000 on Friday to buy Realflow, a 3D fluid simulation software package.

W

thetrueone

Yes, I had a similar problem awhile back, since video cards draw so much wattage from the power supply

whenever either one falters it seems to ruin both most of the time.

I've been told that having a quality power supply above what it generally needed

will add insurance to longevity of the whole computer system.

The problem is complete computer packages that you buy like HP , Dell and lesser brand names put in cheep

power supplies to keep the system's cost down. They may be alright for 2 to 3 years under normal use but beyond that

is when they tend to fail, taking other system components ( Video cards ) with them.

This problems exacerbates when extra components are added into the system like Hard Drives, CD/DVD burners ...etc.

cantleave

Both our computers are on a "Whatever Happens" insurance policy. We really do get our money's worth.

thetrueone

My brother owns a computer store and has been in the repair business for 15 years.

I've learned alot from him.

As it is, I build my own computers now, selecting each component carefully and I start

firstly by choosing a quality after market power supply, you simply can not skip on this most important

part of the entire system.

Lady Lee

I hate out of the box computers and prefer to build my own as well. And while putting them together is easy, finding problems is definitely not my forte. So when something goes wrong I have to rely on others.

This one was a computer that I built from the motherboard up but have had it upgraded a few times now. I got a really good power source this time (more than required by the video card) and an average-ish video card. I don't do intensive gaming and my image-editing is far less than it used to be.

I recently added an external hard drive so that actually makes 3 hard drives. Don't think I need them all anymore so might get rid of at least one of the drives and add in one more burner.

I was pretty stunned at the new tiny boxes that computers come in - definitely not for the person like me who wants a lot of space to add things

moshe

I agree that for most people spending $89-$150 or so for diagnostic work on a 2 or 3 year old computer is a waste. It will be hard to get out of the repair shop for less than $200- about 1/2 the price of a new computer. Pull the old hard drive out and add it to a new computer (that has a new warranty). You will have new gear and still keep your old files, IF, the HD is still good. I am glad you can build your own stuff, LL.

stillajwexelder

Yes Lady Lee - my computer is now approaching 4 years old and tells me I need to upgrade the RAM.

Everything tells me - buy a new computer. Dont spend anymore on this one

WTWizard

I have a computer that is approaching 4 years old. And already it is out of date--only 1 GB and 200 GB hard drive (which is already nearly half full). I don't plan on the computer surviving much past around 5 years--and, if it does, it will probably be out of date anyways.

Which is good for computer companies--by then, 8 GB will be worth about what I paid for a 1 GB system in 2006. And, getting 1 TB of hard drive space will probably come with the computer. Hey, at least they are trying to give us better products for around the same price. I would rather have a computer go out of date than have the government hold back the technology--so we would still be stuck with around 8 or 16 kB (not GB, kB).

OK I didn't leave or die but my computer died

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