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Everything ever is wrong with my computer
Khavall
British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
Ok, I think it might be time to start looking at getting a new laptop. I've had this one for 3 years now, and while I'm building a desktop this month, up 'till now it's been the only computer I've had, so it's been my desktop and I've taken it everywhere with me.
But before I start thinking about that and budgeting out how I'm going to afford parts for my new desktop and a new laptop(I think I'm getting an Eee), I was wondering if anyone had any other advice based on what's wrong.
So first, the original problems:
About a day after the Orange Box came out, Portal and TF2 stopped working. I would load them up, the computer would BSOD with some weird memory error that it claimed was from Ati2duag.dll, and I'd obviously have to restart.
A week or so after that, Half-Life 2 stopped working. Not a big deal, but still, it used to be able to handle this shit. It does the same thing Portal and TF2 did. Also when it would restart the processor would be running at half-clock. I rigorously cleaned the whole system, with no change. I also elevated the computer to increase air flow when it's on my desk.
Jump forwards a month or so, and ProTools, which I use often, started being unable to load the DAE for my preamp correctly sometimes. Also if I would leave the computer on for an hour or more, it would go to black, but be unable to restart normal operation until I turned it off and then back on. Recently it's been able to go to hibernate, but only kind of.
So I reformat, and none of this is fixed.
Jump forwards a week or two, and my computer completely fails to load up. I think this is the big one, as it just boots to a black screen and stays there permanently. I remove a stick of ram, and it starts up. I put the stick of ram back in, and it boots up. This has happened once since then, same responses.
Jump forwards another two weeks or so and my USB ports start randomly failing to identify devices attached to them, or failing to give enough power to the peripherals they support. I cut down on USB devices, so now I just have my external HDD(powered by a DC cable), Mouse, Keyboard, MIDI keyboard, and Preamp. None of the problems are fixed.
Now jump forwards to a week ago, and I notice two new problems.
First, I started playing a new game of UFO defense, since we were talking about it in G+T and I wanted to play again. However, this time, instead of running turbo to keep my CPU to 20% performance, I now run it at 80% and can actually coherently run UFO defense without having to limit the computer at all without it going way too fast. This is a bit of a red flag to me.
Second, my sound cuts out. Completely and inexplicably. It just suddenly has no sound when I start it up. A restart gets it working again, but considering that I use this computer primarily for Sound work, I kind of need sound. I reformatted and cleaned again, no dice.
So. Anyone have any ideas as to what the hell might be wrong with this shit? Nothing seems to work, and everything's broken. Like the only parts that I've had no problems with now are the screen, keyboard and mouse.
Is it time for me to declare the computer and move on?
EDIT: Also I have AVG running and Spybot checking weekly.
But before I start thinking about that and budgeting out how I'm going to afford parts for my new desktop and a new laptop(I think I'm getting an Eee), I was wondering if anyone had any other advice based on what's wrong.
So first, the original problems:
About a day after the Orange Box came out, Portal and TF2 stopped working. I would load them up, the computer would BSOD with some weird memory error that it claimed was from Ati2duag.dll, and I'd obviously have to restart.
A week or so after that, Half-Life 2 stopped working. Not a big deal, but still, it used to be able to handle this shit. It does the same thing Portal and TF2 did. Also when it would restart the processor would be running at half-clock. I rigorously cleaned the whole system, with no change. I also elevated the computer to increase air flow when it's on my desk.
Jump forwards a month or so, and ProTools, which I use often, started being unable to load the DAE for my preamp correctly sometimes. Also if I would leave the computer on for an hour or more, it would go to black, but be unable to restart normal operation until I turned it off and then back on. Recently it's been able to go to hibernate, but only kind of.
So I reformat, and none of this is fixed.
Jump forwards a week or two, and my computer completely fails to load up. I think this is the big one, as it just boots to a black screen and stays there permanently. I remove a stick of ram, and it starts up. I put the stick of ram back in, and it boots up. This has happened once since then, same responses.
Jump forwards another two weeks or so and my USB ports start randomly failing to identify devices attached to them, or failing to give enough power to the peripherals they support. I cut down on USB devices, so now I just have my external HDD(powered by a DC cable), Mouse, Keyboard, MIDI keyboard, and Preamp. None of the problems are fixed.
Now jump forwards to a week ago, and I notice two new problems.
First, I started playing a new game of UFO defense, since we were talking about it in G+T and I wanted to play again. However, this time, instead of running turbo to keep my CPU to 20% performance, I now run it at 80% and can actually coherently run UFO defense without having to limit the computer at all without it going way too fast. This is a bit of a red flag to me.
Second, my sound cuts out. Completely and inexplicably. It just suddenly has no sound when I start it up. A restart gets it working again, but considering that I use this computer primarily for Sound work, I kind of need sound. I reformatted and cleaned again, no dice.
So. Anyone have any ideas as to what the hell might be wrong with this shit? Nothing seems to work, and everything's broken. Like the only parts that I've had no problems with now are the screen, keyboard and mouse.
Is it time for me to declare the computer and move on?
EDIT: Also I have AVG running and Spybot checking weekly.
Khavall on
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Laptops are one of those things that are especially tricky to diagnose because of their nature. Depending on the age of the laptop you may be looking at a price-point where it's going to be cheaper or more cost-effective to simply buy a new laptop than it is to repair your current one.
Honestly, what would probably happen if it was out of warranty is you're going to take it to some shop, they're going to crack it open and have it for maybe 3-5 days, give it back and say "Yep, motherboard's shot (whether that's the actual problem or not)," and then charge you $100.
Best case scenario in what you've described is that there's some kind of processor damage and they replace it, but it would still probably be more effective to replace it with awesome laptops hitting the $400ish range.
Hopefully you've found a way to get all of your important data off of it already.
And I think that if I can't fix it on my own I'm getting an Eee soon, around the time I build my tower.