2 old PCs starting to fail - fix or replace?

[AlexD]

Would appreciate help in diagnosing faults with two PCs - I'm capable of
replacing parts, but not of diagnosing faults.

Both are approaching the age at which I'd expect them to start failing apart
anyway, but I'd like to know what's wrong with them so I can decide whether
it's worth the cost of replacing parts or not (I'd ideally like to upgrade
and continue using them), or whether due to their age all their other parts
are going to start to fail soon anyway so spending any money on them would
be a waste.

PC 1 (my brother's): PIII 450MHz, about 6 years old, Win98se
Problem 1: MONITOR screen flickers frequently and randomly, and often dims
temporarily (for a few seconds at a time).
Problem 2: HARD-DISK (I think) is excessively noisy, often makes loud
grinding noise, and occasionally stops working.
Problem 3: BOOT-UP - often stops during boot-up - this can happen at any
point during the process, sometimes even before the RAM-test, and usually
before the machine gets around to reading its system files (CONFIG·SYS etc).
Problem 4: PRINTER (Epson bubblejet) red light is on, and printer refuses to
work. I have the printer manual but have not looked into this problem yet as
it did not seem wise to try to troubleshoot a printer problem while the PC
itself was misbehaving. Am hoping that this printer problem is in fact
caused by whatever is causing one or all of the above three PC faults.

I am hoping that these problems may all have single cause, eg. power supply
failing, causing other parts to misbehave because not getting enough juice.
Am I being too hopeful, or just plain ignorant here? Don't want to buy a new
monitor and hard-disk if all it needs is a new power supply. Monitor and
printer are on separate power supplies though (rather than supplied through
PC), which makes this seem less likely.

PC 2 (mine): Gateway PIII 500, about 5 or 6 years old, Win98se
Problem 1: MONITOR screen flickers occasionally, and often dims for a second
or less (seems to be identical problem to the PC above, just less far
advanced).
Problem 2: SPEAKERS give intermittent loud hum, but only at certain
volumes - seems to be worst at medium volume (peaking at the volume the
speakers are normally set at), then fading as volume is increased further.
Seems to be most likely to happen when first turned on, then resolves itself
after a few hours.

Again, am hoping that these problems might be caused by something cheap
elsewhere in the system (e.g.. PC power supply), rather than needing a new
monitor. However again PC, monitor and speakers have their own separate
power supplies, weakening the case for this.

Grateful for any assistance!

)))
(o o)
ooO--(_)--Ooo-
AlexD

 

[philo]

Would appreciate help in diagnosing faults with two PCs - I'm capable of
replacing parts, but not of diagnosing faults.

Both are approaching the age at which I'd expect them to start failing
apart
anyway, but I'd like to know what's wrong with them so I can decide
whether
it's worth the cost of replacing parts or not (I'd ideally like to upgrade
and continue using them), or whether due to their age all their other
parts
are going to start to fail soon anyway so spending any money on them would
be a waste.

PC 1 (my brother's): PIII 450MHz, about 6 years old, Win98se
Problem 1: MONITOR screen flickers frequently and randomly, and often dims
temporarily (for a few seconds at a time).
Problem 2: HARD-DISK (I think) is excessively noisy, often makes loud
grinding noise, and occasionally stops working.
Problem 3: BOOT-UP - often stops during boot-up - this can happen at any
point during the process, sometimes even before the RAM-test, and usually
before the machine gets around to reading its system files (CONFIG·SYS
etc).
Problem 4: PRINTER (Epson bubblejet) red light is on, and printer refuses
to
work. I have the printer manual but have not looked into this problem yet
as
it did not seem wise to try to troubleshoot a printer problem while the PC
itself was misbehaving. Am hoping that this printer problem is in fact
caused by whatever is causing one or all of the above three PC faults.

I am hoping that these problems may all have single cause, eg. power
supply
failing, causing other parts to misbehave because not getting enough
juice.
Am I being too hopeful, or just plain ignorant here? Don't want to buy a
new
monitor and hard-disk if all it needs is a new power supply. Monitor and
printer are on separate power supplies though (rather than supplied
through
PC), which makes this seem less likely.

PC 2 (mine): Gateway PIII 500, about 5 or 6 years old, Win98se
Problem 1: MONITOR screen flickers occasionally, and often dims for a
second
or less (seems to be identical problem to the PC above, just less far
advanced).
Problem 2: SPEAKERS give intermittent loud hum, but only at certain
volumes - seems to be worst at medium volume (peaking at the volume the
speakers are normally set at), then fading as volume is increased further.
Seems to be most likely to happen when first turned on, then resolves
itself
after a few hours.

Again, am hoping that these problems might be caused by something cheap
elsewhere in the system (e.g.. PC power supply), rather than needing a new
monitor. However again PC, monitor and speakers have their own separate
power supplies, weakening the case for this.

as to the flickering monitors...
very possibly just loose cables.
remove, re-plug and tighten
also be sure the video card is seated properly...

as to the machine with the nosy HD...
back up your data at once and replace the drive...

if win98 serves the purpose might as well stick with those machines...

but if you think it's time to upgrade to XP...
then you might as well start over with new machines

 

[Ray.Milne]

Is it the Power light led OR the ink cartridge led.

If the latter check manual to see which ink cartridge needs changing.

Ray.

 

[AlexD]

Is it the Power light led OR the ink cartridge led.

If the latter check manual to see which ink cartridge needs changing.

Ray.

(From memory, as this PC is in different place) Colour ink has run out,
resulting in one smaller warning light which I did not mention, but black
ink cartridge has not run out, and there is a bigger red fault light (not
low-ink alert), and PC refuses to print at all. My brother says the printer
should still print black when the colour cartridge is empty. As I mentioned,
have not tried much to resolve this one, as I thought diagnosis might be
complicated by (or fault resulting from) one of the other pre-existing PC
problems. I mostly mentioned the printer problem in case it was related to
one of the other issues. I planned on fixing other problems first, then
looking at the printer if it is still showing red.

Thanx for the feedback though. If computer not fixable, will try doing what
you say to get printer working so I can sell it.

cheers
AlexD

 

[AlexD]

as to the flickering monitors...
very possibly just loose cables.
remove, re-plug and tighten
also be sure the video card is seated properly...

as to the machine with the nosy HD...
back up your data at once and replace the drive...

if win98 serves the purpose might as well stick with those machines...

but if you think it's time to upgrade to XP...
then you might as well start over with new machines

Thanx for the quick feedback - will try checking seating of cables & cards.
Hadn't thought to check this because my PC hasn't been moved in years and I
thought no way for things to loosen by themselves ... and I just assumed age
was the cause and a no-cost solution would be too much to hope for.

I like Win98 and would rather not have to learn how to use a new operating
system and get familiar with new versions of old programs ... and spend many
weeks installing the vast array of applications and utilities and tweaks and
customisations which I'd want to get a new PC how I'd like it. Also I am
horribly in debt and don't want to even think about shelling out on a new PC
at the moment.

cheers
AlexD

 

[Michael C]

(From memory, as this PC is in different place) Colour ink
has run out,

resulting in one smaller warning light which I did not mention, but black
ink cartridge has not run out, and there is a bigger red fault light (not
low-ink alert), and PC refuses to print at all. My brother says the
printer
should still print black when the colour cartridge is empty.

That's not true for my printer at least. When the color is out you cannot
print at all even if the black is new and you are printing in black. You can
just push the ink button and remove and putback the empty color cartridge
and it will think it's new, allowing you to print in black at least.

 

[ElJerid]

Would appreciate help in diagnosing faults with two PCs - I'm capable of
replacing parts, but not of diagnosing faults.

Both are approaching the age at which I'd expect them to start failing
apart
anyway, but I'd like to know what's wrong with them so I can decide
whether
it's worth the cost of replacing parts or not (I'd ideally like to upgrade
and continue using them), or whether due to their age all their other
parts
are going to start to fail soon anyway so spending any money on them would
be a waste.

PC 1 (my brother's): PIII 450MHz, about 6 years old, Win98se
Problem 1: MONITOR screen flickers frequently and randomly, and often dims
temporarily (for a few seconds at a time).
Problem 2: HARD-DISK (I think) is excessively noisy, often makes loud
grinding noise, and occasionally stops working.
Problem 3: BOOT-UP - often stops during boot-up - this can happen at any
point during the process, sometimes even before the RAM-test, and usually
before the machine gets around to reading its system files (CONFIG·SYS
etc).
Problem 4: PRINTER (Epson bubblejet) red light is on, and printer refuses
to
work. I have the printer manual but have not looked into this problem yet
as
it did not seem wise to try to troubleshoot a printer problem while the PC
itself was misbehaving. Am hoping that this printer problem is in fact
caused by whatever is causing one or all of the above three PC faults.

I am hoping that these problems may all have single cause, eg. power
supply
failing, causing other parts to misbehave because not getting enough
juice.
Am I being too hopeful, or just plain ignorant here? Don't want to buy a
new
monitor and hard-disk if all it needs is a new power supply. Monitor and
printer are on separate power supplies though (rather than supplied
through
PC), which makes this seem less likely.

PC 2 (mine): Gateway PIII 500, about 5 or 6 years old, Win98se
Problem 1: MONITOR screen flickers occasionally, and often dims for a
second
or less (seems to be identical problem to the PC above, just less far
advanced).
Problem 2: SPEAKERS give intermittent loud hum, but only at certain
volumes - seems to be worst at medium volume (peaking at the volume the
speakers are normally set at), then fading as volume is increased further.
Seems to be most likely to happen when first turned on, then resolves
itself
after a few hours.

Again, am hoping that these problems might be caused by something cheap
elsewhere in the system (e.g.. PC power supply), rather than needing a new
monitor. However again PC, monitor and speakers have their own separate
power supplies, weakening the case for this.

Grateful for any assistance!

)))
(o o)
ooO--(_)--Ooo-
AlexD

In general terms, I would say not to invest a single $ in repair/upgrade
those computers. Unfortunately, they are too old to keep them alive, and new
systems are actually too cheap to stay with "old problem hardware".
Concerning your specific problems:

FIRST PC:
- Monitor: it' s gonna leave you. The symptoms are typical for old CRT
monitors: defective HT and/or leaking capacitors.
- Hard Disk: again, it's gonna leave you. Time to back-up all your files and
go for a new unit. Try a scandisk to convince yourself.
- Boot-up: many possible causes. Maybe it' s related to your hard disk
problems, maybe you could solve the problem by doing a new clean Windows
install (try this first).
- Printer: as you think, a clean re-install of Windows and the printer
drivers is the first thing to try, before being able to diagnostic a printer
problem.

YOUR PC:
- Monitor: see above.
- Speakers: problem with your audio card, but you don't say if it's a
separate card or build-in on the motherboard.

As a conclusion:
- Both monitors have or will have to be replaced (it's really not worth to
try any repair).
- In my opinion, the problems on your brother's PC make it not worth to
invest in new parts (hard disk) to repair. If you don't like this idea
however, you will have to buy a new disk (which you could re-use in a future
new system) and reinstall Windows.
- As your PC seems to have only a minor problem, you could solve it by
installing a new low cost audio card.

Good luck !

 

[AlexD]

Thanks for that - will try it. My brother may have been mis-remembering.

cheers
AlexD

 

[AlexD]

UPDATE (2nd PC monitor): cables & card seemed to be firmly seated, but
re-fitted everything anyway ... and problem seemed to be fixed! But as it
was an intermittent fault I decided to wait a while before getting too
excited, and now problem has started again. Screen has just given a few
flickers. So re-seating card seemed to help the problem but not fix it -
could problem be with dirty contacts (i.e. oxidation/corrosion)? Might
cleaning contacts help, or is it just a coincidence problem seemed to vanish
for a few hours after opening PC up and re-seating cards?

I re-seated sound card while I was at it and speakers have not hummed since,
but again this was intermittent fault so this may mean nothing (speaker hum
was only every few days - seemed to be when PC was turned on for 1st time
after being off for several days).

AlexD

 

[AlexD]

In general terms, I would say not to invest a single $ in repair/upgrade
those computers. Unfortunately, they are too old to keep them alive, and new
systems are actually too cheap to stay with "old problem hardware".
Concerning your specific problems:

FIRST PC:
- Monitor: it' s gonna leave you. The symptoms are typical for old CRT
monitors: defective HT and/or leaking capacitors.

'scuse my hignorance, but what's a HT?

- Hard Disk: again, it's gonna leave you. Time to back-up all your files and
go for a new unit. Try a scandisk to convince yourself.
- Boot-up: many possible causes. Maybe it' s related to your hard disk
problems, maybe you could solve the problem by doing a new clean Windows
install (try this first).
- Printer: as you think, a clean re-install of Windows and the printer
drivers is the first thing to try, before being able to diagnostic a printer
problem.

YOUR PC:
- Monitor: see above.

I'm sure you are right about diagnosis of old monitors, but see my previous
post re: re-seating cards seeming to temporarily ease problem – I know I am
clutching at straws here, but could problem be to do with
dirty/corroded/oxidised contacts, or could something else about the process
of opening the PC and removing and replacing parts ease the problem
temporarily through some other mechanism ... i.e. could re-seating cards
temporarily help "defective HT and/or leaking capacitors" in some way? If so
I can see myself re-seating my cards at ever-increasing frequency until I
can face up to shelling out on new card/monitor/PC.

- Speakers: problem with your audio card, but you don't say if it's a
separate card or build-in on the motherboard.

separate card (tried re-seating it: see previous post)

As a conclusion:
- Both monitors have or will have to be replaced (it's really not worth to
try any repair).
- In my opinion, the problems on your brother's PC make it not worth to
invest in new parts (hard disk) to repair. If you don't like this idea
however, you will have to buy a new disk (which you could re-use in a future
new system) and reinstall Windows.
- As your PC seems to have only a minor problem, you could solve it by
installing a new low cost audio card.

Good luck !

Thanks for the detailed response and the advice ... confirming my worst
fears. (I see no-one has backed up my hopeful guess of a power supply or
some other cheap part causing knock-on problems – bummer.)

cheers

AlexD

 

[Newbury]

'scuse my hignorance, but what's a HT?


I'm sure you are right about diagnosis of old monitors, but see my
previous post re: re-seating cards seeming to temporarily ease
problem - I know I am clutching at straws here, but could problem be
to do with dirty/corroded/oxidised contacts, or could something else
about the process of opening the PC and removing and replacing parts
ease the problem temporarily through some other mechanism ... i.e.
could re-seating cards temporarily help "defective HT and/or leaking
capacitors" in some way? If so I can see myself re-seating my cards
at ever-increasing frequency until I can face up to shelling out on
new card/monitor/PC.


separate card (tried re-seating it: see previous post)


Thanks for the detailed response and the advice ... confirming my
worst fears. (I see no-one has backed up my hopeful guess of a power
supply or some other cheap part causing knock-on problems - bummer.)

cheers

AlexD

I would recommend that you visit a computer store that sells old PCs and
just look around. Consider your budget and all options including building a
new system from the bottom up to get exactly what you want. Look at Wal-Mart
type stores and see the disposable systems. Exactly what your requirements
are you could fix all systems for a few bucks if you like to tinker. I still
maintain PIII 450 systems and new alike.

Newbury

 

[~misfit~]

UPDATE (2nd PC monitor): cables & card seemed to be firmly seated, but
re-fitted everything anyway ... and problem seemed to be fixed! But
as it was an intermittent fault I decided to wait a while before
getting too excited, and now problem has started again. Screen has
just given a few flickers. So re-seating card seemed to help the
problem but not fix it - could problem be with dirty contacts (i.e.
oxidation/corrosion)? Might cleaning contacts help, or is it just a
coincidence problem seemed to vanish for a few hours after opening PC
up and re-seating cards?

Did the problem only come back after re-fitting the case cover? Could it be
heat-related? Is the graphics card fan-cooled and, if so, is the fan clean
and working? Heat and dust/dirt are common causes of older machines giving
problems.