Coomputer Kaput

[Naki]

My PC froze up last night and then failed to restart - hope it is not expensive as just come out of warranty - so you won't see me posting pics etc for a while. It is off to the shop.

Looks like a full reinstall flight sim now! Just hope I can reload some of my downloaded payawre a/c p- scenry is fine as it is all on discs.

[creator2003]

Sorry to hear this news what a bugger.
hopefully not to much well earned money to fix

[Charl]

Sympathies Paul, we'll be thinking of you, these dark lonely nights.
"Course while it's in the shop, wouldn't hurt to just, y'know, tweak something, wouldn't it?
That's how I got my last total rebuild...

[ardypilot]

That sucks Paul- hope you get up and running again soon!

[Timmo]

Does it boot and then not do anything? or just not boot at all??

Could be your powersupply?

[utopian]

Moral of this story is to always have a backup pc handy better yet two backup pc's

Without knowing what's wrong its had to say but if the shop is any good most stuff can be fixed with needing to reinstall much if anything.

[Naki]

Thanks guys - yea it won't boot at all - I have feeling it might be related to a dust build up & hardware issues as a result - it sits on a polished concrete floor and it is a real dust generator. Its not a power supply problem.

Would be nice to tweak something but PC budget bit low at the moment. Hopefully they can at least quieten the fan noise down.

I have a horrid year of breakdowns - washing machine, microwave, DVD player, two cars, two TVs, mower etc etc agggh!.

Wife mumbled something about maybe she gets her own PC and I have a FS one - so maybe................

Most of my FS stuff is backed up or on disc so no problem there

[Naki]

Now got my work laptop up & working at home so at least I can surf the web! Better not install FS on it though!

[Naki]

Motherboard died - need new CPU as well sooooo............... upgrading to a AMD dual core 4400 and two harddrives (instead of one) and a cheap sound blaster (just had on onboard sound before) - keeping existing 256mb Radeon X800GT video card & reusing my 200mb hard drive. New PC has 2gb ram as per old one.

Didn't have much choice on specs as limited budget (its a wonder the boss of the house approved anything) and had to work in what I salvaged from the old PC which is only 18mths old. Blast and other words - oh well at least I will have a faster PC and all my data is salvagable. Total cost approx $700 incl GST.

Hmmm maybe I can run FSX reasonably well?

[utopian]

Oh well could have been worse

[Naki]

Hmm - I am not very tech savy but now I am told by Tauranga Computers my video card is stuffed as well and I need a new one of these, the RAM can't be transffered it is not compatible with the new motherboard and they are not keen on transferring my DVD drive. So now I'm a looking at a new video card, new mother board, new Dvd drive, and processor, new RAM - well basically a new computer. How the heck can two major components (motherboard & video card) fail at once on a 15 mths old PC. Tga PC say it might of been a power spike but can't really prove it (even though I have a spike protector) - I have made an insurance claim but don't think I will be successful (although my insurance company has been good to me in the past) since I have not real proof of a power spike - is there anyway of proving this?

The video card replacement is probably going to be a PCI 7300GS - any good?

I am getting really frustrated and starting to think my money might be better spent elsewhere like golf or back in RC models or real flying lessons (yes I know that would cot a lot more) particularly now they say that all my data could be lost (despite what they said earlier) - 15 mths work of tweaking and adding down the drain.

[ardypilot]

QUOTE

I am getting really frustrated and starting to think my money might be better spent elsewhere like golf or back in RC models or real flying lessons (yes I know that would cot a lot more) particularly now they say that all my data could be lost (despite what they said earlier) - 15 mths work of tweaking and adding down the drain.[/quote]
I know how you feel, when I lost FS on my first PC, I punched a whole in the door out of frustration! I hope you don't give up on FS, it has so much to offer!

Last edited by ardypilot on Mon Nov 19, 2007 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Naki]

Thanks Andrew - good news for once the hard drive is saved along all my data and FS

[cowpatz]

I know how you feel Naki. I had a hard drive collapse and lost everything on it. I had some things backed up but not all that I thought I had. Lost a lot of precious family photos that I thought the backup program had saved. After a little over 2 months the replacement hard drive failed as well. Something completely erased the data as well. Luckily this time the back up worked, but having to reload all the FS9 stuff takes an age, especially puttng all the EZ scenery in the static objects folder to make Snowmans scenery useable. The only saving grace is that you can weed out the stuff you never use and just put the stuff you really like back on.
Good luck with the rebuild.....I wonder why they wouldn't re-use the DVD?

[ZK-MAT]

QUOTE (Naki @ Nov 19 2007, 10:48 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hmm - I am not very tech savy but now I am told by Tauranga Computers my video card is stuffed as well and I need a new one of these, the RAM can't be transffered it is not compatible with the new motherboard and they are not keen on transferring my DVD drive. So now I'm a looking at a new video card, new mother board, new Dvd drive, and processor, new RAM - well basically a new computer. How the heck can two major components (motherboard & video card) fail at once on a 15 mths old PC. Tga PC say it might of been a power spike but can't really prove it (even though I have a spike protector) - I have made an insurance claim but don't think I will be successful (although my insurance company has been good to me in the past) since I have not real proof of a power spike - is there anyway of proving this?

The video card replacement is probably going to be a PCI 7300GS - any good?

I am getting really frustrated and starting to think my money might be better spent elsewhere like golf or back in RC models or real flying lessons (yes I know that would cot a lot more) particularly now they say that all my data could be lost (despite what they said earlier) - 15 mths work of tweaking and adding down the drain.

Hi mate,

My thoughts for ya:

1. Is your card actually stuffed or just incompatible with the new mobo? (PCIE vs AGP for example) Ask T.C to confirm, you could sell it on Trade Me.

2. Same with RAM. Is it DDR (as opposed to DDR2)? How much you got and how much would you want for it? Some out there (eg me) have DDR RAM and could do with more.

3. Power Surge - insurance claim. Who is your insurer? They will generally ask for the PC to be assessed for typical power surge damage, some get them sent to Computer Research or Uniway in Auckland or Abels in Wellington. Maybe too late if T.C have had their mitts on it. Ultimately it's hard to prove power surge but what they could say is that the extent of damage is consistent with a power surge event. Then the issue is whether an internal component caused the surge or it was an external cause. You can always phone your power provider and ask them to look for any events in recent times that may have affected your power supply (you never know, someone could have taken down a power pole a few streets away). I find Trustpower pretty helpful with these queries.

I am an insurance Loss Adjuster with a little bit of PC knowledge, and have had dealings with T.C in the past (some good, some not so good... is that woman still there? She is a good example of bad retail cust service). PM me if I can be of any help.

Matt

[utopian]

Sorry to hear of you bad luck

I know cost is a fact but a 7300GS video cart will not be the best, the cheapest card I would suggest would be either an 8600GT or a 7600GT remerbering the any off the 7XXX cards from nvidia are now a generation out of date.

Hope thats helpful your X800 may even be faster then that 7300GS

Ashley

[Naki]

Thanks guys for all your input - good news it would appear to be a power surge problem so my fantastic insurance conmpany (Vero - I will never go elsewhere - they have been great over the years) has paid out minus excess.

Ashley - I am investigating other options on cards but my budget is limiting me - 8600GT needs a power supply upgrade which puts the price up whilst the 7600GT is no longer available - or so they tell me. Any other options out there?

[Naki]

What the heck since insurance is paying for most it I've ordered a 8600GT card as per your recommendations Ashley - it looked like the best card for the price - Charl your words earlier on have come true - I will now have better all round system - better sound via a sound blaster, faster CPU, better graphics card, better DVD drive and two hard drives! Hopefully I will be up and running by the weekend or early next week - and thanks for the tips everyone.

[utopian]

Sounds Good, there are beter cards but you start paying close to $500 for them they are a good card for the money, Am looking at upgrading my FS/Gaming Rig in the next couple of months hopfuly

[Naki]

New PC arrived today - yaah - best thing it is very quiet (and quicker) - worse thing is that I have to reinstall FS due to the way it is configured - needed to be done anyway - will be a long process but starting tonight!