dell dimension dying; asking advice re affording replacement

catalina66

Hiya :-)

Wouldn't you know it ... trying to save money and the Dell Dimension 1100 I've had for over 5 years suddenly decides to produce a string of errors that can only be showing it's dying ... mouse pointer jerky, corrupt cluster (yet chkdsk shows no bad sectors?), screen flickering in top left, explorer keeps shutting down, programs difficult to open/crash ... have a basic bank account so getting credit is difficult ... only buy from Littlewoods, and, despite that I was honest enough to write to them re bank situation etc when happened ages ago, they're fine and I can order, pay later etc. BUT, the cheapest Dell they've got is about £600, double what Dell itself charges (for the Inspiron 570 desktop) ... I recall I could go through Quidco ... when bought the Dimension in 2006 did that ...

Just wanting to ask advice of any way to save money/replace the Dell. Would really appreciate advice.
Many thanks, Cat

Toxteth_OGrady

By far the vast majority of PC problems can be fixed very cheaply by either:

1. Cleaning up a malware infection.
2. Re-installing the Operating System (will fix (1) as well but a bit drastic for a simple infection).
3. Tuning to reduce excessive bloatware and memory useage.
4. Physically cleaning an overheating system to remove dust/dirt that has built up inside.
5. Identifying and replacing a single hardware part that is failing (hard disk, RAM, power supply, graphics card, power supply or cpu).

The only cost for the first four is your time, effort and patience. You will get lots of help on here.

catalina66

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

By far the vast majority of PC problems can be fixed very cheaply by either:

1. Cleaning up a malware infection.
2. Re-installing the Operating System (will fix (1) as well but a bit drastic for a simple infection).
3. Tuning to reduce excessive bloatware and memory useage.
4. Physically cleaning an overheating system to remove dust/dirt that has built up inside.
5. Identifying and replacing a single hardware part that is failing (hard disk, RAM, power supply, graphics card, power supply or cpu).

The only cost for the first four is your time, effort and patience. You will get lots of help on here.

Many thanks Toxteth_OGrady ... great advice ... I'm running Norton and system's really clean; also had just done format because thought slowness of system was caused by an aggressive registry cleaner; really had the system running lean/tuned; did clean it a few weeks back ... I'd also forgotten to say yet another error I'm having is that the sound is intermittent/pulsing, not able to listen to anything or play games.

Great idea about identifying any hardware parts that are failing ... I think I was getting a bit despairing because so many different kinds of errors at once ... could you recommend any software to really test the various parts?

Thanks, Cat

Toxteth_OGrady

To avoid any catastrophic loss make sure you have any important personal data backed up to removable media and/or another PC now.

I would run Malwarebytes and HiJackThis first to rule out another infection. Post the logfiles for both and the malware experts on here can advise (the HJT log will also reveal whether (3) is an issue).

You could then use Closed's seminal guidance on how to tweak a slow PC. Should be a Sticky really but it's not so you'd need to search for the thread.

Once you've done that there are lots of freeware hardware diagnostics available. Examples (amongst many) would be HDTune to check disks, RealTemp to check CPU temp, MemTest86 to test RAM, DXDiag for sound tests, etc.

If it's not immediately obvious which hardware component is failing and you've ruled out software/malware/driver errors, you've then got to try by a process of elimination to find the dodgy component. This can be done by removing all hardware except the absolute minimum needed to boot. You'd then build back up slowly.

Having said that the symptoms you describe are typical of a failing power supply unit but you'll still need to go through the steps.

catalina66

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

To avoid any catastrophic loss make sure you have any important personal data backed up to removable media and/or another PC now.

I would run Malwarebytes and HiJackThis first to rule out another infection. Post the logfiles for both and the malware experts on here can advise (the HJT log will also reveal whether (3) is an issue).

You could then use Closed's seminal guidance on how to tweak a slow PC. Should be a Sticky really but it's not so you'd need to search for the thread.

Once you've done that there are lots of freeware hardware diagnostics available. Examples (amongst many) would be HDTune to check disks, RealTemp to check CPU temp, MemTest86 to test RAM, DXDiag for sound tests, etc.

If it's not immediately obvious which hardware component is failing and you've ruled out software/malware/driver errors, you've then got to try by a process of elimination to find the dodgy component. This can be done by removing all hardware except the absolute minimum needed to boot. You'd then build back up slowly.

Having said that the symptoms you describe are typical of a failing power supply unit but you'll still need to go through the steps.

Thanks so much for such great advice! Thankfully got an external hard drive so can back up on that, as well as on disks. Will get on with all the things you've said and post back. Really appreciate, and that you think it could be the power supply.
Many thanks, Cat

RussJK

You can't rely on an antivirus to be certain that your computer is clean. It's likely a hardware issue, but I'd do these two steps as well to help rule out software:

Run Malwarebytes, update it, and run a QUICK scan:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php

If you have trouble running it, then there's likely an infection.

Clean anything it finds, and post your Malwarebytes logs here.

Afterwards then post a Hijackthis log as well (Save to desktop: http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/produc...HijackThis.exe). If on Vista/Windows 7, then hold SHIFT and RIGHT CLICK to Run as Administrator. SCAN and SAVE LOG, don't Fix anything, post the log that comes up in Notepad). One of us will take a look when we've got the time.

catalina66

RussJK wrote: »

You can't rely on an antivirus to be certain that your computer is clean. It's likely a hardware issue, but I'd do these two steps as well to help rule out software:

Run Malwarebytes, update it, and run a QUICK scan:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam-download.php

If you have trouble running it, then there's likely an infection.

Clean anything it finds, and post your Malwarebytes logs here.

Afterwards then post a Hijackthis log as well (Save to desktop: http://www.trendmicro.com/ftp/produc...HijackThis.exe). If on Vista/Windows 7, then hold SHIFT and RIGHT CLICK to Run as Administrator. SCAN and SAVE LOG, don't Fix anything, post the log that comes up in Notepad). One of us will take a look when we've got the time.

Thanks so much. You guys here are so great. Had stuff happening that's meant couldn't get on with PC stuff ... got all programmes and getting on with tests; will post asap.

Many thanks, Cat

catalina66

Hiya :-)

So far, hard drive itself plus temperature fine, RAM fine, no viruses (except one Malwarebytes apparently brings up because of a start-up menu setting ... ? ... PUM.Hijack.StartMenu) ... audio is fine now, and mouse not 'sticking'/jerky anymore ... but DVD-RAM drive stopped showing up ... I messed about with upper/lowerfilters, and removed the wrong ones (getting iTunes message re need to reinstall software as some registry settings missing ... oops) and couldn't remove the drive's ones ... then every time I put a disk in, says it's a DELL resource disk! Yet to reboot. Lots of weird errors. Fan's blowing cool, and fairly warm out of power supply ... bit dusty around the PSU wires, but in the fiddly places ... gave machine a good clean about a month or so ago. Can't see any leaky capacitors. May've been a bit of an unusual smell (?) when opened tower, near the PSU, so that could show is overheating a bit most likely and best to replace it anyways? Have seen can get one for £10 on ebuyer ... http://www.ebuyer.com/product/20083 ... original Dell one 250w; this one's 300w, but I have added in extra RAM (got 1 gig now) plus a graphics card, so maybe getting this bit more powerful PSU would be a good idea?

Thanks so much again for advising.
Best regards, Cat

RussJK

Yeah the PUMs are potentially unwanted modifications - obviously if it's something you've done yourself, then it's fine. It's about detecting when malware deliberately hides access to things like the Control Panel to make life hard for someone.

I'd take Toxteth's advice about a reinstall anyway, and this time maybe stay away from the 'registry optimisers'. Most are junkware, the only significant changes they make are usually negative ones.

One of the big drains on a system is iTunes. If you don't actually have an ipod/ipad/iphone then there's a lot of bloat that runs by default. Just found a great guide to install only the features you want from it:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/28727/how-to-install-itunes-without-extra-bloat/ (more pictures)
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/the-unofficial-guide-to-installing-itunes-10-without-bloatware/2390?pg=3 (more explanation)

I would take it further and only install the 'itunes.msi' and 'AppleApplicationSupport', then use Quicktime lite for the plugins:
http://www.free-codecs.com/QT_Lite_download.htm

catalina66

RussJK wrote: »

Yeah the PUMs are potentially unwanted modifications - obviously if it's something you've done yourself, then it's fine. It's about detecting when malware deliberately hides access to things like the Control Panel to make life hard for someone.

I'd take Toxteth's advice about a reinstall anyway, and this time maybe stay away from the 'registry optimisers'. Most are junkware, the only significant changes they make are usually negative ones.

One of the big drains on a system is iTunes. If you don't actually have an ipod/ipad/iphone then there's a lot of bloat that runs by default. Just found a great guide to install only the features you want from it:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/28727/how-to-install-itunes-without-extra-bloat/ (more pictures)
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/the-unofficial-guide-to-installing-itunes-10-without-bloatware/2390?pg=3 (more explanation)

I would take it further and only install the 'itunes.msi' and 'AppleApplicationSupport', then use Quicktime lite for the plugins:
http://www.free-codecs.com/QT_Lite_download.htm

Thanks RussJK ... really appreciate. PUM thing weird, yes. I actually did format and reinstall because of the too aggressive registry optimizer, as you've said ... and it was then that all these weird errors started to show more ... I'd thought the slowness was the registry optimizer's causing but then realised maybe it was something else.
Luckily I do have an ipod, but iTunes is the horriblest software I've ever used ... you're right it's horribly bloated, and runs so badly. Drives me nuts so I try to avoid it as much as possible, lol. Thanks so much for the links ... will look those up.
Maybe still a good idea to replace the PSU, at 300w, anyway? Strange how many odd errors I suddenly got and, although some seem to have settled, others still happening.
Best regards, Cat

Toxteth_OGrady

catalina66 wrote: »

but I have added in extra RAM (got 1 gig now) plus a graphics card, so maybe getting this bit more powerful PSU would be a good idea?

The fact that you have done this with a 250W psu is probably why your pc is struggling. A new 300W may also be conservative - what graphics card did you add?