dell dimension dying; asking advice re affording replacement

spakkker

I just spent a lot of time yesterday trying to sort a pc with similar problems- I think it was failing graphics as it always crashed on 3D graphics test, put in a spare 8400gs and OK so far.
Most of the faults seemed unrelated to graphics and even a reinstall of xp didn't improve things.
I'd try a factory reset first as advised, but then you may be down to replacing components.
See if anything is cropping up in event viewer.
Used pc's on local classifieds are £30 up ,stuff4sale,loot, gumtree etc. You could even place a wanted add. Don't waste your dosh with littlewoods.

edit- the psu is usually "the weakest link" so a cheapy may be worth trying after a factory restore. Dell will have used a cheapy in the 1st place. Maybe if you take the psu to a shop they will do a basic test- but we know already that it is "working".

catalina66

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

Your manual can be found here. Scroll down to PDF Documents and click on the link for Owners Manual. THe instructions you need to follow are on p.44.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim1100/EN/index.htm

Thanks so much Toxteth_OGrady ... really appreciate. Guess what! A double F12 fixed things ... all newly formatted ... did a deep format, and the drive's read my usual slipstreamed OS disk great, all running FINE!!! Yay. Only just booted in, so have yet to check around, but all seems well.

catalina66

gonzo127 wrote: »

DVD drive and PSU could be related, depends on the PSU, but it could be very likely that the rail that the DVD drive runs on is a unstable rail and so the voltage has spike's every now and then, when under strain, which fries the drives. just remembering that generic PSU's do not nessesarily comply with the standards set for the components

eek ...

So glad to have got it formatted ... dvd drive showing fine, and the missing secondary drive. Will check further but all seems well right now.

Toxteth_OGrady

Good news. Just out of interest, why did you not choose to <CTRL><F11> factory restore?

catalina66

spakkker wrote: »

I just spent a lot of time yesterday trying to sort a pc with similar problems- I think it was failing graphics as it always crashed on 3D graphics test, put in a spare 8400gs and OK so far.
Most of the faults seemed unrelated to graphics and even a reinstall of xp didn't improve things.
I'd try a factory reset first as advised, but then you may be down to replacing components.
See if anything is cropping up in event viewer.
Used pc's on local classifieds are £30 up ,stuff4sale,loot, gumtree etc. You could even place a wanted add. Don't waste your dosh with littlewoods.

edit- the psu is usually "the weakest link" so a cheapy may be worth trying after a factory restore. Dell will have used a cheapy in the 1st place. Maybe if you take the psu to a shop they will do a basic test- but we know already that it is "working".

many thanks; will be interesting to leave the graphics card out for a little while, see how pc runs (play a lot on ipod anyways now), then if errors kick off with graphics card back in, culprit apprehended! what a naff card if it is the culprit ... only had it about 10 months! Pre-empting a bit, but will definitely test at some point soon.
Thanks very much for your recommendations for finding a replacement pc. Yet to check if everything's a-okay ... seems so so far. You're right ... I couldn't face paying double to Littlewoods; awful!
Great idea to take PSU to be checked locally if any errors crop up.

catalina66

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

Good news. Just out of interest, why did you not choose to <CTRL><F11> factory restore?

Hiya ... it wouldn't work! So I went to option 2. Yay! Got such a surprise when it worked. Normally quick format, but a deep format definitely was in order, lol.

Toxteth_OGrady

If you want to check out whether or not your 8400GS is performing adequately download and run this:

http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark03/

catalina66

Toxteth_OGrady wrote: »

If you want to check out whether or not your 8400GS is performing adequately download and run this:

http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark03/

Thanks Toxteth_OGrady, that's awesome ... will definitely do that.
Downloaded loads of windows updates, and only thing I've spotted so far is a virtual drive ... and found the answer ... go into computer management then disk management, where this particular extra drive shows as a 3gig partition basic fat32, right click and delete partition ... left with 3gig unallocated message and the phantom drive gone ... heaven only knows how it got there!

catalina66

Hi to you all :-) ... just a note to say got 3922 3dmarks using the 3dmark03 test, and all ran fine (wings of fury looks really great too, lol) ... and to thank you all for such great advice. Really appreciate help very much.
Best regards, Cat