Help Power pack died on me - now computer is sloowww

[Bugz]

Hello,

my power pack died on me. No problem - I got a new one out (very much the same specification) and the computer is back on.

HOWEVER

things are fuckin slow - windows keeps giving me random errors and i'm experiancing 'little jumps' every now and then.

What could be the cause of this and how would I fix it? All my programs run fine - is windows corrupted?

Would it be best to install a fresh windows and just backup all my files etc. to put onto that? If so- can someone show me a website for dummies which explains this procedure.

Many thanks.

 

[Laddey]

You could format m8r try taking it out and putting it back in!

 

[Overdriven]

These "Error messages" (if blue screen) should give you hex error codes/general error codes. Google them, or post them here.

 

[Aoami]

Does your new PSU prevent you from posting on the techie forum?

 

[Overdriven]

Does your new PSU prevent you from posting on the techie forum?

Considering a small chunk of the people on the techie forum post here? And most of us are techies? I think he's allowed to ask here, as he's been here for a while. If we can't answer it, techie forum he goes.

Granted, you're right in a way, but there's no harm in it.

 

[Laddey]

Does your new PSU prevent you from posting on the techie forum?

Many people post there tech problems on OT since its more active than tech help, dont think the mods are assed

 

[Bugz]

Aoami cry me a river you stinkin' piece of turd.

And no - no blue messages. I'll be playing a game or something and it'll randomly close with a 'has encountered a problem' message. I'm getting it with hardware too. 'Hardware configuration has encountered a problem and needs to close.'

I'm strongly suspecting it is Windows corruption. I don't want to lose all my data on this computer though and since all the files themselves seem fine - wouldn't it be best to just re-install windows but keep all my shexy data?

 

[Laddey]

Aoami cry me a river you stinkin' piece of turd.

And no - no blue messages. I'll be playing a game or something and it'll randomly close with a 'has encountered a problem' message. I'm getting it with hardware too. 'Hardware configuration has encountered a problem and needs to close.'

I'm strongly suspecting it is Windows corruption. I don't want to lose all my data on this computer though and since all the files themselves seem fine - wouldn't it be best to just re-install windows but keep all my shexy data?

try it !

 

[Overdriven]

Hmmm.. Might be something in the BIOS you need to change. Power values or something, I've not looked in there in a while, but it might be the main cause. Maybe the hardware isn't use to the new amount of power (or the power change).

I don't want to suggest a reformat, because if it's not an OS issue you've wasted your time.

 

[Laddey]

Ask me in 3 years when im a time served/qualified techie man

 

[Aoami]

Or ask in the techie forum, where they're already qualified techies!

Not having a or owt, just trying to help!

 

[inactionman]

Power pack? I assume you mean power supply? Or do you have a laptop?

Bear in mind that any power related problems, especially when it dies, could cause damage to other components, which may explain the problems you are having.

Can you give us a run down of the spec of your computer?

 

[Kryten]

Many people post there tech problems on OT since its more active than tech help, dont think the mods are assed

You obviously haven't been here for a few years then, Laddey. It's very, very active thank you very much and the mods are more than "assed".

Inactionman hit nail on the head, a power supply failure can cause many issues further down the line. You shouldn't necessarily need to reinstall software due to a power failure, if everything was OK, you'd just be up and running again.

The most likely single cause is the hard drive failing - with power issues, the hard drive "parks" prematurely and can damage the platter or the head, causing bad sectors.

As you've been asked, provide us with as much information about your system as possible so we can work out what's gone wrong.
HDD is the most likely cause as I said, so it might be an idea to try and borrow one from somewhere/someone, install an OS on it and see if it behaves. If it does, use it to back up as much as you can from the original drive. If you can then tell us the manufacturer of the drive I can point you at some diagnostic software which will find any issues and say yay or nay to a replacement.

 

[Bugz]

Hello!

Sorry for the late response, yes it my power supply (but the internal one as opposed to the external one!)

my computer specs are as followed:

Processor: AMD Athlon XP
Ram: 1024 ddr
HD: Seagate 250gb harddrive.

However, I am fairly certain my hardware is all fine and performing well.

I did load up the computer today however and received 'NTLDR CAN NOT BE LOCATED.' I know NTLDR is the boot for Windows XP. I reset the computer and it loaded up fine.

I also received an error in the Windows folder upon start up, which again went away on reset and subsequently I have not seen it again as of yet.

Everything seems to point towards Windows corruption. But would that explain my loss of 'speed' on anything and everything I do on the computer? I know my computer isn't the best in terms of spec but it sure as hell could play WoW, CS:S and load editing programs etc. without the lag it does now!

 

[nath]

Keep an eye on it, but make sure all your important stuff is backed up, sounds like the hard drive could pack it in any time now.

 

[Kryten]

Exactly. Back up whilst you can, act as if you're certain you're about to lose everything.

Download SeaTools : Seagate Technology - SeaTools

Follow instructions, run full diagnostics on the drive and see what transpires.
After you mentioning NTLDR falling over, it does sound very likely as if it's on the way out.

Go shopping for a new hard drive. No big deal, they're cheap as chips currently. A 250gb replacement should only set you back 40ish and I've seen a couple for less somewhere.

And as for your question "is it likely to be the cause of the performance issues" - yes. Hard drive, if facing failure is likely to be either overcompensating, slowing itself down to continue working or having to work around failing/bad sectors. You also have a page file on there, an extension to your memory. Some of your windows and without doubt much of your game memory usage ends up running through this page file, and if that is all over the place with bad sectors or the above throttling/compensation issues, it's going to run like a dog.

 

[Laddey]

You obviously haven't been here for a few years then, Laddey. It's very, very active thank you very much and the mods are more than "assed".

cry me a river, im 100% homeboy, i don't go into the other parts of the sea mate!

 

[Chilly]

stop being dicks the lot of you.

OP: memory could have been fried by naff power supply on its way out, run memtest x86 to check your chips!

 

[Kryten]

Laddey: don't take it personally, I just pointed out it's not a great idea to criticise something you don't know about or a place you've never/rarely been.

 

[Laddey]

You obviously haven't been here for a few years then, Laddey. It's very, very active thank you very much and the mods are more than "assed".

 

[Kryten]

Intelligence level has dropped below American standards. Please keep it sensible for the sake of the normal people in here. I might not be a mod but considering the amount of time I put into this forum I only ask for a "thanks" or even a bit of respect. Grow up.

 

[TdC]

kindly behave Laddey, this forum is not DAoC Off Topic.

 

[Laddey]

Intelligence level has dropped below American standards. Please keep it sensible for the sake of the normal people in here. I might not be a mod but considering the amount of time I put into this forum I only ask for a "thanks" or even a bit of respect. Grow up.

Im sorry man, bad day.

 

[Raven]

kindly behave Laddey, this forum is not DAoC Off Topic.

The thread was moved from DAOC OT though where the comments were posted.

 

[Kryten]

Explains it

Apology accepted anyway, we've all had bad days.

Having one myself - it's payday today and someone's cocked up. Not getting paid till Monday :|

MD has kindly offered to lend £100 out of his own pocket to tide us over but I don't feel like putting him out either, he's not in the best of moods because of it