Most of my rig is 7 years old and I've been having some trouble lately. About 2 weeks ago I started getting a wide variety of errors and programs crashing. Today I finally formated the hard drive and reinstalled xp, and I have already had 2 blue screens and 1 random restart. My guess is that the hard drive is just physically crapping out after 7 years, its a WD 80 gig. The board is an ABIT NF7-s and the processor is an AMD Barton. The power supply and ram are <2 years old. What do you guys think? Thanks!
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Blue screens and random shutdowns on old machine
- Thread starter zarbon8
- Start date
It would help if you've told us which particular power supply (brand/model) you're using.
If you believe that the hard drive is crapping out, you could get a newer model for under $60 and then buy an adapter cable (like this) to try and transfer your files from your old HDD to your new HDD.
Given the overall age of your system, however, you'll have to decide -- probably very soon -- whether or not it's time for a new machine.
If you believe that the hard drive is crapping out, you could get a newer model for under $60 and then buy an adapter cable (like this) to try and transfer your files from your old HDD to your new HDD.
Given the overall age of your system, however, you'll have to decide -- probably very soon -- whether or not it's time for a new machine.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2005
- Messages
- 46,056
What PSU do you have?
Additional testing:
[Testing the RAM]
Download Memtest86+ v4.00 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM all together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.
[Testing the Hard Drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive.
[Testing the CPU]
Use Prime 95, OCCT, Orthos or Intel Burn Tool to stress test the CPU.
[Testing the GPU]
Use Furmark or ATI Tool to stress test the GPU. If you see any artifacts, the GPU could be overheating, too overclocked, or faulty.
[Testing the PSU]
Buy and use a digital multi-meter to monitor the voltages coming from the PSU. Follow the instructions for "Using a multi-meter to check voltages":
http://www.bfgpower.com/troubleshooting.html#DMM
Additional testing:
[Testing the RAM]
Download Memtest86+ v4.00 or whatever the latest version is, unzip it, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Let Memtest+ run for at least three hours on each stick of RAM separately as well as test the RAM all together. Go for a full 24 hours if you want to be completely sure that the RAM is not a problem. If you start seeing errors, than your RAM is defective or you have incorrect settings for the RAM.
[Testing the Hard Drive]
Download the CD image of Hitachi Drive Fitness Test, burn the ISO file to a CD, and then boot from it, just like you would do with the XP/Vista install CD. Test the hard drive and see if any problems are found. DFT will run on most manufacturers' hard drives. Alternatively, you can use Seagate's SeaTools for DOS to test a Seagate or Maxtor drive. For a Western Digital drive, you could use Data Lifeguard Tools for DOS to test a Western Digital drive.
[Testing the CPU]
Use Prime 95, OCCT, Orthos or Intel Burn Tool to stress test the CPU.
[Testing the GPU]
Use Furmark or ATI Tool to stress test the GPU. If you see any artifacts, the GPU could be overheating, too overclocked, or faulty.
[Testing the PSU]
Buy and use a digital multi-meter to monitor the voltages coming from the PSU. Follow the instructions for "Using a multi-meter to check voltages":
http://www.bfgpower.com/troubleshooting.html#DMM