Is fixing this worth it

mtrupi

Gawd
Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
819
I have a PC built in 2008. My last one with win7. It now shuts down without warning after a few minutes being on. I tried re-installing win7 and it shut off during the install. Also tried a Linux install and the same thing happened. When in the BIOS it stays on forever. It's so old it's almost not worth spending time or money on, but I am wondering if you have thoughts on some easy things to try.
 
First thing I would do is try a different power supply. I try not to keep a PSU for more than 10 years. While swapping it out I would also do a visual inspection of all the caps on the motherboard and video card (if you have one).
 
Before spending money on it - if possible download a temperature monitor and memtest. The temp monitor can tell you if it's a cpu or gpu cooling issue. Put memtest on a bootable USB and run that to see if the memory passes. If the board is forgetting its bios settings it may need a new battery.
 
Like the guys said it's the temps or the power supply.
I think it all depends on what computer it is. CPU, memory, motherboard.
 
It is extremely subjective, it depend on how much you like playing in them (it change how costly time wise), what usage you have for old hardware, computers progression did slow a lot and make some 2008 computers more than good enough for some usage, core i7-940 has 8 thread and a 3000 passmark and that a lot for a simple linux server doing some things.

Putting significant money is almost certain to not be worth it and a cheap low wattage option (like an use laptop) that would save you on power as well would be better.
 
Thanks. All good suggestions. If I dig into it I will come back and let you know what it was.
 
take it out of the case and make sure everything looks clean and dust free and hook it up on your desk.
This is my 2008 PC that I use for various things.
IMG_0850.JPEG
 
Guess it was the power supply. I can't show much, but if allowed, I can show this.
 
I'd say caps in the PSU failed. I've recapped dozens of SFX PSUs from that era with failed caps that caused the unit to have erratic behavior. Your old PSU would likely work fine with a recap.

The ones that fail are usually the tiny 5x10 sized ones that are stuffed between transformers and on the control circuitry, they cook and dry out.
 
I'd say caps in the PSU failed. I've recapped dozens of SFX PSUs from that era with failed caps that caused the unit to have erratic behavior. Your old PSU would likely work fine with a recap.

The ones that fail are usually the tiny 5x10 sized ones that are stuffed between transformers and on the control circuitry, they cook and dry out.
I may just give that try at some point just for the heck of it. I can't remember the last time this was used to actually do real work so I'm not overly motivated to do it.
 
I bought a new case and power supply to put it in. I did a clean install of win10, and passed it on to someone that could use it. The old case and power supply is destined for PC recycle.
 
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It's been a while but I thought I would come back and put up a picture of what I passed on.
Good on you for passing on old hardware that someone else can still use. It kind of amazes me how old you can go these days and still have something useful. When I was young it was like 2-3 years then junk it. Now I'm typing this on a machine I built in spring 2012, and it'll still give a lot of new laptops a beat down in a lot of tasks. Those low power laptop chips are only fast in short bursts. It'd get beaten easily by a desktop i3-10100, but for a lot of jobs those are fast. Not AAA games, but my 9yo i7 rig and a cheap kinda newish i3 will both demolish your web browsing and MS Office needs. I have a much newer rig, but it's in my office with all my work stuff and my good monitor and sometimes I like to get away from the work stuff.
 
Good on you for passing on old hardware that someone else can still use. It kind of amazes me how old you can go these days and still have something useful. When I was young it was like 2-3 years then junk it. Now I'm typing this on a machine I built in spring 2012, and it'll still give a lot of new laptops a beat down in a lot of tasks. Those low power laptop chips are only fast in short bursts. It'd get beaten easily by a desktop i3-10100, but for a lot of jobs those are fast. Not AAA games, but my 9yo i7 rig and a cheap kinda newish i3 will both demolish your web browsing and MS Office needs. I have a much newer rig, but it's in my office with all my work stuff and my good monitor and sometimes I like to get away from the work stuff.
I advertised it for $70 to get my money back for the case. We talked on-line a bit as I wanted to be sure it would do what he needed. He is in high school needed it for school and asked if I could wait until he got paid to get it. We met and he pulls out his wallet and starts thumbing through bills when I told him not to bother. I have to admit it was fun to see the young man's face.
 
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