My gf's comp works at my house, not at hers :/

[dissonance]

My gf was having computer problems so I threw some spare parts together and formatted her old hd and got it running. She brings it home and it doesn't work. This is getting annoying as it takes me hours to update the comp with updates to have her bring it home and it doesn't work. Today she brought it back over to fix again and I'm typing this from her computer and was playin WoW on it right before this... She was getting freeze and lockup problems while trying to play WoW or even occassionally out of it. Then after a few of these she says it won't turn on for a while...

Basically the only things that change in the setup when she goes home is the monitor (mines a Dell 2005FPW LCD and hers is an older Dell 17" CRT), the actual power plug in the wall, and her presence around electronic equipment...

Could it be from switching monitors? I'm running out of ideas here.

 

[Tiburon]

lol my brother is like that with his computer. He is constantly having problems with it while I have none with mine...until he came over for christmas last year. I am still undoing whatever madness he wreaked on it and still haven't gotten IE to work .

I'm not really a puter expert so excuse any ignorance. Freeze ups are usually caused by software problems. Since she is getting a majority of freeze ups in WoW it may be that paticular software but I think it is probably a conflict somewhere between two. What other programs is she running while she gets a freeze up? Did she install anything after she recieved it back from you?

 

[repo man]

It sounds as though it is time to check and see if she is plugging in to a properly grounded outlet, with correct polarity. LED outlet testers are inexpensive, and can save you much headscratching. Bad outlets can induce behavior that makes you think the computer is possessed by demons.

 

[Rich Tate]

I agree with Repo, most likely electrical. The main problem is see alot is the machine is on a circuit with something else it shouldn't be (washer/air conditioner/microwave). I would have her switch outlets completely, maybe hook it up in another room. Let us know how it goes.

 

[arkamw]

Thirded.

I dealt with a machine one time that worked perfectly in the shop. The guy came in saying that his recently installed Voodoo card wasn't playing games at home. Everytime something graphics intesive was running, the PC would shut down, randomly restart, errors, etc. He brought it back three times saying this. Finally, we asked about his power supply. It turned out that he lived in a mobile home and that he had something like 15 outlets off one circuit, all of them running something.

Once he ran an extension cord from his next door neighbor's external outlet, everything worked fine.

 

[dissonance]

Thanks guys. I will have her try that. It's very frustrating for me to get it working fine here and be playing WoW and then have her take it home and hear about all the freezes and lockups. Same thing happened again today when she brought it home.

 

[tommo]

Thirded.

I dealt with a machine one time that worked perfectly in the shop. The guy came in saying that his recently installed Voodoo card wasn't playing games at home. Everytime something graphics intesive was running, the PC would shut down, randomly restart, errors, etc. He brought it back three times saying this. Finally, we asked about his power supply. It turned out that he lived in a mobile home and that he had something like 15 outlets off one circuit, all of them running something.

Once he ran an extension cord from his next door neighbor's external outlet, everything worked fine.

lmao.... that is classic

 

[Perrupa]

Thirded.

I dealt with a machine one time that worked perfectly in the shop. The guy came in saying that his recently installed Voodoo card wasn't playing games at home. Everytime something graphics intesive was running, the PC would shut down, randomly restart, errors, etc. He brought it back three times saying this. Finally, we asked about his power supply. It turned out that he lived in a mobile home and that he had something like 15 outlets off one circuit, all of them running something.

Once he ran an extension cord from his next door neighbor's external outlet, everything worked fine.

lemme guess, he was trying to play one of those deer hunting games?

Lend your girlfriend a powerbar or UPS even, if you have one. and how do you define "not working" is the system even POSTing or not powering on or is it freezing randomly or when 3d programs are being run? etc........

Peace

 

[SmokeRngs]

I have something similar with a friend of mine.

He'll call me up with problems on a system whether it's his or someone else's that had problems and brought it over for my friend to fix. He'll run into something that he doesn't know or can't fix. I'll try and talk it out over the phone. Usually he does exactly what I tell him to do and it still won't work. At that poing he'll just leave the thing and have me look at it the next time I come over.

Well, I get to the computer and check it out and either nothing will go wrong with it or I'll have it fixed doing exactly what I told him to do over the phone. He will have spent a couple hours working on the thing and I'll have it done in five minutes. I find it absolutely hilarious. It's nothing against him either. It just seems to work for me.

Other times, he'll have a problem with a system and I'll just happen to stop by before he calls me. He'll call me into his computer room where the system is and try to get the problem to happen again that has been happening to him over and over. At that point the computer will no longer have the problem and work just fine. I am not joking about this either. It pisses him off to no end but also finds it funny. It just seems the systems he's working on like me more than him.