I think it's dead - computer help

[MelissaG915]

We've got an old Dell on the main floor, and I suspect the tower is dead. It's kind of grinding when you fire it up, it is taking forever to load the operating system, and once everything is loaded, provided the system hasn't frozen, well, it will freeze up eventually. It doesn't matter if you are using the internet, Word, Photoshop, Excel or Quark.

Any ideas if this is a software problem or a hardware problem? We have a TON of data on this computer, I'm hoping we can get it fired up long enough to get it on a memory stick and transfer it to another computer in the house or get it repaired if it is repairable.

I think we are both accepting that its death may be inevitable (we've had this computer since 2000) and the punctuation on what has been a mixed bag in 2007.

Diagnosis?

[Shinma]

How long is "eventually"?

[chuckles396]

It sounds like hard drive failure to me. Is there a tick or clunk type sound? Did this just happen all of a sudden? If you can get it to run long enough to back up your data, do it. I've had a few hard drives die in my time. Using a flash drive may work better than trying to back up with cd's or dvd's.

[Oblong]

I'd get all the data off there as quick as possible. Just to be safe. If price or money isn't an issue take it to a local place and have him put all the stuff on a DVD. That might be the least amount of hassle for you.

And then get a new PC.

[BFK]

Mine, also a Dell, is starting to act silly, too. It takes 10 minutes or so for everything to load-up so I can open IE. Norton seems to take the longest. But once I'm in, things move at an acceptable pace.

In case things get ugly, I need to back up the thousands of photo's that I have, and our 400+ iTunes library. What can I use other than CD's that won't break me, and isn't very complicated? I'm a moron.

[Oblong]

To be honest, I'd get rid of the Norton. Unless you are downloading a bunch of files or swapping a bunch with other PC's I don't think it's necessary. Do an online scan every so often.

My mother in law got a new PC early this year, with Vista (which sucks). The thing ran like molasses from the get go. I took off the McAfee and now it's moving at the speed of light.

[MelissaG915]

I got it up and running, but all I'm doing right now is tranferring files from the old Dell to the new Dell. I'm going to be tossing alot of extra files I didn't need anyway. Purge by force...

[DennisDubay]

Mine, also a Dell, is starting to act silly, too. It takes 10 minutes or so for everything to load-up so I can open IE. Norton seems to take the longest. But once I'm in, things move at an acceptable pace.

In case things get ugly, I need to back up the thousands of photo's that I have, and our 400+ iTunes library. What can I use other than CD's that won't break me, and isn't very complicated? I'm a moron.

Too induce a faster startup, you might want to look to see what processes are turning on when you start your computer up. run msconfig and that will show you what is starting up when you turn the pc on.

[DaYooperASBDT]

That definitely sounds like a hard drive crash. The read head, which somewhat resembles a phonograph needle/arm, starts making actual contact with the spinning platters, and quickly starts doing damage.

If you can't pull all the data off in time, there are places that can do data recovery from crashed drives.

I've had to replace hard drives a couple of times, and that usually does the trick.

When a computer starts to slow down, and you don't hear any obvious nasty sounds, I try several things:

1. Defragment. Should do that at least once a month to keep all your data close together on the hard drive platters. That saves wear/tear on the read heads, and makes your PC a LOT faster.

2. Scan for spyware/viruses. Spyware can slow a system down to the point of killing it, and I use SpyBot and AdAware (both free). Many anti-virus suites now also handle spyware.

3. Run Disk Cleanup at least monthly, to delete temporary files (another HUGE system bogger).

4. Set your browser to automatically delete temporary internet files every time you close out.

5. There's also system utility/dianostic programs, like Norton Systemworks, that keep Windows tuned up by deleting old shortcuts, etc.

6. Make sure you don't have a lot of programs starting up with Windows, that you don't need. In Windows XP:
- Click on "Start" then "All Programs", then "Accessories", then "System Tools", then "System Information"
- Click the "+" next to System Environment
- Click on Startup Programs. You will see a list of everything that loads and runs at Windows start up.

To change your Startup programs: Click "Start", then "Run". Type in "msconfig" and press Enter. In the System Configuration Utility, click on the "Startup" tab, uncheck the boxes of any programs you don't want running, then click "Apply".

[wingedwheel]

6. Make sure you don't have a lot of programs starting up with Windows, that you don't need. In Windows XP:
- Click on "Start" then "All Programs", then "Accessories", then "System Tools", then "System Information"
- Click the "+" next to System Environment
- Click on Startup Programs. You will see a list of everything that loads and runs at Windows start up.

To change your Startup programs: Click "Start", then "Run". Type in "msconfig" and press Enter. In the System Configuration Utility, click on the "Startup" tab, uncheck the boxes of any programs you don't want running, then click "Apply".

What programs do you have to run at startup? I would hate to disable something that I shouldn't.

[whitecapwendy]

We've got an old Dell on the main floor, and I suspect the tower is dead. It's kind of grinding when you fire it up, it is taking forever to load the operating system, and once everything is loaded, provided the system hasn't frozen, well, it will freeze up eventually. It doesn't matter if you are using the internet, Word, Photoshop, Excel or Quark.

Any ideas if this is a software problem or a hardware problem? We have a TON of data on this computer, I'm hoping we can get it fired up long enough to get it on a memory stick and transfer it to another computer in the house or get it repaired if it is repairable.

I think we are both accepting that its death may be inevitable (we've had this computer since 2000) and the punctuation on what has been a mixed bag in 2007.

Diagnosis?
Hey Melissa, I will PM you with the name and number of my computer guy.

[Blue Square Thing]

What programs do you have to run at startup? I would hate to disable something that I shouldn't.

You can pretty much get them back again if you need to. Look for the obvious ones you might not want - MSN for example goes first when I get a new box.

You can also get ahold of a registry checker which will go through and safely purge any registry items which might be slowing things down. I use registry mechanic which I picked up on a cover disk a while back. There are plnety of others. That and I tend to get rid of software I don't need - and windows componants that I just don't need either.

In Melissa's case though, I'd agree - hard drive sounds shot. This is the reason I back up to external hard drives!

[Ranger]

If you just want to get files off of the hard drive, I suggest one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156101

Not 100% sure if you'll have to format the hard drive or not - but I don't think you have to. You can hook that hard drive up to a computer that isn't having problems and take files off that way. You'd have to disassemble your tower to get your hard drive out. It's very simple but it scares people who aren't familiar with computers to do it.

Also it's hard to diagnose the freezing problem but I wouldn't count out a hardware problem - your processor could be overheating. A good way to diagnose this is use an operating system like Knoppix that'll boot from CD and let that run for awhile - if it doesn't freeze then it's a problem with the Windows Operating system. Boot up in safe mode too.

[Ranger]

If you just want to get files off of the hard drive, I suggest one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812156101
Actually after reading customer reviews, I suggest one of these instead.

[DaYooperASBDT]

What programs do you have to run at startup? I would hate to disable something that I shouldn't.You do have to be somewhat careful, as some of those items are required by Windows, your anti-virus software, etc. Sometimes you will recognize it as a program you no longer use. If in doubt, either Google the file name, or leave it alone, would be my advice.

[MelissaG915]

don't really know how to explain it, but it's running just fine now. I cleaned out my documents file, defraged and did a disk cleanup. So far not a single freeze. We need to clean up our shared file and Dave's file folders and hopefully that will clean up more space. I still don't trust it and will be storing important files on my memory stick or just move to the main computer in the office in the basement.

The tower is purring at the moment, it's a big relief.

[DaYooperASBDT]

I've seen PC's that haven't been defragged for a year or two, and they appear to be on death's door. What happens is that the data is physically saved on various "sectors", or pie slices on each spinning platter in your hard drive.

As the data becomes scattered, or "fragmented", the read head has to move around more and more to locate each piece of data, to load requested files. Think of it as like trying to play a song from a record, with each second of the song located on different places on the disc.

You can get away with not cleaning up & defragging for a few months usually, but after that your hard drive starts getting a workout. Glad to hear the defrag/cleanup helped you!

[djhutch]

I'm anal retentive about cleaning stuff out. I do a complete maintenance check once a week, including Microsoft Update, Disk Cleanup, Spyware Blaster, Virus Scan & defrag. & if there's anything I will want for longer than 1 month, I back it up to a flash drive.

[DaYooperASBDT]

As for backups, I have a second hard drive (internal), and I burn CD's of all my data every few months .... One of these days, I'll spring for a flash drive with enough memory to serve as a backup drive.