RonD Loc: Topeka, KS

It appears my PC is dead. it comes on but continues to crash and will sometime restart for a few minutes then down again. it goes thru a repair sequence but to no avail. I am thinking the HD is DOA. but, is it possible there could be a virus causing this? machine is 7-8 yr old. I have been usung pc's since 1985 and have built and added hardware but not good at finding problems. So if I find it is indeed dead does it make sense to replace HD (1TB) and update to win 10, or buy a new machine? it would have to be a basic machine since my budget is slim with current conditions (and retired), I also just bought a $2,000 laptop for wife. I am looking for options and will probably have to call repair shop on monday. My basic needs are internet and PSE. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

The first thing I would check is the power supply. Unlikely that a failing HD would cause those problems. You can get a new computer for $500 to $800 that would meet your needs.

MoT Loc: Barrington, IL

Ask the repair shop if they can extract the data on your HD. I had a similar problem 3 years ago and repair shop was able to save my images on an external drive or a flash drive. I moved from PCs to Mac because of viruses and the need for antivirus software. Have not looked back. There may be good deals right now for iMacs, look on Amazon, Adorama and B&H for deals. Good luck.

lukevaliant Loc: gloucester city,n. j.

control, alt delete try that when it comes on

RonD Loc: Topeka, KS

power supply was replaced a couple yr ago. it gets power,just goes to black/blue screen? I just reboot and perhaps work for 3-5 min then crash.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

My first PC computer that followed my Commodore 64 was the original 444Kh processor IBM PC. When it was about a year old the media on it's gigantic 10Kb Seagate hard drive started to intermittently stop spinning. I found that banging it on its top caused the motor to start spinning again and the computer to function normally until the next stoppage. It was easy to give it a wack because those old PCs had a hinged door on the top that you could lift up to give you internal access. Instead of replacing the hard drive, I told my wife the computer could not be repaired (it actually could) and used that an excuse to buy the parts to build a new Intel 286 processor based computer.

Now here's how this applies to your problem. If you replace the hard drive and that does not solve the problem, you effectively have spent good money after bad. So you have noting to loose by taking a screwdriver and rapping the top of the suspected hard drive sharpley with the handle to see if there is a similar issue. If your computer starts working, you have confirmation that the hard drive is the problem and you save the cost of a new computer. If it does not, you have lost nothing and have more information to assist you in making your decision.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

You can get a new one that is faster, "smarter," more energy efficient, features much more storage, and all kinds of other goodies, for under $400.00. Transfer your files and junk the old one.

RonD Loc: Topeka, KS

UPDATE: opened the box and found CPU fan not running. thinking now very dusty. it's been running for 15 min. fingers crossed for now. thanks to all

RonD Loc: Topeka, KS

let me know which one that is for 400. mine is running for now but should have a newer one ready. thx

RonD Loc: Topeka, KS

dust seems to have been the problem. any tips on changing to Win 10 from win 7? free? advice?

MoT Loc: Barrington, IL

With the fan not running due to the dust you where probably overheating the CPU which freezes the computer. Hope you vacuumed out the old dust. I use to do that regularly when I built/modified my older PCs. But by all means back up your hard disk to a flash drive or external drive or even put in another internal HD if there is room for one. I did that often to secure my data before external HDs became available for a reasonable price.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

A couple of options. First, if you need any of the accessibility features, Microsoft may allow a free upgrade. Second, check EBay. You can download the ISO image free from Microsoft and buy an activation key on EBay for very little $. Make sure before upgrading that (a) you back your data (b) insure that there are WIN 10 drivers available for all your peripherals and store them where you can get at them during installation, and (c) make sure you have a good backup copy of your download folder - it will have all the installation/setup files for any applications that you didn’t install from disk. Finally, once you do the upgrade, your first priority (other than getting your keyboard and mouse working) is to get the internet up so you can download needed updates/drivers.

ClarkJohnson Loc: Fort Myers, FL and Cohasset, MA

It would be great if you can keep the old one going, but at some point the old machine will not be able to handle the inevitable advances in software. I use a four year old Dell laptop with added RAM that generally works well. However, I am running into more and more software that has minimum requirements for the processor and also require minimum memory capacity in the video card. My laptop, and most lower-priced ones today, do not have replaceable video cards, but instead have the video card integrated on the motherboard, so we cannot upgrade. Recently, i had to uninstall the update for Topaz DeNoise and revert to version one because i did not have the internal resources to support the new features.

These requirements also show up in music recording software like Pro Tools.

It now appears that any new laptop or desktop that will meet photo needs will need to be a “gaming” type with high capacity and/or upgradeable video cards in addition to more RAM and faster processor. If you can upgrade the video card in your desktop, you are one step ahead of laptop most users.

Goid luck!

wireloose

For Win10 it seems the Win7 registration code is still working for upgrades, so it could be free. If you are running the original HD though I’d spend a few bucks on an SSD which will really speed things up, you can install to that and use as your new boot drive.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Most PCs with video 'on board' can be updated. You just have to tell it to use the card which you just plugged in to one of the slots. Maybe a dip switch somewhere on the motherboard. If it is clever enough, it may even detect the new card and default to it.