My yearly computer troubles

reesespbc

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It seems like every year I have trouble with this computer. I fix it and then it's good for another year.

This year it's a booting problem. For some reason when I turn on the computer, the hard drive spins for about 3 minutes and the computer hangs at the initial startup screen (in my instance, a Gatway startup screen). After about 3 minutes, the hard drive winds down and the computer continues booting up.

I have no idea what's wrong, but my dad says I could have a virus or a bad hard drive. The local computer store has never heard of the problem, atleast the way I desribed it, so I'll probably have to take it down there and have them look. It costs nothing to diagnose the problem but lord knows how much it's going to cost for me to get it fixed.
 

lunasmom

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Gateway?! No wonder you have issues!!!!!

Sounds like a bad hard drive. If you still have warranty, call up gateway and tell them to replace it. If not go for a new hard drive.

Avoid Maxtor, they fail easily.
 

kiwideus

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Rob - it sounds like the same problem I had a while ago. It was a fault in the hard drive and I had to have it replaced. Thankfully, it was under warranty so they replaced it. I did lose a lot of stuff though.
 

duchess15

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That's what happened with mine. It would have this loud grinding sound, esp if I tried to use the drive. It would no longer read the disc and had to be replaced.
I also discovered the reason for many of my programs giving me error messages. I had a virus!! You might want to see if you are able to use your programs correctly such as burning a cd, etc. I would put a cd in your drive and see if it can still read it or if it still just has the name of the drive.
 
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reesespbc

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Well the problem is fixed.

A TCS member here (Waxlight) IM'd me and suggested that I unplug all my USB devices. It worked! Then she said to plug in only everything except my digital camera. It turns out that was the problem. She said her iPod does the same thing. If it's plugged in, the computer doesn't boot right.

So then I tried using the camera software and the computer wouldn't recognize the driver. She works in tech support, so she had me call her, and I tried a few things. It still didn't work so she connected to my computer remotely and fiddled around and still we couldn't figure out what was wrong. She figured it had something to do with either my camera dock or the cable.

After we hung up I had a hunch about something, so I unplugged the power supply from the dock and plugged it back in.

Bingo! It worked again, AND I was able to boot up with the camera plugged into the USB. So for whatever reason, after all that, all that was needed was for the power to be reset.

This just goes to show that sometimes the most simple solution is the right solution. It also shows how generous TCS members are. For her, a member I don't think I've ever talked to on here, to go through all that trouble to help me, is truely amazing.

Thanks again Jess! (waxlight)
 

lunasmom

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Originally Posted by compugasm

Oh, how are they a bad company?
Originally Posted by silentNate

I recently bought an external hard-drive from them and was going to ask the same question
In the computer world, you pay for what you get.

They basically put cheap parts in their hard drives. I've just experienced one too many that have gone bad in less then a year, sometimes the same week you buy the computer.

They will eventually slow down, stop booting, etc. Long time ago I pulled one out of a computer with parts loose.

A good brand is Western Digital. Maxtor is the only HD that I have ever had problems with.
 

gemlady

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This morning I thought I was having modem problems but it turned out to be something else.

On occasion, we can dial out but no one can dial in and connect unless we are on the phone/internet. I disconnected the phone from the computer on the hunch that maybe the modem was interfering. Nope.

So I reconnected the phone and computer. This morning I couldn't dial into the internet!
Said there was no dial tone! I picked up the phone and there was a dial tone. Immediately thought I had to replace the modem! (PANIC!!!!!!!
I'm low on funds right now.)

In the middle of mid-pityparty I realized something. I had plugged the modem back into itself.
I have two different sizes of cords. The one from the phone jack is the newer fatter one and the one from the computer to the phone is the older thinner one. If I didn't have the two different sizes, I'd still be whimpering and sobbing and rending garments going "Oh, woe is me!".

Oh, back to you, Rob. Aren't we lucky to be members of such a nice online community?
 
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