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| Thread ID: 84872 | 2007-11-21 09:51:00 | Failing HP/Compaq | mikebartnz (21) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 613708 | 2007-11-21 09:51:00 | Hi there all. A friend of mine has a HP/Compaq d530 sff 512MB memory, 40GB HD Win XP SP2 that will run for a week, day or what ever before it just dies. They bought it second hand and they noticed this trait occassionally before the power supply died totaly. With a new $300 power supply all ran well for quite a while before this trait raised it's ugly head again. They took it into a certain PC shop in the South Wairarapa who supposedly tried everything including telling them that there wasn't enough memory and that was causing the problem:groan:. So took it to 768MB. After charging $380 the problem was still there. I suspect another crappy power supply but will try memtest just to rule out memory. They don't really want to spend another $300 on another power supply so I may just butcher the PC. Any brite ideas will be greatfully recieved. PS. Of course being HP it is not a standard PSU. |
mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 613709 | 2007-11-21 10:10:00 | woah. Thats a lot of wasted money on a pos. Initially I would have just yanked the hardware and thrown her all in a new $50 case with whatever crap PSU came with the new case. Then the next time it failed I would throw it away. But your already well past that point. So, I'd burn it, send it to hell. It derserves no more money being spent on it. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 613710 | 2007-11-21 12:36:00 | With a new $300 power supply omg ! is it gold plated or did you get one from compaq themselves........hey an ATX powersupply can be purchased for between $40-150 depending on quality......and fitting one takes about 10 mins........ a couple or three years ago I had a clients compaq pc, sorry cant remember the model now, which had a dead powersupply. I rang compaq to price a new one as I couldn't fit a standard atx into the case was quoted $198+gst.......sooooooo.......I got out my hacksaw and 'remodelled' the case in a small and unobtrusive way and stuffed a standard psu in there instead........saved the client a couple of hundred dollars.......... another way round that and i've done this too with a SFF case (small form factor - 'tiny' case) was to simply transfer all the bits into a new case........hell of a lot cheaper and only took just over an hour..... |
drcspy (146) | ||
| 613711 | 2007-11-21 21:07:00 | omg ! is it gold plated or did you get one from compaq themselves........hey an ATX powersupply can be purchased for between $40-150 depending on quality......and fitting one takes about 10 mins........ a couple or three years ago I had a clients compaq pc, sorry cant remember the model now, which had a dead powersupply. I rang compaq to price a new one as I couldn't fit a standard atx into the case was quoted $198+gst.......sooooooo.......I got out my hacksaw and 'remodelled' the case in a small and unobtrusive way and stuffed a standard psu in there instead........saved the client a couple of hundred dollars.......... another way round that and i've done this too with a SFF case (small form factor - 'tiny' case) was to simply transfer all the bits into a new case........hell of a lot cheaper and only took just over an hour..... The weight of the thing makes me think it is made of lead. It is half the size of mine and twice the weight. With a hack saw it would hardly be small or unobtrusive to fit a standard supply into it. I'm going to butcher it. |
mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 613712 | 2007-11-21 22:12:00 | BEfore you butcher it - it may NOT be the power supply thats causing the problem. You said it dies ? That can be caused by many different things. Does it restart again after a certain Time ? If so could be a heat problem. Could be a hard Drive fault - if it is then all the power supplies in the world wont fix it. Hacking out the case to take a standard PUS may not also be the answer - as the depth on the PSU compared to the depth of the optical drive can also stop a standard PSU installing. If it restarts, open the event viewer by going to start /run type in eventvwr look on the system and apps files look for any error messages, esp ones that say Disk, and also look for any other common error messages. If it has Disk error messges then its certain the drives faulty in some way. Ripping a PC to bits when you are only guessing its a PSU is Nuts. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 613713 | 2007-11-21 23:01:00 | BEfore you butcher it - it may NOT be the power supply thats causing the problem. You said it dies ? That can be caused by many different things. Does it restart again after a certain Time ? If so could be a heat problem. Could be a hard Drive fault - if it is then all the power supplies in the world wont fix it. Hacking out the case to take a standard PUS may not also be the answer - as the depth on the PSU compared to the depth of the optical drive can also stop a standard PSU installing. If it restarts, open the event viewer by going to start /run type in eventvwr look on the system and apps files look for any error messages, esp ones that say Disk, and also look for any other common error messages. If it has Disk error messges then its certain the drives faulty in some way. Ripping a PC to bits when you are only guessing its a PSU is Nuts. It is hardly likely to restart itself. Heat was initially one I thought of but because of the history everything points to the PSU. Hacking out the case would not be too much of a problem. It doesn't have a chance to write an event before it dies. It is a little more than just a guess that it is the PSU so it is getting butchered. |
mikebartnz (21) | ||
| 613714 | 2007-11-21 23:13:00 | It is hardly likely to restart itself. Heat was initially one I thought of but because of the history everything points to the PSU. Hacking out the case would not be too much of a problem. It doesn't have a chance to write an event before it dies. It is a little more than just a guess that it is the PSU so it is getting butchered. Your choice to butcher it, but you say its more than a guess - and you know this HOW - Have you actually had another standard PSU attached that works correctly or another HP Power Supply, but not installed in the case and that works perfectly ? Bet not. Seen many people who think its a certain thing, because a " mate who knows all about computers said it is " then when someone who does know what to look for actually finds the fault. If a computer Technician who knows what he / she is doing then they could tell you excatly what the problem is. Where you said it doesn't have a chance to write an error before dies - I could test for several things to cause that - NOT PSU either. But your $$ I dont care, only trying to help. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 613715 | 2007-11-21 23:15:00 | Can't see how a brand new PSU from HP (must be, for that price) could be the problem. What do you mean by "dies" anyway? Turn off? Reboot? BSOD? total freeze? Before you decide to take a hacksaw to it, make sure a standard PSU will actually work.. not just physically but electrically - this might be one of those HP's that use a custom PSU pinout, and you could blow the motherboard and PSU if you shove a normal one in there |
Agent_24 (57) | ||
| 613716 | 2007-11-21 23:22:00 | Can't see how a brand new PSU from HP (must be, for that price) could be the problem. What do you mean by "dies" anyway? Turn off? Reboot? BSOD? total freeze? Before you decide to take a hacksaw to it, make sure a standard PSU will actually work.. not just physically but electrically - this might be one of those HP's that use a custom PSU pinout, and you could blow the motherboard and PSU if you shove a normal one in there One of my points excactly Agent - you're on the button. :thumbs: In fact I'd be surprised if it is the PSU. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 613717 | 2007-11-22 08:04:00 | Your choice to butcher it, but you say its more than a guess - and you know this HOW - Have you actually had another standard PSU attached that works correctly or another HP Power Supply, but not installed in the case and that works perfectly ? Bet not. Seen many people who think its a certain thing, because a " mate who knows all about computers said it is " then when someone who does know what to look for actually finds the fault. If a computer Technician who knows what he / she is doing then they could tell you excatly what the problem is. Where you said it doesn't have a chance to write an error before dies - I could test for several things to cause that - NOT PSU either. But your $$ I dont care, only trying to help. I think it would pay for you to read my original post properly. |
mikebartnz (21) | ||
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