Thread: PC Help Needed

Ok, I leave my PC on 24/7.
I came home this morning and it was off.
This only happens when we have a power flicker.
But, we did not have one.

My PC smelled burnt, electrically burnt.
I open it up to see and anything was cooked.
I did not find anything.
So, I connected it again and ran it.


While booting, a display came up about a problem.
Should have wrote it down.
I ignored and had it keep booting.

Now it is running very slow.
The "System" process is >90% constantly.


Is there any diagnostic I can run to see what the heck is going on?

Thanks!

"ultravikingfan" wrote:

Ok, I leave my PC on 24/7.
I came home this morning and it was off.
This only happens when we have a power flicker.
But, we did not have one.

My PC smelled burnt, electrically burnt.
I open it up to see and anything was cooked.
I did not find anything.
So, I connected it again and ran it.


While booting, a display came up about a problem.
Should have wrote it down.
I ignored and had it keep booting.

Now it is running very slow.
The "System" process is >90% constantly.


Is there any diagnostic I can run to see what the heck is going on?

Thanks!

First problem - leaving your PC on 24/7.
It's not "officially documented" anywhere, but I've seen time and time again that Windows machines "degrade" over the life of a power-cycle.
You should reboot at least once a day.

Second problem - why didn't you write down the error message?
WTF?


Have you checked Task Manager to see what's chewing up your CPU?

=Z=

24/7 is generally fine, especially for late model XP machines and the like.
Windows always needs reboots, but thats life with that junk.
I could let mine run on the same session for a few days unless I did a lot of work when inevitably something would crash.

After a death like you desribe, it is likely the system is doing its usual, it chews up processes for an hour it seems building the serious system error log, recovering certain items, etc.
Let it run.
After it is done, though, reboot, and things should be normal.

Thanks for the advice.

I rebooted a few times and everything seems to be fine now.
I also cleaned the vents too thinking it was overheating.

Right now nothing is chewing up the system processes.
Hopefully everything is ok.


I am going to back some of my more important files on my spare drive.

"ultravikingfan" wrote:

Thanks for the advice.

I rebooted a few times and everything seems to be fine now.
I also cleaned the vents too thinking it was overheating.

Right now nothing is chewing up the system processes.
Hopefully everything is ok.


I am going to back some of my more important files on my spare drive.

Burn 'em to DVD, bubi.

=Z=

I'd still be somewhat concerned about the "burnt" smell.
That doesn't happen for NO reason...although it could have just been an unessential capacitor popping, etc.


The good:
Chances are the hard drive isn't what made that smell... even if the computer goes down, you should be able to pull the drive out and plug it into another computer to get your data.

The bad:
It's hard to find out where the funny smell came from... if you can identify where (motherboard, video card, sound card, etc.) you could at least go out and get a replacement for if/when it goes.

Hit me up with a PM if you want any assistance...

Everything is screwy now.
Now sound, cannot double click on desktop items, things take longer to open.
This is pissing me the off.

When I turn my PC off the little light keeps blinking fast and PC is making some little squeaking noises.

I'd say double check all your cooling fans, on of those might be going bad (thus the smell) and you computer might not be cooling properly.

"Schutz" wrote:

I'd say double check all your cooling fans, on of those might be going bad (thus the smell) and you computer might not be cooling properly.

I took the one out and cleaned it and the other one is running fine.

"ultravikingfan" wrote:

"Schutz" wrote:

I'd say double check all your cooling fans, on of those might be going bad (thus the smell) and you computer might not be cooling properly.

I took the one out and cleaned it and the other one is running fine.

Did you check the processor fan?