Bad News, Hiatus, Need Help · 11:37pm Jan 18th, 2015
My computer broke. Simple as that. I knocked into it while moving into dorm, it won't boot up, and that means I can't write. I am in dire straits right now. I really do need some help, and if you can do anything, it would be greatly appreciated. until I can get a new computer, I can't do any writing. I've thought about using the public computers, since I just use Google Drive and those are all safe, but I honestly can't write with people watching me.especially considering the content material of some stories, that might cause some problems of someone does start reading over my shoulder.I'm using my phone right now, so I'll be able to send out messages even use a little bit of magic to maybe get a little work done in some stories but it's not exactly the same. I hope you understand and again I am sorry for having to put everything on hold. Thank you.
I don't suppose it's as simple as "knocked a card, cable, or some RAM out of its slot"? Is there a tech-head around who can have a look at it for you?
2731571
I'm pretty much the tech head here. I decided to crack open the case took a good look inside and it's not the RAM. I kept looking around I tried turning it on multiple times. One of the things that struck me was the fact that one time I turned it on, and power just saw to cut out after being on for like a few seconds so something's going on that's not easy to fix. Looked over the hard drive and all I can imagine is that something is broken inside of it. Then again I've been having problems with this computer for a long time. Good chance that finally that not to it took it out. I think I'm going to have to just save up and get myself a new computer. Especially considering that my computer was pretty much a Frankenstein's monster. It was made very cheap and was stitched together from a whole bunch of different parts. The guy who made it was amazed he managed to get it running.
If the power just cuts really quickly, check the bottom of the motherboard. One of the insulating stand-offs may have come off, and the motherboard may be shorting on the case. If nothing's cooked yet, you may be able to save it by getting it up off the case again.
How far was the drop? 4 inches? 20 feet? 50 stories?
Any cables loose? if not, completely disconnect all of the cables and firmly replug it back in. To see what things work is that you have to turn it on every time when you plug it back in (based on this computer repair book I got).
- I had dealt with a similar problem with another guy's computer when he bumped into it. After 10 minutes I found out his graphics card was loose, everything else was fine.
2731722
there were no contact points to the case. I checked that out after reading your comment.
2731972
it was about a two foot drop if I had to eyeball it.it was inside a box of the time. I cracked open the case again started looking around at anything that might be loose and graphics card was pretty snug inside. but I know it is not the graphics card. I have the monitor plugged into the motherboard and not the graphics card and I can't get it to boot up. I know it is not the monitor because I used a different monitor just to be sure. I just AM starting to think that the hard drive blue. And quite possibly the power supply is right behind it.again, the computer is old. And to make matters worse, it was stitched together. The guy who made the computer may have not intended for it to last this long.
Does it power up? does it stop usually at one point everytime, if it does power up?
If you have the bios beep thingies activated how do they sound?
2732466
OK, then try this. Disconnect the HDD from all cables, and try to boot it again. If you can make it far enough for the system to complain about "no system disk" or some-such, that was probably the issue. Go get a bootable Linux CD, pop it in the disc drive, and see if you can get the system to limp along like that until you can replace the HDD. [If your system is really crappy, and/or you're Linux-averse, and/or you want to be able to use the CD drive for other stuff, try Puppy Linux. It's really small, loads itself into RAM so you can use the drive, and it's the next thing to idiot-proof.]
If you can't get that far along, the HDD wasn't the problem (or at least not the worst one). On the upside, you can probably take your HDD to another computer and recover your files.
This might sound weird but...I do a fair bit of my writing on campus. Turns out that people don't really care about what's on the screen, and I find that having people around actually makes me work faster. Don't know if it's because I the general discomfort makes me work faster and cuts through the procrastination or being in public somehow kicks my paranoia into overdrive but give it a shot.
2732868
Got nothing still, so not only is there something wrong with the hard drive, but the mother board as well
2732871
Tried to write in public today. Couldn't do it, I tried. I spent too much time looking over my shoulder and it just felt too weird. Sorry.
I'm sorry to hear about this.
Anyways, cheer up, man. Don't worry too much about things you can't really stop.
2734327
Yeah, at this point we're looking at a serious fault, and nothing short of a tech poking around with a multimeter or spare parts is going to isolate it.
2732466
Eh, if it was made of spares surely some of them has reached the end of its life, I'm definite that the needle on your hard drive is misaligned (take a HD test) so its most likely junked If power is cutting out, test it out with another power supply, if not, check if all the fans are spinning on boot. If the fans are not spinning, the computer would only last about 1-40min operating (again with experience). You can try to recover the data using one of those external cables and plug it into another working computer if the hard drive is still readable.