OLD compaq presario 5000 series

G

Girtho961

Big Geek
Well we still use this thing for the internet. The problem is that it constantly freezes up(any where from every 30 minutes to every couple of hours) also sometimes you here the computer start up but the monitor doesnt kick in.
As for specs it has

CPU-AMD athlon 1.2GHz(oh yeah)
MoBo-Compaq made with VIA Apollo pro chipset
RAM-256MB SDRam PC100
GPU-Nvidia Riva TNT2 64 Pro
HD-Maxtor 80 GB IDE
PSU-what ever crappy one compaq put in the case

MoBo doesnt have any temp sensor(yeah it sucks)
no onboard video to check if its the graphic card and i might be able to get another GPU from a friend old computer.

Well i just opened up the case and i just about fainted. I dont think it had been opened since it was built, the dust build up was absolutlly unbelievable. When i was cleaning it out you could get a whif of what smelt like burning PC parts, and the fins of the CPU heatsink were just drenched in dust, this might solve the problem, it no ill come back.

Any other ideas
 
Oh yeah ive run a bunch of programs, and they dont seem to find anything. Also almost everytim it starts up it runs the FAT32 disk check, what does that mean,
 
I'd run Memtest86+ overnight to make sure your RAM's still good, and do a thorough scan with Trend Micro's Housecall. If both of the tests I've recommended come back totally clean, I'd suspect the PSU. The PSUs in those Presarios are atrocious, so that could definately be the problem. Of course, when PSUs go bad, they rarely go alone -- other components are often damaged in the process.

-AT
 
Well if the PSU is bad im probably not gonna spend any mone replacing it seeing as how i have good system, i just use the old one cause almost everytime i walk in my comp room someone is one the good computer.
 
Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.gz)
Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable ISO (.zip)


Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable Binary (.gz)
Download - Pre-Compiled Bootable Binary (.zip)


Download - Pre-Compiled EXE file for USB Key (Pure DOS)


Download - Pre-Compiled package for Floppy (DOS - Win)

which memtest do i download
Nevermind you guys i loaded it on a floppy and im gonna go reboot now and run the test until it either finishes or it fails.
 
I'd download the ISO .zip file and burn it to CD when you get a chance. It's a bootable CD, which is nice if you've gone floppy-less like I have.

Yes, Memtest will run until you stop it or reboot. If you don't want it to run again, make sure you remove the CD or change your boot order so that the CD-ROM doesn't boot first.
 
Well i didnt get any errors, but the computer locked up and froze after 3 hours and 59 minutes, is that do ram or do think thats a bad PSU.
 
Girtho961 said:
Well i didnt get any errors, but the computer locked up and froze after 3 hours and 59 minutes, is that do ram or do think thats a bad PSU.
Click to expand...
Could be either. It could also be a bad northbridge or an overheating component. The fact that you saw no memory errors in that period of time seems to indicate that the RAM is probably not bad. Are you overclocking at all?
 
Nope the bios basically all you can do is change the system time and teh boot order, there are hardly any options at all, and i think it my be overheating because when i blew the boat load of dust out of my case there was a mild burning smell but i couldnt pinpoint where it was coming from.
 
Hey i just got a case for the comp im building for a friend and it came with a 430 watt PSU, its from linkworld, and i got them an Antec SP 2.0 450, so i was thinking that because the compaq might have a bad PSU i could use this one, i figure it cant be worse than the one in there right now. Good idea, Bad idea.
 
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