I got my computer fixed, and now it's even worse!!!

[Winston]

Dear all,

Ok get this one!

During the past week, my new refurbished computer kept overheating and shutting down cause the fan was defective and wouldn't run during every other startup. So I had to constantly monitor the temperature at the back of the computer to make sure it wasn't overheating and that the fan was blowing in the back. As long as it was, the computer would work fine for as long as I left it on. But I didn't want to do this forever and was afraid that this problem might get worse and spread to other parts of the desktop, so since my computer was still under the three month warranty, I took it in to replace the power supply and fan, which was defective.

So I take it the shop yesterday and they promptly replace the power supply and fan at the back. The new one worked great in the shop and was blowing constantly without problem and the computer temperature was stable. Ok so problem solved right?

I thought so!

But then when I bring the computer back home, some nightmarish things began happening! First, it wouldn't recognize the hard disk for a while. Then that subsided by itself. And then whenever I opened my firefox browser to go online, the computer kept completely shutting down by itself within a matter of minutes!!!!!!!! And this time it was NOT overheating! The fan was working and the desktop base was cool! WTF?!

Now you'd think the problem was the faulty power supply replacement. But the thing is, the computer doesn't shut down by itself if I just leave it on with nothing running. It only shuts down when I try to do certain things, such as start Firefox or try to uninstall certain programs, like Netobjects Fusion Essentials. Yet other programs would uninstall normally! WTF?! So I went into safe mode to uninstall netobject fusion essentials.

After that, the computer still shuts down when I try to open my internet browser, but not when I do anything else!

This makes NO FRICKIN SENSE!

If it was a software problem or conflict, the computer would merely freeze or restart itself, not just shut down suddenly! But if it was a hardware problem, then why would it only shut down when I do certain things, such as open Firefox?!

Again, nothing makes sense in the Philippines, INCLUDING COMPUTERS!!!!!!!! Here, computers contradict themselves, have problems that make no sense and even baffle experienced computer experts!

And on top of that, people can't explain things here, have no communication skills, and cannot be articulate, etc! It's like something here is jamming all thought signals!

[jtest28]

My old computer used to shutdown only when doing certain things, like looking at pictures, for example. The video card was over heating and it would shutdown the computer on its own. When I got my computer rebuilt, this problem ended. I now know that there were several fans in it. With a laptop, I wonder if that many fans can fit and so maybe it used one fan for everything. And maybe this new fan isn't blowing over the same area as the old one was.

[jtest28]

Also, sometimes software does have something to do with it. Before I had mine rebuilt, I formatted the hard drive and reinstalled everything. Doing this must have cleared much of the junk they install at the factory, as this problem had now become far less intense.

[Winston]

Maybe it is the video card, as opening up firefox uses the video card right?

But why did replacing the power supply and fan cause this? The video card was fine before and never shut down unless the computer was overheating. Did the new power supply somehow cause a chain reaction?

What should I do? Replace the power supply again?

[jtest28]

On my computer, it would let me know one minute before it would shutdown that it was shutting down due to the video card over heating. But with yours, its not. So I don't know for sure.

[momopi]

There's no such thing as a "break in period" for modern computers, or "engine warm-up" (more than 30 seconds) on modern car engines.

If the computer has intermittent trouble recognizing hardware, then there's probably a hardware problem or BIOS related issue.

If your computer is ONLY crashing when you run the web browser, it's possible that a web applet is causing the problem, or if you have some virus or spyware infection.

Run Firefox, go to Tools -> Options -> Content, and disable the following:
- Load images automatically
- Enable JavaScript
- Enable Java

Disable all 3 of them, click on OK and close the browser. Then run the browser again and check a few web pages. If it doesn't crash, you might want to reinstall Firefox and Java.

Use another computer to download anti-virus and anti-spyware programs to a USB memory stick, then transfer them to the PC. Try the following:

http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus- ... d=10891365
http://www.download.com/Avira-AntiVir-P ... d=10901492

http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes-An ... tag=button
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-D ... d=10861988
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2008/3 ... d=10903602

Also, try downloading a different browser and see if it crashes on your PC:
http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/

Does the computer crash when you run FTP programs? MS Word? Does it only crash when you run internet-communications related programs?

As a last resort, you can try reformatting the hard disk and reinstalling Windows. If that doesn't work, take the computer back and ask for a replacement.

[Winston]

Hi momopi,
Well the thing is, the computer wouldn't recognize the mouse in the beginning, then it always recognized it. So the "intermittent issue" wasn't really sporadic, it was all in the beginning. Doesn't that pattern look like a "break in period"?

When I changed the power supply and fan, the computer kept saying "floppy disk failed" during the first 5 bootups. Then it stopped saying that. And doesn't say that anymore. Again, that only happened at the beginning.

If, as you suggest, it's a software or applet problem, then why did this start after replacing the power supply and fan? Are they connected or is this a coincidence?

That's what I don't get. Is there something defective in the power supply that would cause the video card to overheat?

Remember that it kept shutting down when I tried to uninstall Netobjects Fusion Essentials too.

I am running Kaspersky which is supposed to be the best anti virus program, and already did a quick scan. I can't do a full scan because it sort of freezes after a while if I do. I also used CCleaner to clean out the web browser's cache. Yet the problem is still there.

I did reinstall firefox but it didn't help. But I didn't do a clean reinstall by completely uninstalling every trace of it first.

I haven't tried running IE yet. But I will. I haven't tried MS Word either. I'm kind of afraid to run anything on it. It doesn't just crash or freeze. It completely shuts down as if you turned off the power! I hate that so much!

Earlier today I uploaded files through FTP on it, and it had no problems. I also used my web page maker program and it had no problem too.

How can I tell if the video card is overheating? Usually overheating causes the computer to just switch off suddenly right?

I downloaded speedfan, but am not sure how to use it. It is supposed to measure temperature and control fan speed.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

I wonder why the Windows utilities don't let you do that too.

[Winston]

I guess another thing that I could do is take it back to the shop, see if they can put my old power supply and fan back in, the one that was replaced, and then run firefox in their shop with it to see if it still shuts down. If not, then it points to the power supply/fan replacement as the problem. If it still does, then that indicates a software issue.

Would that be a logical way of narrowing it down?

[momopi]

There is no "break in period" for computers. It either works or it doesn't.

Your computer's hardware config is stored in the BIOS (CMOS). When the power supply is unplugged, there's a CMOS battery on the motherboard that provides power to maintain clock and settings data:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonvolatile_BIOS_memory

Since this is an older computer, it's possible that the lithium battery is low. When the store replaced your power supply, the CMOS settings may have reverted to default settings. Thus, until you go into BIOS setup and use auto-config & save settings, your computer couldn't recongize the hardware. Also, if you're using USB mouse, you may need to enable USB input devices in BIOS.

You mentioned that the store replaced the power supply and cooling fan. Is the fan attached to the computer case and not the power supply? Check the wattage rating on the power supply, it's usually printed on the side. Is it at least 350W?

When you run IE or Firefox, you mentioned that the system completely shuts down. Does it just power off suddenly, or does it perform a Windows Shutdown?

Assuming that the computer is still in warranty, take it back and see if they'd give you a complete replacement.

[Winston]

Hi momopi,
If there's no break in period, then how come some problems or irregularities disappear over time without me doing anything? For example, when you use system restore or uninstall an XP service pack, you get these strange error messages upon startup that you have to click Ok to. But after a few reboots, the error messages that contain strange jargon and file names, disappears and no longer reappears.

Also, for about a week, the computer wouldn't recognize my USB mouse unless I unplugged and replugged it after startup. But eventually, it would recognize it every time upon start up.

Perhaps computers may even have consciousness or be a form of organism? lol

Yes the fan is attached to the power supply box and blows in the rear.

I was told by the store guy that the voltage of the power supply was the same as the one that was replaced and compatible with the computer.

Yes when it shuts down, I mean that it turns off as though the plug was pulled, NOT with the normal shutting down process that involves a message about it first.

[Winston]

Hi all,
I just got my computer back from the shop. Here's what happened. When they opened it up, they found that the video graphics card was very hot. I even touched it too. There was a rubber black square on the video card that they said was a "heatsink". I don't know what a heatsink is, but I'm guessing it's supposed to help absorb the heat? Anyhow, it was really hot to the touch.

They said it's normal for the video card to be hot, but not that hot.

Perhaps that's why the computer kept turning off.

So they replaced it, but it took a few tries because each graphic card they put in was defective too. Finally, they found one that worked, and instead of a heatsink, it had a cooking fan attached to it.

They also replaced the power supply box with another one, in case it was defective.

They tested firefox and the internet on it in the shop and it seemed to work ok.

So I took it home and now it seems to work fine when I'm online. Keep your fingers crossed.

I guess then, that the video card was defective? Still, why did it happen at the same time that the power supply box was replaced? Coincidence or not?

By the way, one more thing. I installed a program called speedfan that I read about, which monitors your computer's internal temperature and controls the fans. You can google "speedfan" to get to the site that you can download it from. The thing is, when I turned on speedfan, it showed that two areas of my computer, marked as fan 2 and fan 3, had a temperature of 127 degrees Celcius. Is that normal? Isn't that kind of high? I could not find anything in the computer that was super hot. The video card was kind of hot to the touch, but they said that was normal. Is it momopi?

[deeyasa]

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[momopi]

Heat Sink:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink

CPU max safe temperatures:
http://www.pantherproducts.co.uk/Articl ... ures.shtml

For Q&A's, go to Tom's Hardware forum:
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/

It's unlikely that your computer is running @ 127C. It'd have died already. Read this:
http://gizmodo.com/5524473/core-i7-macb ... water-boil

Have you considered switching over to Macintosh? You can find some good deals on used Macs here:
http://lowendmac.com/
http://www.wegenermedia.com/