Computer Help

[willy]

Sounds like a power supply Alan..your call on fix or replace.

My take..good power supply is $50..cost will come from labor.

There's a slim outside chance it could be the motherboard..but if you pay to fix it..they can do the diagnostic on the hardware.

Personally, I'd draw the line at $100.

Good luck..keep us informed.

 

[HEMI6point1]

Sounds like a power supply Alan..your call on fix or replace.

My take..good power supply is $50..cost will come from labor.

There's a slim outside chance it could be the motherboard..but if you pay to fix it..they can do the diagnostic on the hardware.

Personally, I'd draw the line at $100.

Good luck..keep us informed.

That's what I am thinking, anything more than $100 to fix and it's best to put that money to a new unit.

TIP: If you're going to buy a new unit, since they all come with Vista (a few dells come with XP but that's rare) get at least 2GB of memory.

 

[Alan]

I started poking around on the Gateway site, and most seem to come with at least 2GB of memory. Our unit is almost 4 years old, so an upgrade might be the best way to go.

What is the ins and outs of some brands? Dell is already out of the question, to many friends/family with problems.

Gateway (order direct or go to Best Buy) Compaq, E-Machine?????

 

[Alan]

AMD Processor or Intel?

 

[None]

I started poking around on the Gateway site, and most seem to come with at least 2GB of memory. Our unit is almost 4 years old, so an upgrade might be the best way to go.

What is the ins and outs of some brands? Dell is already out of the question, to many friends/family with problems.

Gateway (order direct or go to Best Buy) Compaq, E-Machine?????

Have always had better luck with Toshiba than any thing else. Gateway was the worst. Sent one back to them to repair. They were to call with the cost
so I could pay in advance. They sent it back and said "out of warranty not our problem". Paid shipping both ways and they would never make it right. I gave up after six months.

 

[Jenn]

AMD Processor or Intel?

Most reliable for me has been HP and Toshiba off the shelf units. My custom compaq and Dells didn't last long. I've added more ram to my HPs and want to for my laptop and they'd been going strong.

You'll hear a couple horror stories with every brand though.

 

[Nitrohaulic]

Does anyone else here feel like John Force in a room full of Austin Coils?

 

[Alan]

Does anyone else here feel like John Force in a room full of Austin Coils?

Yeah....me That's why I have to ask so many questions.....

 

[willy]

Alan, do you have anyone in your immediate area..small computer shop that could give you a personal touch?

That would be the best..either to have your present system looked at..or possibly building you what you need. Quality parts with a good price..and they would support it as well.

 

[Alan]

Alan, do you have anyone in your immediate area..small computer shop that could give you a personal touch?

There are a couple small computer shops, one of which we used here at work in the past, and had bad experiences with them, and the other has a poor repuation from what I've heard.

 

[sharkman]

If you need parts then try tigerdirect.com They have the best prices and service, A power supply is easy to install, so is RAM. When our Compaq got a bad virus we took it in to have it cleaned, in the meantime we went to Wal-mart and bought a HP with a AMD Althalon 64FX dual core processor and 512MB RAM with a 160GB hard drive for less than 300.00 bucks. I got on-line and ordered 2GB of DDR2 RAM and installed them for less than 100.00 bucks so for less than 400.00 bucks I have a great internet cruiser with plenty of room for pictures and music. And the old PC after it was cleared up made a great Christmas gift to our "housesitter" who couldn't afford one on Her own ( A compaq w/ Athalon processor 2GB RAM 100GB hard drive windows XP sp2, 21" compaq monitor and an HP 1600 printer) She was thrilled to pieces.

 

[HEMI6point1]

This is only from what I have heard from people, as I build my own:

Gateway is good if you order direct. The ones sold at retail stores (BBY, Circuit City...) are rebadged Emachines and are junk.

Have you considered a custom machine from a "Boutique" vendor? One that's not too pricey is Velocity Micro, they don't use generic parts and have really good support from what I hear.

 

[Alan]

Dynex® - 400-Watt ATX CPU Power Supply - DX-400WPS

I'm thinking of trying the power supply first before I go out and replace the computer. This work? If it's nuts and bolts, I can change it.

 

[Alan]

A good customer of the shop talked me into trying a power supply. Picked one up from Best Buy for $84, spent 20 minutes or so installing it, and here we are, back in business!!!


Thank you everyone for the help and advice!!!!!

'Maters are the greatest!

 

[willy]

Most excellent, Alan..glad it worked out for you.

Good job.

 

[Alan]

I only had to freak out when I seen how many wires were connected to the power unit....


A lot of connections, and our PC only used 4 of them........


I figured even if the power supply didn't work, I was only out $84....in the grand scheme, that wasn't much!


Thanks again guys!!!!