Home PC Took a Dump Last Week

[AX 365]

Hi folks...

Logged on at work and hopefully the IT folks don't get too testy!

Our computer at home took a dump on Wednesday of last week. Motherboard shot. That board no longer made. Getting a new system. When? Not sure but hopefully within the next week or so. I will be back but not sure when.

Mike

Edited December 31, 2010 by AX 365

[blunce]

At least you still have all your hard drive contents ...

Unlike this guy!

<---------------

(hard drive fried when power came back on after outage a month ago :( )

[Hawkeye's Hobbies]

Computers don't last forever...like any appliance they are subject to electrical issues and need periodic maintenance. Saw a computer that had been brought in for repairs when we were out shopping for a new one for the wife. Some lady brought hers in and the tech had opened up the case...never been opened since it was built...full of dust, the fans couldn't even spin anymore. I asked, I can only imagine what the back and underside of your stove and refrigerator must look like. Hope you have good insurance...there is probably a new one of those or a fire in your future. Her computer was toast from repeated overheating.

We ordered a customized new unit from HP on Friday, it was built today and shipped today from China. ETA in two days. That's service!

Cheap insurance...back up your files in three locations....computer...external hard drive and online storage resource.

[Jinxter13]

If I may suggest, build your own, that way you get what you want and replacing parts is simple and quick. I hate proprietary systems, HP, Gateway, etc..... something goes wrong the whole thing has to go back, leaving you high and dry until it gets replaced and returned. Always.......reapeat always backup the stuff you can't afford to loee. Parts are easily and cheaply replaced, data...is a real PITA to retrieve and costly.

Cheap insurance...back up your files in three locations....computer...external hard drive and online storage resource.

Couldn't have said it better myself...also one might consider CD/DVD's as a fourth option...stored in a secure safe location.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Angels49

[Emvar]

Mine took a dump this last summer, so we went shopping. Got a Gateway for $650 from future shop 1TB HD the whole shabang. If I was to build one it would have cost twice the price for the same components. Yes back everything up!!!!

Mike hope to see you online soon.

Emil

[AX 365]

Hi guys. No new home PC yet. Teri has borrowed a little Acer laptop from a friend and I'm using that to catch up here. Still not sure what's going to happen with the PC whether it's going to be brand name or generic. I don't have access to my e-mail address book as everything is on Microsoft Outlook. I'm able to sign into my Rogers Yahoo account but that's it. I apologize to all. I'm not intentionally ignoring anyone. Hopefully the home PC dilemma will be solved shortly...if the Missus is able to get things sorted out with her friend.

Ciao for now.

Mike

[Emvar]

Hi guys. No new home PC yet. Teri has borrowed a little Acer laptop from a friend and I'm using that to catch up here. Still not sure what's going to happen with the PC whether it's going to be brand name or generic. I don't have access to my e-mail address book as everything is on Microsoft Outlook. I'm able to sign into my Rogers Yahoo account but that's it. I apologize to all. I'm not intentionally ignoring anyone. Hopefully the home PC dilemma will be solved shortly...if the Missus is able to get things sorted out with her friend.

Ciao for now.

Mike

Mike,

Hold out till boxing day...... then take the plunge.

Emil

[Jinxter13]

Mine took a dump this last summer, so we went shopping. Got a Gateway for $650 from future shop 1TB HD the whole shabang. If I was to build one it would have cost twice the price for the same components. Yes back everything up!!!!

Mike hope to see you online soon.

Emil

You gotta be shopping at the wrong places......No way it should cost you twice as much, it should be cheaper. Going proprietary (Gateway, HP, Dell, etc) means when the system has a prob if it's under warranty the whole system goes back to the company if there's no authorized repair shop close. If it's not it's gonna cost ya more for repairs. Laptops are a different matter altogether.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Angels49

[F-15fan]

Here's a suggestion. Find out what the warranty is on your hard drives and automatically replace them when the warranty is over. This will avoid the loss of data. And get a second hard drive installed in your computer......it makes it much easier to back-up data when you are replacing one of your hard drives.

[Emvar]

You gotta be shopping at the wrong places......No way it should cost you twice as much, it should be cheaper. Going proprietary (Gateway, HP, Dell, etc) means when the system has a prob if it's under warranty the whole system goes back to the company if there's no authorized repair shop close. If it's not it's gonna cost ya more for repairs. Laptops are a different matter altogether.

Yeah this is what I thought also that it would be cheaper to build than buy a package...... I'm not a computer guy so someone would have to build it for me........ Yup $1300 with taxes. This is just for the box and nothing else. That is pretty much with the same everything as the off the shelf Gateway.

[Oroka]

I upgrade mine often enough I have never had a hardware failure. I am getting some old gear back from my brother I sold to him a couple years back, Im stoked because I wanted to do some upgrades soon anyways, and I am getting a nice Armour Jr case and my water cooling system back (all for free too!). Now I just need a new mobo, cpu, ram, and eventually a video card (probably a AMD X6 1055 and 6-8GB DDR3). I just got a new LG Blu ray burner, and my 1TB HDD is still under warranty (everything of value gets backed up on BDR).

[HOLMES]

Hey Mike

How is it going....

Have you sorted it yet?

Happy Holidays{ soon }

HOLMES

[Superjew]

You should build your own PC, and dont buy a *snicker* E-Machine or some other low quality, high priced store bought PC.

I have a

Q6700 overclocked to 3.15 GHZ

Zalman CNPS 110mm CPU Cooling fan

4 MB of 1000 Gskill Ram

DS3r-ep35 MoBo

8800 GTS 512 MB Nvidia GPU

700 watt Power supply

320 GB 7200 Rpm harddrive

Windows 7/ Windows Vista O/S in dual partition

This is plenty to play current games, but not enough to play high settings on GTA IV. Im thinking of swapping out the GPU for something better, since I currently have a high 8-series card, and would like a mid 10-series card.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Superjew

[HOLMES]

You should build your own PC, and dont buy a *snicker* E-Machine or some other low quality, high priced store bought PC.

quote]

But Will Mike have the time to do that !LOL!

[Sig Saur & Son]

Last week I saw for the first time, 25GB DVDs. The cost was $69.00 for a pack of twenty-five. I know they don't last forever but they are another alternative for storage and backup.

[Sig Saur & Son]

You gotta be shopping at the wrong places......No way it should cost you twice as much, it should be cheaper. Going proprietary (Gateway, HP, Dell, etc) means when the system has a prob if it's under warranty the whole system goes back to the company if there's no authorized repair shop close. If it's not it's gonna cost ya more for repairs. Laptops are a different matter altogether.

When my son's new dell took a dump, Dell sent a technician to our residence and they replaced the motherboard for free. When the motherboard on my XPS went down, Dell sent me a new one, Express Mail and I was instructed to take it to the local computer store where they replaced it, in one day. Dell guaranteed the board and the shop guaranteed the work. My son is now a computer systems specialist - only cost me about 25K for him to achieve that status - but he also recommends building your own system.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Sig Saur & Son

[Ishthe47guy]

Ever thought about getting an Apple desktop?

[Sig Saur & Son]

Ever thought about getting an Apple desktop?

If I were starting new, I'd certainly go with Apple Products.

[Superjew]

Ever thought about getting an Apple desktop?

I wouldn't recommend he get an apple, unless your hooked on the apple O/S. I find them to be a little overpriced for what you get, as what some refer to as the "apple tax". I think his money would best be spent building his own, because it is easy, cheap, and you get exactly what you want. You also have the option of overclocking so you can turn a $300 chip into one that outperforms a $1000 chips with a few simple keystrokes in the BIOS. You won't get these options with a store bought computer or an Apple.

Its important to pick, whatever computer you go with, make sure it has an Intel chip.

newegg.com is a great place for shopping for PC components.

Edited December 18, 2010 by Superjew

[Jinxter13]

I like Apple OS's, however back in the day :) , PC's (read as IBM/or compatible) had a lot more programs available, and most in my preference, got hooked on PC's and been there/here ever since. Even with the dual compatibility programs the PC has more stuff available for it.

[Crash Test Dummy]

Does your own time have value to you? I use this all the time for car maintenance, I can do just about anything a mechanic could do, but some tasks are worth it to me to pay someone else to make it their problem. A new computer also falls into this. I have built my own computers and also bought off the shelf. Building it yourself can take much more time than you might expect if you are doing something you don't have much experience with. If you aren't comfortable installing the OS, troubleshooting driver issues or even assembling the components, just buy one.

Be realistic with what you want a new computer to do. There's nothing wrong with the cheap systems off the shelf if all you need is something to surf the net and check email. ANY new system will be overkill for basic computer tasks. Only if you are a gamer or need horsepower for a task like video editing would I recommend someting more than a minimum spec system. It's just about impossible to build a system for under $500 if you are starting from nothing and actually buy legal software licenses.

For a desktop I wouldn't worry with any extended warranties. If the computer last's a month, odds are it's going to last at least 3 years before you should expect something to fail (hard drive most likely) provided it has clean power to it. If the computer was cheap enough just treat it as disposable.

In any case store anything you don't want to ever lose in multiple locations. I have a second internal drive and a couple external USB disks I use for data backups. Optical disks aren't worth it to me. Nothing has the capacity of a hard drive, but another hard drive.

[AX 365]

Got the new box last night. It's a Dell. It's black and silver. It has Dell Precision 390 on the front. As for what's inside, I have no clue. I'm a complete moron when it comes to computers. Eons ago, I was trying to delete a game from the computer and I accidentally erased the command.com, config.sys and autoexec.bat files.

The only reason I know these terms is that my wife wife was 'emphatically' informing me that I deleted them while she was getting an estimate from a friend to restore the system as all her work (professional - she's a contractor working for the Feds) was on the unbootable computer. Fortunately all was saved however I was persona non grata for a week or so.

All that to say, I'm back and all that was on the "C" drive of the old machine has been transferred over to the new one. We're good to go.

Game on!