Honest computer wizard needed to rebuild or build a PC.

[crab]

Honest computer wizard needed to rebuild or build a PC. My computer is 8+ years old and seriously problematic. Perhaps some of it can be salvaged; perhaps not. I seek somebody to analyse the situation, propose a complete solution and execute it. Cost is a major issue. I'm in East Pattaya and speak some Thai. All suggestions gratefully received.

[ezzra]

Gee mate, 8 years old computer with heaps of problems means only one thing, time to the scrap heap, and even if some kind of wizard will be to revive it, it will not for long... 

[KhunBENQ]

Backup what important data(?) is readable and then post #2.

8 years old, cost is a major issue?

And I just wanted to suggest that I come to Pattaya, 5000 Baht fixed expenses plus 2000 per day

 

That was a joke!!!

[DrTuner]

ezzra is right, after 8 years you'd basically need to upgrade all components to the latest specs. Look for a special deal at JIB or like for a new one.

[tgw]

8 years is not anymore that old for PC.

depending on what the PC is used for and provided the original PC was reasonably well done using quality parts, an upgrade to SSD could maybe give it 4-5 more years.

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

19 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

2000 per day

2000 per day? Cheap Charly! Or is that USD?

[Vacuum]

37 minutes ago, crab said:

My computer is 8+ years old and seriously problematic.

1: Save important stuff to usb or another disc.

2: Reinstall your OS.

 

Failing that, buy a new PC.

 

[Eindhoven]

Eight years old, isn't that old at all.

 

What is wrong with it? Describe symptoms.

 

 

[KhunBENQ]

28 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

What is wrong with it? Describe symptoms.

That would help. If it looks like SW problems only then backup, reinstall new OS and see whether you are happy with it.

Edited December 5, 2019 by KhunBENQ

[jacko45k]

48 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

That would help. If it looks like SW problems only then backup, reinstall new OS and see whether you are happy with it.

Will Win 10 work...  or require some more hardware? I know Win 7 support ends in January. 

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Will Win 10 work...  or require some more hardware? I know Win 7 support ends in January. 

 

How would he know anything about the PC concerned??

 

Perhaps there is someone who can go there, to save the OP from himself.

[crab]

Thanks for the various replies. Yes, I should have given more information.

 

Some of the problems are, or may be, software-based; others not. I had the fan replaced a year or so ago, but boot-up is still interrupted every time by a warning about over-heating. A false warning, I should add. And sometimes the whole thing just shuts itself down in an instant. It probably needs a new battery, as removal from power requires resetting the internal clock. Most of the USB ports are 2.0 only, and several of them don't work. Since I use a load of external drives, I now resort to USB multi-ports (or whatever they're properly called). The processor is Intel i7, and may be fine. The biggest problem is memory (RAM). As a result of my own stupidity, only 4 GB were initially installed, and that memory may have deteriorated. I get a lot of "not responding" messages and long delays. Firefox crashes too often, and Firefox tabs with irritating frequency. Having just moved back to Pattaya, I now have for the first time in my life a fibre internet connection. If I'm downloading heavily, that brilliant connection crashes, requiring my "local area connection 2 adapter" to be reset- again and again. That may simply be because of my Windows 7 software. Also, more crazy-making in the short term, the computer has suddenly become only intermittently responsive to various commands from my Logitech remote mouse and keyboard. Memory? Something else? At the moment I have four 2 TB internal drives.

 

I need the right person to look under the hood and advise. Then, yes, it may be time to buy a new computer or to have someone build me a new one to suitable specs.

[xylophone]

5 hours ago, crab said:

Cost is a major issue. I'm in East Pattaya and speak some Thai. All suggestions gratefully received.

If cost is a major issue then you could try and download a couple of programs to "clean" various aspects of it, although there are some folks totally against this type of thing, whilst others sing its praises?

If you could download Glary Utilities (free) and run that and see what it picks up, or others favour something like CCleaner, which can clean out a lot of rubbish and can speed it up. Not only that those programs can pick up other problems with it and sometimes guide you as to what needs doing.

[crab]

12 minutes ago, xylophone said:

If cost is a major issue

It is, but I spend a great deal of time on the computer, and I'm prepared to spend whatever's necessary to get things working well, even if that means a new box.

[xylophone]

Just now, crab said:

It is, but I spend a great deal of time on the computer, and I'm prepared to spend whatever's necessary to get things working well, even if that means a new box.

Similar to you I spend far too much time on the computer, doing nothing much in particular I have to add!!

However I have an HP laptop computer which was my main computer but it started to get slower and slower, this despite having nothing wrong with the hard drive and no problems found.

I tried different browsers, deleting this and that and still it was very slow in starting and in "obeying commands", so much so that I was out looking for a new one, however a friend gave me his broken Toshiba laptop (has an Intel i7 chip, so not too old) and I managed to fix it by removing the screen and fixing the hinges, putting everything back together and clearing all of his programs off of it, reloading my own.

Anyway my point is that it freed up my HP laptop, so I got working on it and cleaned everything off and reset it with a basic Windows 10 home program and now it's working fine and I just use it as a backup to download movies.

If yours has Windows 7, then by getting into "reset" mode then you may be to pare it back to the base program and start again.

I did also run a program to update the drivers and just a couple needed doing, so no big deal.

You've got nothing to lose by trying something like this and by running the two programs I suggested earlier, because if your computer is just about stuffed anyway, then it could well end up being a win-win for you!

[Pdavies99]

Sorry but old is old!  USB's worn out cannot easily be replaced, RAM may be at its limit, Motherboard very old, probably cannot handle newer programmes, drivers old, cannot be upgraded, keyboard tired, mouse old, old specs, most likely cannot handle Windows 10, missing DLL files, Hard drive getting old and prone to failure, damaged components due to overheating, peripherals failing, old monitor, space issues etc.  Remember that repairing etc often only delays the obvious.

 

Buy a new one with a reasonable Hard drive size, 8 gb RAM, good processor etc, get Windows 10 operating system onto a new hard drive, and ask them to fit old drives as well as back up...note most new desktop PC's can only handle 2-3 drives (Unless you pay a lot more)

 

Problems solved.   Good luck!

Edited December 5, 2019 by Pdavies99

[thaitero]

Buy new one or change to linux are the options.

[Eindhoven]

18 hours ago, crab said:

Thanks for the various replies. Yes, I should have given more information.

 

Some of the problems are, or may be, software-based; others not. I had the fan replaced a year or so ago, but boot-up is still interrupted every time by a warning about over-heating. A false warning, I should add. And sometimes the whole thing just shuts itself down in an instant. It probably needs a new battery, as removal from power requires resetting the internal clock. Most of the USB ports are 2.0 only, and several of them don't work. Since I use a load of external drives, I now resort to USB multi-ports (or whatever they're properly called). The processor is Intel i7, and may be fine. The biggest problem is memory (RAM). As a result of my own stupidity, only 4 GB were initially installed, and that memory may have deteriorated. I get a lot of "not responding" messages and long delays. Firefox crashes too often, and Firefox tabs with irritating frequency. Having just moved back to Pattaya, I now have for the first time in my life a fibre internet connection. If I'm downloading heavily, that brilliant connection crashes, requiring my "local area connection 2 adapter" to be reset- again and again. That may simply be because of my Windows 7 software. Also, more crazy-making in the short term, the computer has suddenly become only intermittently responsive to various commands from my Logitech remote mouse and keyboard. Memory? Something else? At the moment I have four 2 TB internal drives.

 

I need the right person to look under the hood and advise. Then, yes, it may be time to buy a new computer or to have someone build me a new one to suitable specs.

 

Perhaps time for a Motherboard replacement and definitely an SSD as a boot drive. Long delays won't be done to have 'only' 4 GB of RAM on-board. More like CPU under-performing due to overheating, in combination with your slow mechanical hard drive 

 

But initially, would replace the battery and apply any BIOS updates. Also reapply thermal paste to CPU.

 

Some actual specification could be useful.

 

 

 

[Eindhoven]

When it comes to age, I am running one of these; https://www.thailandallit.com/product/9/dell-optiplex-780 on 4 GB of RAM and a 120 GB SSD as a boot drive. Windows 10 Pro 64-bit flies.

 

Twelve years old. 

 

Anyone who is not using an SSD as a Boot drive these days, clearly does not value their time nor care about their high blood pressure count.

 

 

[Eindhoven]

16 hours ago, Pdavies99 said:

Sorry but old is old!  USB's worn out cannot easily be replaced, RAM may be at its limit, Motherboard very old, probably cannot handle newer programmes, drivers old, cannot be upgraded, keyboard tired, mouse old, old specs, most likely cannot handle Windows 10, missing DLL files, Hard drive getting old and prone to failure, damaged components due to overheating, peripherals failing, old monitor, space issues etc.  Remember that repairing etc often only delays the obvious.

 

Buy a new one with a reasonable Hard drive size, 8 gb RAM, good processor etc, get Windows 10 operating system onto a new hard drive, and ask them to fit old drives as well as back up...note most new desktop PC's can only handle 2-3 drives (Unless you pay a lot more)

 

Problems solved.   Good luck!

 

 

A bit of a crazy post. 

 

Motherboard cannot handle newer programs? Did you take that one directly off the top of your head? Makes no sense at all. 

 

Even my twelve year old PC can handle anything thrown at it. But here we are discussing a likely i7 3rd Gen CPU, Intel Socket 1155 and DDR3 RAM. 

Cannot handle Windows 10?? 

 

Seriously, don't just make it up as you go along ???? Try to determine the facts firstly.

[crab]

27 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

 

Perhaps time for a Motherboard replacement and definitely an SSD as a boot drive. Long delays won't be done to have 'only' 4 GB of RAM on-board. More like CPU under-performing due to overheating, in combination with your slow mechanical hard drive 

 

But initially, would replace the battery and apply any BIOS updates. Also reapply thermal paste to CPU.

 

Some actual specification could be useful.

 

 

 

This all sounds like good sense, but is quite beyond me personally. Can you recommend someone in Pattaya to do what's necessary?

 

20 minutes ago, Eindhoven said:

Anyone who is not using an SSD as a Boot drive these days, clearly does not value their time nor care about their high blood pressure count.

 

Startup is a bitch, but, unless there are frequent power-cuts, I rarely close the computer. I torrent 24 hours a day.

 

 

I'm quite sure that I should now be installing Windows 10, but really need some sort of overlay to ape Windows 7, as 10 seems totally monstrous to my aged self.

 

The key factor in all this is that I personally am incompetent beyond the day-to-day use of Windows 7. What I need is someone here in Pattaya to handled the serious task of getting me up and running with a more satisfactory system, old metal or new. Recommendations, please?

[gamb00ler]

My first suggestion is to buy a can of compressed air.

Take a picture of what cable goes where on your computer.  Disconnect them all.

Take the case outside, open it and blow out as much dust as you can.  Re-connect all cables as in your picture.

 

You mentioned replacing a fan.  Was it the CPU cooling fan or just a case ventilation fan? 

You seem to have a lot of disk storage (4 X 2TB?).  That many drives will generate quite a bit of heat and potentially slow down the flow of air through your case.  You can easily and cheaply add another or better case fan.  Heat is pretty much the worst enemy of PC components.

 

What is the main use of your computer?  If it's just internet browsing/email/shopping/banking/Youtube you likely don't need to replace it.  Upgrading the system drive to an SSD can make an old computer act young again.  I'm not sure but you may need to move some of your internal drives to an external enclosure.  If you have an expansion slot available, adding a USB 3 board will be cheap($20) and will make your external drives work almost as fast as an internal drive.

 

I believe you can still get a free upgrade to Windows 10.  If you don't want to spend the time/effort to adapt to Win 10, then I suggest just doing a re-install of Win 7.  If you have installed a lot of specialty programs re-installing Win 7 can be a much more complicated task.

 

[gamb00ler]

9 minutes ago, crab said:

Startup is a bitch, but, unless there are frequent power-cuts, I rarely close the computer. I torrent 24 hours a day.

Ahhh... it seems you have the 4 X 2TB for storage of downloaded material.  If you don't need continuous access to the material I would recommend that you add a DVD burner and store your files offline.  You could then reduce the number of internal drives and the heat they generate.

 

Do you stream your downloaded content to a TV or home audio?

 

Torrenting can consume a large percentage of your total download throughput.  If you want to browse the internet simultaneously I suggest you throttle back the torrent download rate while doing so.  That may reduce your problems with Firefox.

[Eindhoven]

  

1 hour ago, crab said:

This all sounds like good sense, but is quite beyond me personally. Can you recommend someone in Pattaya to do what's necessary?

 

Startup is a bitch, but, unless there are frequent power-cuts, I rarely close the computer. I torrent 24 hours a day.

 

 

I'm quite sure that I should now be installing Windows 10, but really need some sort of overlay to ape Windows 7, as 10 seems totally monstrous to my aged self.

 

The key factor in all this is that I personally am incompetent beyond the day-to-day use of Windows 7. What I need is someone here in Pattaya to handled the serious task of getting me up and running with a more satisfactory system, old metal or new. Recommendations, please?

 

 

Start up on an 3rd Gen i7 should be around 15 to 20 seconds. Shut down perhaps ten seconds.

 

For Torrenting you should use a SeedBox. Totally frees up your resources until you are ready to download.

 

Windows 10 isn't that different on the surface. I don't understand why so many people(I'm guessing older) seem to think it's so different. In everyday usage, it's easier.

 

But like anything, you don't allow software to be installed with it's recommended defaults.

 

I certainly don't recommend anyone whom I've ever used in Pattaya before. They have either overcharged for a simple job or overcharged and broke something.

 

 

On the other hand, I cannot see someone taking the time to test all of your components.

 

So far, it looks like a new CMOS battery, reapply thermal paste to CPU, possibly faulty USB 2.0 ports, possibly faulty RAM(according to yourself)

 

Maybe you can install and run; http://download.cpuid.com/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.90-en.exe

Then click on the dropdown next to Tools(or go to the About tab) and choose to Save a report as HTML.

 

 

[metempsychotic]

On 12/5/2019 at 1:20 PM, tgw said:

8 years is not anymore that old for PC.

depending on what the PC is used for and provided the original PC was reasonably well done using quality parts, an upgrade to SSD could maybe give it 4-5 more years.

 

 

yes, upgrade the hamster that powers it to diesel, drop in an ssd and you will be golden

[metempsychotic]

2 hours ago, gamb00ler said:

Ahhh... it seems you have the 4 X 2TB for storage of downloaded material.  If you don't need continuous access to the material I would recommend that you add a DVD burner and store your files offline.  You could then reduce the number of internal drives and the heat they generate.

 

Do you stream your downloaded content to a TV or home audio?

 

Torrenting can consume a large percentage of your total download throughput.  If you want to browse the internet simultaneously I suggest you throttle back the torrent download rate while doing so.  That may reduce your problems with Firefox.

a dvd burner, really?

[gamb00ler]

1 hour ago, metempsychotic said:

a dvd burner, really?

Unless he's seeding a lot of torrents there is no need to have his files online.  He can only watch one video at a time.  DVD's fail at a much slower rate than spinning drives.  He will eventually lose all material stored on HD's unless he spends lots of $$ and time doing backups.  He doesn't seem to like high costs. 6 or 8 baht per movie on a DVD-R seems economical as well as almost permanent.

Edited December 6, 2019 by gamb00ler

[Eindhoven]

39 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Unless he's seeding a lot of torrents there is no need to have his files online.  He can only watch one video at a time.  DVD's fail at a much slower rate than spinning drives.  He will eventually lose all material stored on HD's unless he spends lots of $$ and time doing backups.  He doesn't seem to like high costs. 6 or 8 baht per movie on a DVD-R seems economical as well as almost permanent.

 

 

Even if he filled each DVD to capacity, that would be the equivalent of 1702 DVD. Double sided 850.

 

 

[metempsychotic]

52 minutes ago, gamb00ler said:

Unless he's seeding a lot of torrents there is no need to have his files online.  He can only watch one video at a time.  DVD's fail at a much slower rate than spinning drives.  He will eventually lose all material stored on HD's unless he spends lots of $$ and time doing backups.  He doesn't seem to like high costs. 6 or 8 baht per movie on a DVD-R seems economical as well as almost permanent.

ok.

[gamb00ler]

5 hours ago, Eindhoven said:

Even if he filled each DVD to capacity, that would be the equivalent of 1702 DVD. Double sided 850.

You'll have to ask the OP why he wants thousands of hours of video maintained on spinning disks at all.  I have a guess but my opinion on that matter is irrelevant to his request for help.