Well other then being struck my lightning yesterday, which was an unfortunate turn of events, my computer also died on me (again).
From my quick evaluation, this is what I've come to: I believe my CPU chip got fried.
Why? Well here's the story. I turned on my computer after then thunderstorm, it booted up alright and everything was fine. Connected to AOL fine, Connected to MSN fine, same old, same old. But when I tried to get out to the internet, I had an EXTREME lag. I felt like I was running dial up, except possibly three times slower, which is strange compared to the 10-12 MBps speed I usually get. I figured maybe something got screwed up in the storm, so I attempted to configure my internet via trial and error. Reconnect, restart the modem, fiddle with the adapter, etc. etc. Eventually I gave up and watched TV for a few a hours, and I left my computer off.
I come back, boot it up again, and my internet is still dragging, but everything else with my computer seems to be functioning normally. I accept my loses and just deal with the slow internet, do some forum surfing, when I start to hear this ever so familiar high pitched squeaking sound. I know it only as loose bearings about to go in a fan. I figured it was one of three case fans, as my CPU fan is still relatively new (when I saw new, I mean 6 months old :P). I stop each and every one to see if I can pinpoint the sound, but it still persists. I take a peek inside and see that my CPU fan is motionless. Common knowledge will tell me that is bad, so I turn off the computer and call it a night.
I pull it apart this morning; I wanted to evaluate my fan to see what happened to it. When I pulled it off, my CPU chip came off with it as it was fused to the bottom via thermal paste. I peeled it off, put it back in, and checked my fan. It looked ok, the bearings seemed fine, and it seemed all too unusual. I cleaned some dust off it and put it back in, except this time, it started right up. I let out a sigh of relief thinking my computer was going to be ok this time, except I realize I'm receiving no signal from my monitor. Now from past experiences I know that an orange monitor light, and a working computer, means a motherboard issues. Considering the CPU chip was fused to the bottom of the fan, led me to believe that it is fried.
Now I come to you with a few questions.
A. Is my conclusion correct? Did I fry my CPU chip?
B. If I did, is it going to be cheap to replace?
C. Should I replace it? It's a fairly outdated home built rig, I'm currently looking for a job. Should I just accept my loses and duke it out on my ghetto laptop until I can afford a new rig?
Many thanks Cain Lair Dwellers.
I can always count on you.
From my quick evaluation, this is what I've come to: I believe my CPU chip got fried.
Why? Well here's the story. I turned on my computer after then thunderstorm, it booted up alright and everything was fine. Connected to AOL fine, Connected to MSN fine, same old, same old. But when I tried to get out to the internet, I had an EXTREME lag. I felt like I was running dial up, except possibly three times slower, which is strange compared to the 10-12 MBps speed I usually get. I figured maybe something got screwed up in the storm, so I attempted to configure my internet via trial and error. Reconnect, restart the modem, fiddle with the adapter, etc. etc. Eventually I gave up and watched TV for a few a hours, and I left my computer off.
I come back, boot it up again, and my internet is still dragging, but everything else with my computer seems to be functioning normally. I accept my loses and just deal with the slow internet, do some forum surfing, when I start to hear this ever so familiar high pitched squeaking sound. I know it only as loose bearings about to go in a fan. I figured it was one of three case fans, as my CPU fan is still relatively new (when I saw new, I mean 6 months old :P). I stop each and every one to see if I can pinpoint the sound, but it still persists. I take a peek inside and see that my CPU fan is motionless. Common knowledge will tell me that is bad, so I turn off the computer and call it a night.
I pull it apart this morning; I wanted to evaluate my fan to see what happened to it. When I pulled it off, my CPU chip came off with it as it was fused to the bottom via thermal paste. I peeled it off, put it back in, and checked my fan. It looked ok, the bearings seemed fine, and it seemed all too unusual. I cleaned some dust off it and put it back in, except this time, it started right up. I let out a sigh of relief thinking my computer was going to be ok this time, except I realize I'm receiving no signal from my monitor. Now from past experiences I know that an orange monitor light, and a working computer, means a motherboard issues. Considering the CPU chip was fused to the bottom of the fan, led me to believe that it is fried.
Now I come to you with a few questions.
A. Is my conclusion correct? Did I fry my CPU chip?
B. If I did, is it going to be cheap to replace?
C. Should I replace it? It's a fairly outdated home built rig, I'm currently looking for a job. Should I just accept my loses and duke it out on my ghetto laptop until I can afford a new rig?
Many thanks Cain Lair Dwellers.
I can always count on you.
That'd be YEARS worth of files gone 
Comment