errr

[Magorian]

my computer has given up on me, it tries to load windows and cannot. Since windows has not loaded properly i'm asked for various different modes of starting windows all of which end with the computer resetting. The end of which being i'm sitting on my laptop and i'm not going to be able to get on tonight

  Fot those who care i'll list some additional problems and my thoughts on the matter

My computer usually takes several tries to start up normally you can hear a click then the screen graphics go all funny,  sometimes when I turn on the computer, the screen choses not to load, and sometimes it simply freezes now most of the problems go away after it has been running for a while and I think there is a problem with the graphics card though i'm not sure

   Anything useful would be great or i'll have to call someone out I guess.

[Naaman]

Grab a can of compressed air, open the side of the case and blow all the muck out...
Hook up your laptop to the monitor (it should have a standard VGA connector)  - that'll see if it's the monitor.

Does the 'puter boot reliably into Safe mode? (Keep Tapping F8 when it beeps) - Does it beep more than once when you hit the power button?

Have you backed up all your important data? 

[Magorian]

No more than 1 beep when it boots and I since windows is not loading properly [gets as far as the windows loading screen before log in and then resets itself] it automatically asks for safe mode, command prompt and network connections safe mode all of which I have tried with no sucess

Anyway  to update everyone on what has happened tonight, I got teamspeak for my laptop and have been talking with everyone to try and get it fixed.
 
 I first opened up the box and gave all the outer fans, the heatsink and the graphics card fana good clean and vacumed out the worst of the dust inside the box. Not working

I then took out the graphics card and ran the monitor with the on boards graphics of the notherboard. Not working

I only have 1 ram slot being used which may mean that my ram has fried or it may be my hard drive. So far I have tried 2 hard drives but neither contained windows with any certainty so I will steal a hard drive tommorow and try that. I also have some more ram but i'd rather make sure of the hard drive first since it cheaper

It seems to be booting ok without the hard drive which is apparently a good sign, I cant think of anything else of merit to mention, i'll post my results on the hard drive tommorow

[Magorian]

My hard drive was disconnected and I couldn't read it so I have formatted it and am re loading windows as we speak. Not sure if this is going to work, even if it does i'll need to install and update my wow which may take some time

[Twylyte]

I had exactly the same thing happen to me and it turned out to be heat management.
It was the drivers of the graphics card that weren't working and my awfully big grphics card was in meltdown.

Good luck with the fixing.

In Redhill I have a spare monitor and a few other bits. I can also drive Hod over (I think you live in S England somehwere?) if that's what it takes.

Mark

[Hercule]

Mags lives in kent, but from the sounds of it on friday it is definately a hdd problem as it was "ticking".

the only thing that ticks is the hdd - unless a cable is too close to a fan.

the fact that it was crashing with both the onboard card and the additional gfx card means it is not likely to be a gfx problem.

Generally with overheating problems pcs will just reboot or turn off. ( although heat does tend to cause some weird stuff to happen, as does the memory)

If mags has got as far as formatting a new disk and reloading windows it is not likely to be a major hardware fault, as installing windows is one of the most intensive activities you can put your machine through.

anything after that is just a driver issue. ( maybe )


{ Please note the vague and non commitive statements like "Maybe", "Likely" and "possibly" these are the tools of an it professional }

[Magorian]

Ok guys the compy is back on but I'm guessing the hard rive is not exactly reliable so i'll just have to buy a new one what a shame.

  Thanks everyone for your help god I hope this works

[Twylyte]

Good luck!!